(no subject)
The Golden Compass opens tomorrow.
I have loved the His Dark Materials trilogy since childhood. I was always a book child, and these books challenged my sense of both reality and morality, and I think they contributed significantly to my identity as a questioning individual. As Lyra says towards the end of The Golden Compass, "If they think it's bad, then it must be good!" Right on, scrappy, self-motivated young heroine!
So, as you might imagine, I'm terrified to see it. Already the pronunciation in the previews has disagreed with my reading of the words. Maybe it's my English major nature, but by gods, I need people to pronounce words in a way that makes sense. Kidman is an excellent choice for the role of Mrs. Coulter, and Ian McKellen as the voice of Iorek Byrnison makes my knees quaver (except, from what little I've heard of his speaking, he needed to rumble more, instead of just being bear!Gandalf). But I'm a little worried that they will murder it. The fact that they keep referring to the alethiometer as the golden compass, which NEVER happens in the book, irks me. It's one thing to have the voice-over dude for the previews say golden compass, because saying alethiometer won't pull people into the theaters, but it's not the correct term. NOT NOT NOT. So having characters use it in the film itself just hurts my brain.
What about you all? Have you read the books? How do you feel about the way it looks like it'll come out? Have you had other books that were dear to you that were adapted to film?
I have loved the His Dark Materials trilogy since childhood. I was always a book child, and these books challenged my sense of both reality and morality, and I think they contributed significantly to my identity as a questioning individual. As Lyra says towards the end of The Golden Compass, "If they think it's bad, then it must be good!" Right on, scrappy, self-motivated young heroine!
So, as you might imagine, I'm terrified to see it. Already the pronunciation in the previews has disagreed with my reading of the words. Maybe it's my English major nature, but by gods, I need people to pronounce words in a way that makes sense. Kidman is an excellent choice for the role of Mrs. Coulter, and Ian McKellen as the voice of Iorek Byrnison makes my knees quaver (except, from what little I've heard of his speaking, he needed to rumble more, instead of just being bear!Gandalf). But I'm a little worried that they will murder it. The fact that they keep referring to the alethiometer as the golden compass, which NEVER happens in the book, irks me. It's one thing to have the voice-over dude for the previews say golden compass, because saying alethiometer won't pull people into the theaters, but it's not the correct term. NOT NOT NOT. So having characters use it in the film itself just hurts my brain.
What about you all? Have you read the books? How do you feel about the way it looks like it'll come out? Have you had other books that were dear to you that were adapted to film?