“1984″ All Over Again?
My general answer to “What is your favorite book?” is 1984 by George Orwell. When I was in 10th grade my English teacher gave us a book reading assignment but gave us a lengthy list of books from which we were to choose only one. I asked her for a recommendation and she recommended 1984. She said she thought I would really respond to it. This is the same English teacher who also taught my Publications class which was, basically, the group tasked with creating Waukee High’s Annual Yearbook (like Reese Witherspoon in Election!).
I hated Publications. I hated it so much I became the first and (to my knowledge) only Jayson Blair in the history of Waukee High by completely fabricating quotes for an article on class rings that I didn’t want to write. On account of that little ruse I (and I’m not making this up) got an “F” in Mrs. Hanigan’s Publications Class the exact same semester I earned an “A” in her English class. In many ways I think that little tale tells you all you need to know about who I am and how I operate in this life. If I’m in, I’m all in. I’m not in, I’m not in at all. But, sweet Lord, do I digress!
Long story short (and as already stated), 1984 is my favorite book. Like a few of my other favorite books – Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, Little Children by Tom Perrotta, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer – I read it quickly, consumed with this fascinated but terrified dread, knowing full well it couldn’t end well. And it didn’t. It’s what I like to call Tragic Inevitability. Oh, I do love Tragic Inevitability so. That last line by Orwell was such a beautifully constructed sucker punch I’m fairly certain it made me smile even as I could feel myself dying a little inside.
Because I love the book so much I have specifically avoided seeing any of the film adaptations. Not the 1956 version with Edmond O’Brien, not the BBC version a couple years earlier, and not the 1984 version with John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton and Richard Burton that is supposed to be pretty good. People who genuinely love a book and then see it turned into a film seem to often despise it because it could never possibly live up to how it looked in their own mind. I can still remember standing outside the theater after a midnight show of Lord of the Rings: Two Towers watching my best friend smoke a cigarette and listening to him angrily tear apart every single change – no matter how minuscule – between page and screen.
It’s interesting to note two of the books I’ve mentioned both starred Kate Winslet, my favorite actress. Speaking honestly, I might not have gone to see the film adaptations of Revolutionary Road and Little Children if she had not been in them. And I often suspect my opinions about both those adaptations are entirely skewered by my immense adoration of the original material. Well, except for the grotesque – literally and figuratively – ending that Todd Field concocted for Little Children which changed something that was awesomely and depressingly oblique into something pathetically sensational. Fan of the book, not a fan of the book, you can’t tell me that was a good idea. Then again, if I hadn’t read the book maybe……
Well, lo and behold it sounds as if 1984 will be returning to the big screen yet again with, of all people, graphic designer Shepard Fairey, the mastermind behind Obama’s Hope poster, orchestrating. It seems to be in the very earliest stages and potential cinematic productions run aground out there in the swirling sea of Hollywood all the time, so who knows? Perhaps this will merely remain an idea. But if it doesn’t, I will avoid it. I will stay home, and I will let Winston’s last line ruminate in my head precisely the way I want it to.
Unless, of course, Kate Winslet plays Julia. In which case, I’m screwed.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? DO YOU PURPOSELY AVOID MOVIE ADAPTATIONS OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS? OR DOES IT NOT AFFECT YOUR?
15 Comments
I don’t really avoid movie adaptations. Generally I like them, even though very rarely are the movies half as good as the book they are based on.
Having said that, gahh nooo! I love this book, even though it’s been quite a while since I read it. Still there are many parts in it which I don’t think can be filmed. Like the whole Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism part. That was so mindblowing! They can’t film that.
I hope they cast some really awful people so that I wouldn’t need to see it.
These are great points. And I’ve always been a little curious about just how they DID choose to adapt the book for those movies. Nevertheless, I’m not seeing them. No way, no how.
A film version of George Orwell’s novel told by someone who hasn’t made a film but involved as a production designer.
