XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies   
      
   In message    
     Wayne Brown  wrote:   
   > In rec.arts.books.tolkien Paul S. Person    
   wrote:   
   >> On Tue, 27 May 2014 21:22:08 +0000 (UTC), Wayne Brown   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>On Sat, 24 May 2014 02:49:51 in article    
   Sandman  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> That's the problem with you guys - you think there are only one way to do   
   >>>> things the "right" way. That really bothers me, this elitism.   
   >>>   
   >>>For me it's very simple; the only "right" way to do a story is the way   
   >>>the author did it.  Books in general are superior to films in general,   
   >>>and the author is always right.   
   >>   
   >> To the extent that 'the only "right" way to do a story is the way the   
   >> author did it' can be equated to "tells the same story", I agree with   
   >> you; to the extent that it confuses adaptation with transciption, I do   
   >> not.   
      
   > Suppose you took two people of similar tastes and writing styles, neither   
   > of whom were familiar with the story, and had one read the book and the   
   > other watch the film.  Then you ask each to give you a written description   
   > of the story.  Ideally, from my viewpoint, it would be nearly impossible   
   > to tell the descriptions apart.   
      
   Then you either have a bad book, a bad movie, or most likely, both.   
      
   To expect a visual medium to produce the same impressions as one that is   
   based on a construction in the reader's mind is absurd.   
      
   > Or to look at it another way:  Take a group of people who all the read the   
   > same book, but had different reactions to it.  A particular person may   
   > have laughed at parts that made someone else sad, and made someone else   
   > angry.  Now show them the film, and each should have the same reactions,   
   > i.e. be amused or saddened or angered by the same things in the film as   
   > in the book.  In other words, the film should create the same reactions,   
   > convey the same message, in effect, give the same *experience* as reading   
   > the book, even though that experience may vary from one person to another.   
      
   Care to give an example?   
      
   --   
   'Long Live The Changing Things To A More Equitable State While Retaining   
   Due Respect For The Traditions Of Our Forebears And Of Course Not   
   Harming The August Personage Of The Emperor Endeavour!' --Interesting   
   Times   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)