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Edenson
Newbie Poster
Username: Edenson
Post Number: 8
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 12:19 am: | 
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It's funny how when you read a book and every person has a different view on how a character looks. Sometimes the author may not describe a certain character's look so you can put in anyone you want, including yourself. But sometimes even if they do describe the character, you may stiil imagine someone else. Why is that?
I'm sorry to keep going back to this book, but when I read "The Coldest Winter Ever," there were certain characters that I still imagined different from their descriptions. For instance Mrs. Santiaga... They described her as having skin like mohogany, but for some odd reason I continuosly imagined her to be light skinned. Some people say that it's natural for that to happen when reading books. That's the point of books, the characters can be anyone you want them to be. But some say it's because you consider a certain skin tone to be more beautiful than another skin tone. If ya'll know what I'm saying... When I thought of Winter I thought of someone light, like Claudette Ortiz, Christina Millian, or Ashanti. Some thought of Tweet, or Tatyana Ali... Do you thnik that you base a character's look on what you consider to be beautiful or ugly? And do you think that this is the reason why some people say movies can ruin a book? |
Kc_trudiva
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Kc_trudiva
Post Number: 83
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 08:10 am: |
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edenson,
good to see you back again provoking more discussion...on a book. ok, so you're stuck on Coldest Winter Ever but i'll engage you for a minute. my daughter finally finished reading the book and she had some of the same notions as you. her idealization was for Midnight. although the book discribed him as being very dark, she still invisioned him as being a hint of mocha (if you know what i mean). i guess in her mind's eye she couldn't imagine a man being so -- dark.
when i read Love, i kept trying to imagine what the character Junior really looked like. her antics intrigued me to the point where i kept trying to put one of my friend's faces with her character. although a description was given, i had my own embedded.
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Lambd
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 148
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 08:27 am: |
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Wow! I never thought of that before. That could be one of the reasons why movies ruin a story for some people. However, one of the chief reasons would also be that a movie scipt could never be as detailed as a well written book. A well written story will provide food for your imagination to feast upon. Not only the characters, but scenery, motivation and especially a characters thoughts and feelings. These things are hard to portray well in a movie.
In a book, all of these nuances are laid out for you to snatch up and run away with. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 306
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 09:32 am: |
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Sometimes in reading a book what the character looks like will come into my mind--other times it doesn't. I haven't read Coldest Winter--Devil in a Blue Dress. Denzel Washington does not fit my vision of Eazy Rawlins. Don Cheadle did not fit my vision of Mouse but he was acceptible. Made it his own.
When I read the James Bond books I never saw a character like Sean Connery. Once I saw Connery he became James Bond, and still is. Same with Brando in the Godfather. I didn't see any of the actresses in Waiting to Exhale as those characters, except maybe Loretta Divine. I wouldn't have seen Whoopi Goldberg as Celie but she took that over.
I must say, on thinking that for the most part the characters remain pretty much blanks for me physically. They become defined by their thoughts and words and actions. |
Lambd
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 150
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 11:51 am: |
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I'm nothing like that Chris. For the most part, when I read a well written book, its like watching a movie with my mind's eye as I read.
I almost always picture the characters going through every part of the book. Then when I see the movie, like the Color Purple or Devil in a Blue Dress, those actors take over if they play the part well. Like Whoopi, Suge Avery, Denzel. |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 529
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 01:18 pm: |
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I agree, chrishayden. |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 171
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2004 - 08:36 pm: |
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Hello All,
I have to agree with Lambd. *Now that I've said that, could somebody go over to his house and pick him up off the floor* A well written book will play like a movie in my mind's eye. If the author has done his job, I will have already imagined what the characters looks like. When the books are turned into movies, very rarely do the actors portraying them look like my imagings. I've said it before, I agree with Chris, but in the movie Devil in a Blue Dress, Easy does not look like Denzel. Don Cheadle did not look like my Mouse, but he did such a damn remarkable job, I can think of no one else BUT him as Mouse. |
Lambd
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 157
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 08:17 am: |
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Denzel looks like Easy, now, after I saw the movie. I am inclined to agree that Don Cheadle will always be Mouse. It seems that Don Cheadle is THE most under-rated character actor in Hollywood.
