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From Holes to Harry Potter
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:46:20 -0500
I haven't actually seen Holes but look forward to it greatly, based in part on this discussion.
Cassie Wilson wrote that "The spirit of the work, at least, seems to have come through" about the movie Holes. This has me thinking about the Harry Potter movies, in which the filmmakers, while leaving many things out from the books (out of necessity), subscribed to the letter of the law, so to speak, in interpreting what they did include. But what I find a bit disappointing is that there was no interpretation of the "spirit"--everything is a literal translation and I was hoping for a few surprises.
I enjoyed the HP movies very much, but did not feel enriched by them, and I don't feel the need to see them more than once to gain new insights. The HP books, on the other hand, do offer new insights with additional reading.
One of my experiences that speaks to the strength of the books over the movie is that when I read the books, I am not bound by move images of what the characters or setting look like (for which I am grateful). In that sense, the book world and the movie world are wholly separate for me.
On the one hand, I think that the HP movies, particularly the first one, would have been lambasted had they deviated in any significant way from the books. On the other hand, there is no friction between the movie and the book. Of course I don't want changes in plot, but I would like to feel challenged by an interpretation of something in the translation to the screen.
With a new director for the third film, I hope there will be a few surprises and challenges.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 10 Jul 2003 08:46:20 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:46:20 -0500
I haven't actually seen Holes but look forward to it greatly, based in part on this discussion.
Cassie Wilson wrote that "The spirit of the work, at least, seems to have come through" about the movie Holes. This has me thinking about the Harry Potter movies, in which the filmmakers, while leaving many things out from the books (out of necessity), subscribed to the letter of the law, so to speak, in interpreting what they did include. But what I find a bit disappointing is that there was no interpretation of the "spirit"--everything is a literal translation and I was hoping for a few surprises.
I enjoyed the HP movies very much, but did not feel enriched by them, and I don't feel the need to see them more than once to gain new insights. The HP books, on the other hand, do offer new insights with additional reading.
One of my experiences that speaks to the strength of the books over the movie is that when I read the books, I am not bound by move images of what the characters or setting look like (for which I am grateful). In that sense, the book world and the movie world are wholly separate for me.
On the one hand, I think that the HP movies, particularly the first one, would have been lambasted had they deviated in any significant way from the books. On the other hand, there is no friction between the movie and the book. Of course I don't want changes in plot, but I would like to feel challenged by an interpretation of something in the translation to the screen.
With a new director for the third film, I hope there will be a few surprises and challenges.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Thu 10 Jul 2003 08:46:20 AM CDT
