| Author |
Message |
    
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 09:07 pm: | 
|
Ok everybody I'm new here and I dont really know the rules on if its ok for newbies to start treads.So please charge this one to being a zealous reader if I shouldnt have started this tread.But I got a question.I am usally pretty disappointed when i go see a movie after i have read the book.With the exception of the color purple and I liked how stella got her groove back.But that may have just been because angela bassett is such a talented actress she will shine in any role she decides to take.My husband is a big stephen king fan so sometimes he talks me into reading his books one in particular was liz claborne and while i think kathy bates is a great actress she didnt do the rule justice to me.I dont know maybe i'm picky. If I pay my money to go see a movie i want to be entertained and i just wasnt.So I said all this to say what do ya'll think of books being turned into movies? |
Chrishayden
Veteran Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 61
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 02:30 pm: |
|
It doesn't turn me on. Rarely does a movie do a book justice--a few exceptions--"The Godfather" "From Here to Eternity" "Little Caesar"--generally if you see the movie first you start reading the book, looking for characters and incidents and settings and you find that they are missing or twisted around.
It is rare that a movie can do a book justice. Casting, budget, politics, box office, audience tastes will warp the original material--also a novel can go places that a movie cannot go--that is it can spend long periods inside the head of a character, showing us his inner thoughts and impressions--I am sure that a number of Wideman books would translate poorly. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 133
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 04:10 pm: |
|
Although for years, I had heard of the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, I never got around to reading these books. But when the movies came out, I REALLY got into the series. I rushed to buy the big ol book which contained all 3 books, but when all of these Ring-head purists started complaining because Peter Jackson didn't follow the stories faithfully enough, then I decided not to read the books because they would've, in effect, spoiled the movies which I loved so much! I do intend to read the books later after my ardor for the movies has cooled down. |
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 5
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 05:52 pm: |
|
Chris now i am loving this site already cause i have truthfully never thought of it the way you just explained it.where I work at the owner knows i liked to write and he feels just the opposite he told me he can never read cause he can actually visualize it better watching the events actually happen.But i'm the oppsite i love to read so that way i can picture myself the way i feel the charcter should be.When i read i think aof a actor or actress i would love to see in that role.Do ya'll do that? Or do i just take my reading to far?Cynique I use to have those books but mines came in a 3 volume set.My daughter she's 11 loves those books she hasnt seen the movie yet.I try to get her use to reading then maybe by her the dvd later.But i see by you seeing the movie first it tended to ruin the aspect of you reading the books huh? |
Chrishayden
Veteran Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 63
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 11:04 am: |
|
Soulofaauthor:
In stories or books that I write for a general audience, I do sometimes imagine an actor or actress as a character in the book. Some things I write would never be mae into a movie.
Cynique: Them books (LOTR trilogy) stink. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 140
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 02:01 pm: |
|
Soulofaauthor, yes, for one of the few times, I saw a movie before I read the book and, in the LOTR case, I'm glad I did. "The Bridges of Madison County" was another example where the movie was much better than the book. It has to be remembered that books and film are different media, and what works in one doesn't always work for another.
Chris, you are one of the few people I've heard trash the LOTR books. Why am I not surpised?? |
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 06:47 pm: |
|
I need to know has anyone went to see never die alone yet? Ok yes i'm trying to be cheap( my husband calls me that all the time).Cause if the movie stinks I can save my money.Movies are so expensive these days and with two girls and my other baby (my husband).If the movie stinks i can save.Hopefully if it is good they will have another movie showing that my girls can see cause i know that movie gotta be rated R.Chris its good to know i aint the only one who visualizes actors and actresses playing roles of books i read.Cynique I have not read or saw the movie the bridges of madison county.I have to admit I haven't brought a book in along time that wasnt wrote by a african american.My husband reads Stephen King and Dean kontz.But he doesnt put them on my library.I have all of Johanna Lindsey.And i keep buying them cause its a collection item to me know.But i just dont read them is that prejudice to not read somebody cause they are non african american? |
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 11
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 07:54 pm: |
|
Cynique since i'm new here I been reading earlier post and I was reading the tread Cynique book. And I was wondering could I order a copy of your book? Btw I don't know kola but it seems to me if somebody was giving you construtive criticism they would email you in private looks like ole girl was just being vicious.Btw when my book finally comes out ya'll be kind at least in public. |
Lambd
Regular Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 40
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 12:29 pm: |
|
SOAA>>>>> Don't expect these people to be kind. If you put your book out there, these people are fair, but almost never 100 percent kind.