No. I don’t think I’ll see it. Besides, I only need David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album to help tell me the story.
“A film version of George Orwell’s novel told by someone who hasn’t made a film but involved as a production designer.”
Ha! Nice. Nothing else needs to be said.
I think i’m the only person in the world who hasn’t had a book they like turned into a movie yet. I’m still waiting for that to happen
My favorite Nick Hornby book – “How to be Good” – hasn’t been turned into a movie yet. Selfishly, I kind of want it to stay that way.
I kind of want it to happen with me just once just so i can contribute more to book vs film topics. I remember hearing about a YA book i like getting a movie adaption, but that was a while ago and i haven’t read any updates about it. If it ever does get off the ground i will most likely rush out to see it
I honestly don’t care either way when it comes to film adaptations, whether it’s of books I love or hate. Honestly, I prefer it when the movies diverge dramatically, because it means that something new, something creative is being done with the source material.
For me…if they want to do something new…DON’T adapt the book!! Create one new story then.
Changing a book only caused anger by the fans who are already in love with either the characters or the story
I didn’t avoid it…I watch it and expect it to live up to the book…something it works sometimes it doesn’t.
I think Lord of The Rings is the best adaptation so far!! The shining is amongst the worst for me.
I have written about book and its movie adaptation before, maybe you are interested…I call it No Movie Is Greater Than The Book http://bokunosekai.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/musing-on-book-and-movie-no-movie-is-greater-than-the-book/
I do not. In fact I look forward to them. I remember going crazy when while in HS I realized that Hitchcock had adapted Rebecca.
Also the same for the million adaptations for screen of Pride and Prejudice, my all time favorite read. Nothing beats the human imagination in visioning the characters but it is always nice to see other people’s visions.
Like everyone I’ve got books I love where the films are inescapably inferior, and books I hope never get translated to the screen, such as House of Leaves. Equally there are films made by people who understood the books and what to translate and what to leave behind. I prefer Fight Club the film to the book, Rules of Attraction the film is a massive improvement on the book, American Psycho tapped into the essence of the source even if many details had to be left out, and Fear and Loathing is an impressively faithful adaptation.
The Shepard Fairey thing wouldn’t be my reason for avoiding another version of 1984. Its one of my favourite books too, and personally I think it will always be poorly translated because of the power of the book within the book function, which can never be fully conveyed on the screen and the intensity will always be lost. The attitude about Fairey just seems silly to me; why is he less likely to understand 1984 and the reasons it has been poorly adapted in the past? Because he’s a street artist who doesn’t typically work with cameras? We live in an age of young filmmakers going out and trying their hand at a first film with a good idea and simple compact equipment, newbs sidestepping the long training process on the road to becoming seasoned pros. If their work is good we embrace them into the filmmaking community with no background, there’s no reason Fairey should be labelled an unlikely candidate. Given his contentious involvement in Exit Through The Gift Shop I’d say there’s some evidence he understands the nature of film and would only be involved if the project had potential, regardless of his artistic background.
A fair point about Fairey. And, of course, Julian Schnabel is an artist who has made a decent transition to filmmaker. I fully admit I just have a prejudice against any adaptation of this book from the beginning, which is another reason why I wouldn’t want to see it. I’d like to think I could be completely fair, but I don’t know that this would necessarily be true.
Agreed about the prejudice, if I could put money on whether this adaptation will prove to be worth the effort, I’d certainly side with the nay camp. The book is so crushing because of the Goldstein book, imo. No adaptation can capture why or how it’s important, and the more cinematic plot is best left up to the individual imagination anyway, it’s too subjective. I don’t even like Brazil very much based on the tenuous comparative link. House Of Leaves is the only book I’ve got a major prejudice against though. Even if Kubrick himself were still alive and decided to tackle it I’d get the red mist…
I actually enjoy checking out the adaptations of books I have liked. More often than not they are inferior. However, every once in awhile a film will capture enough of the essence of a film to make it worth my time.
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