Dear Alexandre Dumas...wtf?!
I just finished The Count of Monte Cristo. Before I say anything more there are two great lines:
"Fool that I am," said he, that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself!"
The Count of Monte Cristo to himself after he was convinced by his former love not to kill her son because if he did than he would spoil the memory of the perfect man she believes him to be.
The Count stayed behind with Morrel, who remained as still as a statue.
"Come, come! said the Count, tapping him on the shoulder with his burning fingers. "Are you going to be a man again?"
"Yes, since I am again beginning to suffer."
That last one reminds me of my favorite line from 'The Gay Divorcee', a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film where Fred's friend accuses Fred of pining for Ginger. Fred says, "Pine? Pine? Men don't pine. Men suffer."
I directly stole that line and put it in my x-men movie years ago as a Wolverine line.
But back to "The Count of Monte Cristo ...
Is it exciting? Yes.
Is it an awesome tale of revenge? Yes.
Is Edmond Dantes a noble, dashing, handsome hero whom you root for and wish to meet? Yes.
Is it gloriously over-dramatic with ridiculously unrealistic dialogue? Yes.
Is it damn confusing with the writer using random titles and different names for characters so you often don't know what the hell is happening? Yes.
Is it filled with out-dated, stupid, sexist ideals about women who should trust blindly with money and their lives to the men around them and God-forbid they marry someone after they think their love is DEAD because that is proof that they are unfaithful, and any woman who doesn't mourn the death of her lost-love forever is a damn whore that should be made to suffer until her own dying day? YES.
I watched the most recent movie version of this story and really enjoyed it. I listened to the extra on the DVD by the screenwriter who talked about how he changed the story to make it better for today's movie people. I wanted to know how far he strayed from the storyline so I read the book. Holy crap. The basic tales is the same, but so many details are changed, correctly, I must say, by that screenwriter, so that women didn't throw up while watching the movie. Alexandre Dumas was not writing for women, probably because he wasn't aware that women were literate in his time, perhaps? If this is an example of 19th century thinking, I am going to have so much fun with Victorian camp this year...
"Fool that I am," said he, that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself!"
The Count of Monte Cristo to himself after he was convinced by his former love not to kill her son because if he did than he would spoil the memory of the perfect man she believes him to be.
The Count stayed behind with Morrel, who remained as still as a statue.
"Come, come! said the Count, tapping him on the shoulder with his burning fingers. "Are you going to be a man again?"
"Yes, since I am again beginning to suffer."
That last one reminds me of my favorite line from 'The Gay Divorcee', a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film where Fred's friend accuses Fred of pining for Ginger. Fred says, "Pine? Pine? Men don't pine. Men suffer."
I directly stole that line and put it in my x-men movie years ago as a Wolverine line.
But back to "The Count of Monte Cristo ...
Is it exciting? Yes.
Is it an awesome tale of revenge? Yes.
Is Edmond Dantes a noble, dashing, handsome hero whom you root for and wish to meet? Yes.
Is it gloriously over-dramatic with ridiculously unrealistic dialogue? Yes.
Is it damn confusing with the writer using random titles and different names for characters so you often don't know what the hell is happening? Yes.
Is it filled with out-dated, stupid, sexist ideals about women who should trust blindly with money and their lives to the men around them and God-forbid they marry someone after they think their love is DEAD because that is proof that they are unfaithful, and any woman who doesn't mourn the death of her lost-love forever is a damn whore that should be made to suffer until her own dying day? YES.
I watched the most recent movie version of this story and really enjoyed it. I listened to the extra on the DVD by the screenwriter who talked about how he changed the story to make it better for today's movie people. I wanted to know how far he strayed from the storyline so I read the book. Holy crap. The basic tales is the same, but so many details are changed, correctly, I must say, by that screenwriter, so that women didn't throw up while watching the movie. Alexandre Dumas was not writing for women, probably because he wasn't aware that women were literate in his time, perhaps? If this is an example of 19th century thinking, I am going to have so much fun with Victorian camp this year...