CNeek>>>What is the name of your book and what is it about? I want to read it, and when I critique it I will be especially VICIOUS!<<RUFF!
I used to read alot of Stephen King's earlier stuff and the movies were never anywhere near as good as the books. The Bridges of Madison County was a somewhat slow read, but the movie was actually pretty good.(If you go for that kind of romantic, heartwarming stuff)....
Chris>>>>I actually read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was a child. I learned to read at an early age and my mother and aunt made sure I always had more than I could ever handle when it came to books. My imagination was always being swept away by Stephen King or Agatha Christie, or even J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm nobody's great thinker, however, I think that reading so many different kinds of books at such an early age gave me the ability to appreciate different types of things from many different points of view. I can see how someone would make the comment about the LOTR trilogy that you made and it makes me wonder how old you were when you read those books and what your mind set was at the time. Like I said, I was about nine or ten when I read the trilogy and thirty years ago, a ten year old in the suburbs could enjoy escaping to inner earth and appreciate the world of hobbits a little more than most modern post teens. We didn't have cellular phones and video games. Going to the movies was a treat, not a luxury that was taken for granted because we didn't have VCR or DVD back then. We didn't even have cable. We had to wait for a movie to first come to our town, get permission to go, scrape up $2.50 for a ticket and a buck fifty for popcorn, and then get a ride to the theater because we didn't even have a subway in DC at the time. The point is that I enjoyed the books tremendously, at the time. Partly because of the time, partly because of my age, and partly because of the author's ability to vividly paint a picture of Middle Earth in my head that I had no other media in which to view it. I have no idea how much I would like or dislike the books if I would read them today for the first time. Now that my situation has been altered by remote control, subways, cable TV, DVD and cell phones with cameras in them. I would probably think the books stink, too. However, in my humble opinion, the movies were well done. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 142
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 01:57 pm: |
|
Lambd and Soulofaauthor, if you don't have a problem with supplying an address, you can e-mail me at LanPbls130@aol.com, and I will mail you a copy of my book for free. I'm not marketing this novel any more. I just give away the copies I have left. I don't feel I should charge people for a book I needed to have done a better job on. |
Soulofaauthor
Newbie Poster
Username: Soulofaauthor
Post Number: 15
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 05:49 pm: |
|
Cynique I sent you email with my info.I can't wait to get your book Lambd you know I shouldnt have told any one to be kind.Cause to be honest if I didnt do a good job I will want to know.Thats one reason I never let my husband read anything I write cause I know he loves me and won't hurt my feeling.So I know as much as he would hate to lie he would to save my feelings. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 144
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 10:14 pm: |
|
Gotcha covered, Soulofaauthor. A book is on the way. |
Chrishayden
Veteran Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 66
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 11:56 am: |
|
Cynique:
What sane, mature adult have you talked to who read it who praised it?
All: I have read Cynique's book(s) (she has written two) and I liked them much better than LOTR.
Lambd: I read the whole trilogy when I was 16-17 and enjoyed it immensely. I tried to read them again when the movies came up and cannot read more than a page--
In the ensuing years I have come to enjoy the real thang ("The Iliad" "The Odyssey" "The Canterbury Tales" "Beowulf" "Ring of the Neibelungs" "The Morte D'Arthur") much better than Tolien's warmed over fake middle English crapplino.
