It's REAL! Sort of.
I'm off to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the second time this afternoon, and it's struck me that the last few years of my adult life have been weirdly like a series of dreams come true. Well, not come true, but I can SEE them now -- that is, apparently God, in Her infinite wisdom, has decided that all my favorite childhood books
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Yes, but it's sort of sad to me too--there's something to be said for the anticipation. But more, what if it's not like your dreams? I have to say I'm usually disappointed in the movie versions of my favorites. I've not seen the Narnia movie yet, but I remember when I first watched the LoTRs I hated it. It wasn't what I wanted. I finally accepted that it couldn't be exactly like I wanted, and I managed to enjoy the movies after that.
And I think the movie versions cause people to see things differently. I'm not really sure that there would be as many Snape supporters if Alan Rickman didn't play him. Or if the boy who plays Draco weren't cute, would we like him? I think the HP movies have had a huge impact on the fandom. I'm not saying it's bad, just very influential.
I guess if I made movies they'd all be exactly like the books and last 10 hours. I knew there was a reason I'm not living in Hollywood! I just get so passionate about my favorites that it's hard to be objective. I've heard rumors that The Dark is Rising is going to be made into a movie and I'm not really sure how I feel about that. It's a chance for the books to be introduced to a new audience, but it's such a tricky thing. What if the characters don't look like they do in my head? (And does everyone thing of the movie!Potter in there heads now even though he has blue eyes?)
I think when I read a book it's such a solitary experience that I develop a protective feeling about the characters and story. The film version is a collection of views and thus feels less personal. I still have a hard time sharing this, yet I go see the movies, even get excited. Perhaps it is only when we let go for a little while that we can appreciate the collective experience and enjoy the visualization of our story (even if made by others). I'll always have them in my head when the movie's done. (Even if Draco Malfoy is a little bit cuter afterwards.)
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I've heard rumors that The Dark is Rising is going to be made into a movie
WOW! Pardon me while I squee briefly here. I love that series, and would indeed be cool to see it get the publicity boost that that a movie would give it.
That said, of course I share your ambivalence about movies -- ambivalence, not dislike, the key thing about ambivalence being that it contains a big whopping component of outright love, though one complicated by other things. For example I loved, loved, LOVED the Lord of the Rings movies -- they were what pulled me into fandom after years of hovering on its edges. There were parts of those movies that made me gasp, as if someone had taken the way I'd always pictured something -- Bag End for example -- and put it up on screen. Other parts of the movies differed from the way I'd pictured the books and in some cases from the way I'd understood the characters.
But to me those differences were not, ultimately, distressing, because after all people do see books differently. I suppose what makes a movie interpretation work for me is the feeling that I'm in the presence of a serious, fully engaged reading of the books, by a team of directors and scriptwriters who truly love the characters and the world. I felt that about the Lord of the Rings films; I felt that about the new Narnia movie, I've felt that about movies three and four in the HP series. I guess there's nothing more we can ask for than to have talented filmmakers share their vision with us, and I get a bit distressed when a fandom I'm reading breaks down into mutually hostile camps of book lovers vs. movie lovers. Really, it's all good.
On the other hand I really do take your point about the effect of these images on our imaginations -- there is no blessing in this life that isn't mixed, yes? :D The argument about Draco is one I've seen before (from Rowling herself among other people); and yes, it is very difficult, once you've seen an actor or a set, to get that picture out of your head when you think about canon. In the case of Tom Felton I have to say that I didn't see the argument at all until the last movie -- I thought the kid looked like he'd been rolled out of Playdough, and my Draco lurve was based entirely on the books and fanfic. Then, yeah, I admit, something very, very good seems to have happened to that young man in the last year or so, and in the last movie I thought him beautiful as the day and graceful as a cat. No, I won't be able to get such a pretty picture out of my head, but I find it hard to regret that. :D )
I suppose, hmmm, yes: images do colonize our heads, and then go on to affect the way we understand the text, and in part my original post was about that process. I guess in the end I think though that there are advantages to BOTH ways of understanding. Without images we rely on our own imaginations, with images, our imaginations go into dialogue with other ways of seeing the text. Now, I agree that such a dialogue can be very suffocating if the image is the only thing that speaks, but if our imaginations talk back to it, engage with it rather than submitting to it, then maybe we can take from movies a richer understanding of the book -- albeit one that has changed.
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