December Discourse: 01

[toujours_nigel]

avani008 asked about best and worst adaptations.


I am increasingly fond of adaptations that do something interesting and pointed about the original text, in its reinterpretation. For instance, while I didn't love The Hobbit films (other than Richard Armitage's everything) I liked the refocusing of Tolkien's fantasy!Jewish dwarves from doing-it-for-money to searching-for-return-to-homeland, especially since the return displaced and caused harm to the people who were living right there, and also because of Thorin's descent into mad tyranny. I also love how the BBC Little Women takes up aspects of the novel other adaptations ignore.

Anyway.

Much though I dislike Whedon, one of the best cross-media adaptations *has* to be Buffy, which was a very odd and not good film, and an iconic tv show for rather good reasons. I also love love love the Joseph Fiennes-Jeremy Irons Merchant of Venice, because they're clearly boyfriends and Jeremy Irons is *such* a good heartbreaking Antonio. Oh! The Star Wars comics are stunning and deepen the GFFA world in lovely ways; especially the Poe ones are ♥ because Poe. (I feel odd not talking about Marvel, but while I love them they're neither faithful nor interestingly divergent.)


Worst adaptation is a tie between Troy and Beowulf (the Angelina Jolie one). I flat refuse to watch Mahabharata shows, or have since I was a baby watching BR Chopra, so the other butcherings of epics will have to stand in for worst. Someday I'll get to watch an Iliad where Helen is at *least* in her late thirties, right? Even the lovely Troy: Fall of a City has let me down in that regard.