Now that Thump and I have agreed on something I can retire from this site for good. It took about three years to find something to agree on. I guess even Thumper has begun to think logically
after discussing literature with the likes of Abm and myself.
That's the first time I ever saw Yukio post anything without any fourteen letter words. |
Sisg
Veteran Poster
Username: Sisg
Post Number: 68
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 11:50 am: |
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I do the same and agree with Lambd and Thump. If a book moves me, then I'm seeing it playing in front of movie, movie form. I write the same way. I don't know who I imagined as EAsy, but Denzel did it for me, and he will always be Easy in my eyes, and I agree with the others, Don Cheadle, as MOUSE, best characterization EVER!!! I LOVED him as MOUSE. Now, it did not imagine Morgan Freeman and Detective Cross, but now when I read his books, I do. As far as the Coldest Winter goes, heres who I saw : The father, Edward James Olmos, the mother, dark, thin, I can't think of the actress but she played a junkie on The Corner, Midnight, a tall black man, Tyrese will fit the bill. I don't think I characterize it as what I like, but what I think fits the bill. The Colored Purple, who would have ever thought Oprah could pull off that part, but she did, and I hated poor Mister for years, took me awhile to laugh at him again in those cop movies, the characterizations and choices were excellent, all of them. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 367
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 01:31 pm: |
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Lambd,
Cheadle is hardly "under-rated". I think that he is regarded by many, Black/White, to be one of the finest, most charismatic actors to grace (the mostly squalid) LaLa Land (note his Oscar nomination for his fine performance in 2000’s Academy Award-winning "Traffic").
You unduly flatter me. I doubt that the illustrious Thumper has been moved by much of ANYTHING that I have uttered. HAHA! |
Lambd
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 159
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 02:16 pm: |
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Abm, when I say under-rated,I mean over-looked, under-used, under-paid compared to other, less-talented actors. I like the the 25 million dollar a movie action-star Tom Cruise as much as the next guy...But he's no Don Cheadle. Brad Pitt is a good looking guy. If he was a chick, I'd hit it...but he gets 20+ a movie too. If there was an acting olympics and Don Cheadle was competing against these two guys, they would have to give him the gold, silver, and bronze medals...I hope I have made myself clear this time about my position on Cheadle.
Are we clear, sir? |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 370
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 03:16 pm: |
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Lambd,
As crystal, Chief. |
Akaivyleaf
Veteran Poster
Username: Akaivyleaf
Post Number: 72
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 08:41 am: |
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Alright I'm all late jumping in to this thread but I must ask, that even now you all still see Denzel as Easy? I mean the books are still coming out, Little Scarlet, being the latest and reading that book I no longer picture Denzel as Eazy. The character has gotten older over the years and although Denzel has aged It doesn't seem like he's kept up with Easy.
I wonder how Walter Mosley feels about such a strong actor being so permanently embedded in people's minds? Do you think he now writes Easy with the vision of Denzel?
Back to the original question: I do envision characters differently from their description some times. Especially if their physical description comes "late" in the book. Once my minds eye creates the person, that is the person to me. SOmetimes movies ruin it for me, because I can't get my own mental image to move out of the way and allow someone elses vision to come in. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 385
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 12:15 pm: |
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Ok, here is my (slightly cynical) view of how movies are cast and why such selections will almost invariably differ from what readers of their literary origins will expect:
The lead roles for most major motion pictures are selected based almost entirely upon what actors can provide the highest possible initial weekend box office gross (IWBOG for short) for movies and Nielsen Ratings (NR) for TV/Cable/Satellite.
And IWBOG and NR are based primarily upon how uniquely good looking and/or charismatic and well connected the actors are. Then, to a lesser degree, actors are selected based on whether it is convenient for the movie distributors, producers and directors to use them, and then, to even lesser degree, whether they are talented and hardworking. And, perhaps, of least importance is whether they can/do (somewhat) resemble the characters drafted by the original novel’s author.
This eclectic and varying assortment of factors will likely run afoul of the more authentic desires and expectations of the author and/or his/her faithful readers. |
Lambd
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 168
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2004 - 01:10 pm: |
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Thank you, Abm. You are not only a genius, but you have the uneviable talent for stating what some of us are thinking but are too slow to put into words. |
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