Catherine Fisher: Claudia not meant as "the romantic interest" for Finn

[kissingdaylight]

“My idea was just to suggest relationships and leave it to the readers to puzzle over- which everyone seems to be doing! Certainly I don’t want the film to polarize everything into a conventional romance, as I think the very fact that things are not spelled out is what readers find intriguing. It’s interesting that in the hype regarding the casting

Comments

[rj_anderson]

I think a lot of people ship Claudia and Finn simply because they are both around the same age, they're both protagonists of the novel, and because the text tells us they are destined for a dynastic marriage (if Finn turns out to be Giles, that is, which of course we don't know in the first book and possibly not even in the second).

The problem is, they barely seem to get along, let alone have any romantic chemistry with each other. In fact Finn shows no romantic interest in anyone over the course of the books, unless you interpret his obsession with Keiro that way (and I could see how some might). He's too fixated on his guilt over the Maestra and his confusion about his own identity to look outside himself, even though Attia clearly adores him.

Meanwhile, Claudia loves no one but Jared, according to the Warden -- though she also does love the Warden, but it's in such a twisted and complicated way that their relationship overshadows almost any other in the series. It's all about Claudia and her daddy issues, really.

So yeah, for Hollywood to turn this into the Epic Love Story of Claudia and Finn really DOES seem like they've never read the books. Admittedly, it's pretty hard to explain their relationship (or sell people on the concept) if you don't market their relationship that way, but I fear that if the movie does get made they're going to "simplify" things by downplaying the Warden's role (and certainly Jared's) in Claudia's life and make her romantically as well as politically obsessed with Finn.

WHO IS PLAYED BY TAYLOR LAUTNER. I can see the sky opening and weeping fire and blood right now.

Perish the thought!

[freenarnian]

Better Finn than Jared (played by Taylor Lautner)!

(Yes, that is my desperate attempt to look on the bright side. "Optimistic" is not the word I'd use to describe my feelings toward the film.)