S. WOody, I found your response presumptuous and ill-informed. You don't know me and have NO knowledge of what number of classic works I have an intimate knowledge of.
My comments had to do with modern works published that had generated a significant amount of press dealing with upcoming film versions. For example, I did not read JAWS before the film came out. That had NOTHING to do with what I taught in my classroom and everything to do with keeping the filmgoing experience as fresh and as surprising for me as it was possible to be.
I said nothing about knowledge of classic works which as an honors English teacher it was my great joy and pleasure to know and know well. And when films were made from classic works, Branagh's Shakespeare series, for example, I had no trouble at all bringing my knowledge of the printed page into what he as a filmmaker brought to the project.
But bk said what I feel, too. My method worked for me for twenty-five years of writing film reviews and thirty years of teaching English.
That you felt the need to criticize to the point of insult my own techniques was thoroughly unnecessary.
Matt, from your comments I believe I would not appreciate your work as a critic. Using your own example of
Jaws, to not be familiar with the book, or it's genesis as a pre-sold screenplay basis, shows a lack of appreciation of a work's growth. This is not to denegrate Spielberg's work as a director; if anything, he overcame the deficits of the novel to create a cinematic treasure. But I would consider what Spielberg did in taking the schematic of the original novel as the basis of the film to be a part of informing the readership to the film's impact, to be an essential part of a review, if simply because a part of that readership will be familiar with the novel.
There is an additional problem that I have with your comments yesterday. You wrote:
My friend Hal is a BIG Potter fan, and he's promised to loan me all the books when I'm ready to read them. After THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, he was dying to tell me some of the things that happened, but I managed to keep him for revealing anything.
Now, consider: we are currently witnessing the publication of Harry Potter SIX. Harry Potter FOUR, published in 2000, won't be released as a film until November 18th of this year. This makes for a five year lag time between book publication and film relase.
Now, if we are to be consistant, this means that any discussion of Harry Potter Six (as a novel) will have to be withheld for five years, assuming that film production keeps pace with the books. That's an awfully long time to avoid discussion of a topic, simply to avoid spoiling a
part of the topic.
One of my friends here on this board has told me that it won't be until September until said friend reads the book, because of a reading backlog. I can accept this, and look forward to said friend's reactions. But
five years? That's pushing it way beyond acceptable limits.
I'm reminded of a run of
Peanuts strips, where Linus reveals the secret of Rosebud in
Citizen Kane and Sally is anguished about the film being ruined for her appreciation because of his inadvertant revelation. True, Linus could have handled the situation better, but what Sally was demanding was a censorship of discussion. This was just as wrong. Why should the Linuses of the world be held back by the Sallys? (I, personally, have no problem with people discussing the merits of
The Godfather I & II due to my not having viewed the films myself. My own faults should not hold back those around me.)
