Having never read the book or seen the screen adaptation I don't feel that I am adequately armed to comment on the detail. However you raise a very good point with regards to narrating one's own story.
This is mostly why I shy away from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, status updates and photo diaries. I don't like giving that much of myself away for others to judge. I'm fine giving details, terrible at giving emotions. There are some people I know that refuse to be contacted unless it's via a social network, they have my phone number, we've met - yet the insist on "writing on my wall"
Perhaps like the character above I'm longing for a bygone age, where you could be as private or as open as you wanted to be.
With film adaptation though there is always the matter of mass appeal and popularity. In my opinion "Far and Away" would have better had Tom Cruise's character died in the end. Few films / adaptations I have seen have been brave enough to leave the audience without a glimmer of hope for the character(s)
I will always attempt to read the book first (providing I’m aware one exists) prior to watching a film based on the book. It still irritates the hell out of me when they seem to change the point of the piece entirely though.
I find Facebook the strangest of them all. I mean, I pretty much accept an add from anyone on Facebook, providing I have actually met them/internet met them at some point in my life. There are very few people I know and speak to on a regular basis that don't have an account. And I watch these people tell their darkest secrets, have public slanging matches and close-to-breakdowns in such a public forum, and I just.don't.get.it. I don't mind posting bits of my day, random thoughts and chatting to people, but my dear family seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to sling all their dirty laundry out in public all over the internet. And I just think, this is what you're leaving behind. This is what people will think of you, remember you for, years from now. I'll keep my truly personal to the corners of the internet I can filter satisfactorily, thank you very much!
RE: the film thing - I think that's why, as a whole, I prefer decently made television to film. I'm trying to think of films that have been properly brave enough to just leave it there and let the audience deal in their own way, and I can't think of many at all. Inception, I guess you can argue. Open Your Eyes (The original Spanish version of 'Vanilla Sky', which got extremely dumbed down for Hollywood). Blade Runner. I'm sure there is more but that's it, off the top of my head. Telly does it much better, I think, which is why I find it both more heartbreaking and interesting, and much more worth my emotional investment.
I always try and read the book first too. I find if I do it the other way around the characters are already in my head as the actors, and it stops my imagination choosing it's own direction. Which is kinda the whole point of reading, to let your imagination take over, you know what I mean?
This is mostly why I shy away from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, status updates and photo diaries. I don't like giving that much of myself away for others to judge. I'm fine giving details, terrible at giving emotions. There are some people I know that refuse to be contacted unless it's via a social network, they have my phone number, we've met - yet the insist on "writing on my wall"
Perhaps like the character above I'm longing for a bygone age, where you could be as private or as open as you wanted to be.
With film adaptation though there is always the matter of mass appeal and popularity. In my opinion "Far and Away" would have better had Tom Cruise's character died in the end. Few films / adaptations I have seen have been brave enough to leave the audience without a glimmer of hope for the character(s)
I will always attempt to read the book first (providing I’m aware one exists) prior to watching a film based on the book. It still irritates the hell out of me when they seem to change the point of the piece entirely though.
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RE: the film thing - I think that's why, as a whole, I prefer decently made television to film. I'm trying to think of films that have been properly brave enough to just leave it there and let the audience deal in their own way, and I can't think of many at all. Inception, I guess you can argue. Open Your Eyes (The original Spanish version of 'Vanilla Sky', which got extremely dumbed down for Hollywood). Blade Runner. I'm sure there is more but that's it, off the top of my head. Telly does it much better, I think, which is why I find it both more heartbreaking and interesting, and much more worth my emotional investment.
I always try and read the book first too. I find if I do it the other way around the characters are already in my head as the actors, and it stops my imagination choosing it's own direction. Which is kinda the whole point of reading, to let your imagination take over, you know what I mean?
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