Sorry. Just because a lot of people like a thing doesn't make it good. Don't take it personally--it is no reflection on you if you do like it--but you should expose yourself to the good stuff--once you have had filet mignon you may still like McDonald's but you will never confuse the two. |
Lambd
Regular Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 42
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 01:19 pm: |
|
Just because I've read Tolkien as a child, doesn't mean that I haven't read or appreciated anything else since. Like I said, I'm no genius, but I have had an opportunity to read and enjoy some of the "filet mignon" you speak of. (the quotation marks are no reflection on you. I wouldn't take it personally if I liked the 'Canterbury Tales'. I'm just not one to like a thing just because someone else might think it filet mignon as opposed to the McDonald's I ate as a ten year old.) I also read alot of Greek mythology at that age, but I wouldn't recommend it to an adult in this era. Things of this nature were also assigned reading in school in later years. They were supposed to be 'great' works.
These books may have been great to someone else...Boring to me. The Iliad and the Odyssey has its place, but would you recommend that to someone? Someone you care about? Or someone you are trying to impress? Surely, if you call these books filet mignon because you picked them out and read them for pleasure, that's one thing. Are they on your bookshelf in your home because you plan to pick them up again for the third time and read them? Anyway you want to measure it, Chris.
I think you missed my point entirely. I didn't like the trilogy because alot of people liked it. I liked it because I was ten. Just because I liked it when I was ten doesn't mean I haven't been exposed to your 'great' literary picks. What makes you think that I, and others like me, have not 'exposed ourselves to the good stuff'? That is a very pretentious and bourgeois thing to say.
Many times, when filet mignon is served, its served wrapped in pork. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 146
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 01:47 pm: |
|
Come on, Chris, you always fall into the mode of dealing in absolutes. Millions of people all over the world are fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. Colleges have courses amd seminars on his works which are considered classics. There's no law that says you have to like the LOTR triology but just because you don't like them doesn't mean they are garbage. Tolkien based his works on Beowolf and Norse mythology. And his experiences as a World War One veteran also influenced his view of the world. |
Chrishayden
Veteran Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 69
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 02:10 pm: |
|
Lambd & Cynique:
Garbage. Plain and simple. Derivative garbage and racist to boot. J.RR Tolkien can eat my shorts.
Don't waste your time with it--but you probably will to prove me wrong and you will convince yourself it was all wonderful-- |
Lambd
Regular Poster
Username: Lambd
Post Number: 43
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 09:32 pm: |
|
Chris, you still miss my point. I don't take exception that you call his work garbage. I just didn't think that you were being entirely fair when you said, 'but you should expose yourself to the good stuff--once you have had filet mignon you may still like McDonald's but you will never confuse the two.' If your opinion is that Tolkien's work is McDonald's compared to filet mignon, or derivative, racist garbage, that's cool. However, don't make the mistake that that is all I have ever read. That stuff that you call filet mignon may be Alpo to someone with a slightly different palate. I respect you no less for your opinion of Tolkien's work, but I respect you no more for your close-minded opinion of me. I've always looked forward to reading your insight here on the board. After reading how you see others on the board, I will still look for your insight, but my perception of you is now forever skewed. Assuming that we are not as well read as yourself has cut me to the quick. The wound makes me ponder
another question. How many other people on this site spend there time here looking down on the masses and feeling superior? There are probably twice as many people who have something to say but are intimidated by the inflated egos & self righteous intellects that have read all the 'greats' and feel it necessary to drop title here or the name of an author there to ensure their place among the elite. If Tolkien can eat your shorts, sir, then so be it. I, for one, refuse to address this subject one moment longer, for fear that my comments will once again fall upon deaf ears. |
Spratlin
First Time Poster
Username: Spratlin
Post Number: 1
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 10:51 pm: |
|
The best example of a book properly translated to film would be Elmore Leonard's "GET SHORTY".
In terms of books with black characters, Elmore Leonard's novel "RUM PUNCH" was filmed as "JACKIE BROWN" with Pam Greer as the central character when in reality the character in the book was white. The Samuel Jackson character however, was racially accurate as was the Chris Tucker characater. This film interpretation did follow the storyline quite well.In order for a good filmic translation to occur, the novel must have a good storyline with a beginning, middle and an end. Sometimes a denoument is in order. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 156
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 11:05 pm: |
|
Chris, if I read the LOTR trilogy, it won't be to defy you. It'll be because I want to. I don't feel the need to prove anything to you. Get your arrogance in check, babe. |
Email This Page