WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 7-18-07
Today's Wednesday Word is "muttering" as in, "If you go to see Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix with someone who has read the book, expect them to do a lot of muttering."
My girlfriend LOVES the Harry Potter series of books. So she was super pumped for the latest movie. As luck would have it, several of the people we know also LOVE Harry Potter, so we went as a big group on Saturday. Before it started she turned to Ken and said "Just so you know, I may be yelling in joy a lot." Then the movie started.
As the camera was panning in on the first shot I heard her softly say "This should really start...", then "that's out of order...", and then "that's not how this scene even...". And that was the first 10 minutes. At one point it became a constant stream of "Why did you even base the movie on the ****ing book if you're going to change everything??"
She knew that the movie might be trouble, she said as much as we left the house to go to the theater. "This is the shortest Harry Potter movie and it's based on the longest book, so it might not be good," is what she said. Turns out she was right.
One of the things that upset her the most, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, is that several times they took out parts of the story and replaced them with parts that the writer just made up. If you have to cut something for time, then cut it. Don't cut it out so you have time to stick in your own stuff. If you want to write about a boy wizard, or whatever, write your own book. My own personal story: I saw Episode II: Attack Of The Clones in the theater and spent the last 15 minutes or so pissed off because Anakin had had the "wrong" hand cut off. "In the BOOKS," I remember saying, "Mara Jade specifically told Luke that Vader had lost his hand as punishment for the first Death Star being destroyed. And those books are supposed to be CONICAL!"
It took 3 years before someone could talk me down from that. And I'm STILL irked by it.
Yet another reason I hope Watchmen never sees the light of day.
My girlfriend LOVES the Harry Potter series of books. So she was super pumped for the latest movie. As luck would have it, several of the people we know also LOVE Harry Potter, so we went as a big group on Saturday. Before it started she turned to Ken and said "Just so you know, I may be yelling in joy a lot." Then the movie started.
As the camera was panning in on the first shot I heard her softly say "This should really start...", then "that's out of order...", and then "that's not how this scene even...". And that was the first 10 minutes. At one point it became a constant stream of "Why did you even base the movie on the ****ing book if you're going to change everything??"
She knew that the movie might be trouble, she said as much as we left the house to go to the theater. "This is the shortest Harry Potter movie and it's based on the longest book, so it might not be good," is what she said. Turns out she was right.
One of the things that upset her the most, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, is that several times they took out parts of the story and replaced them with parts that the writer just made up. If you have to cut something for time, then cut it. Don't cut it out so you have time to stick in your own stuff. If you want to write about a boy wizard, or whatever, write your own book. My own personal story: I saw Episode II: Attack Of The Clones in the theater and spent the last 15 minutes or so pissed off because Anakin had had the "wrong" hand cut off. "In the BOOKS," I remember saying, "Mara Jade specifically told Luke that Vader had lost his hand as punishment for the first Death Star being destroyed. And those books are supposed to be CONICAL!"
It took 3 years before someone could talk me down from that. And I'm STILL irked by it.
Yet another reason I hope Watchmen never sees the light of day.
Labels: Worzala's Wednesday Word
posted by Matt Worzala at
1:32 PM
2 Comments:
Keep hopin', Matt. Here's the latest synopsis for the Watchmen movie.
http://www.superherohype.com/news/watchmennews.php?id=6013
By
Peter, at 9:15 PM
Nice piece Matt. I, as well, am not a Potter fan at all, but I've tried to watch the flicks without much luck staying awake. I have also vowed to read the first book now that the "saga" is over. Maybe that read will bring about some sort of understanding for this phenomenon. Has there ever been a book-to-movie success? In answer to that..."Yes". I read every James Bond book and many of them stayed true in transition to film...save for a few trivial details.
By
James, at 8:51 AM
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