Ooooh, Blogger has had an overhaul! Long overdue, the old interface really didn't fit in with the sleek shiny unified Google UI look they've been moving towards. A little confusing for now, but I'm sure I'll get used to it!
<Insert tired excuse for not posting here> - yeah, I really have no excuse. And this is going to be a bit short and sweet anyway. Apologies for those hanging on my every word!
It may not surprise you to hear that I've been watching, and very much enjoying, the Game of Thrones TV series (adapted from the books by George R. R. Martin). In Season Two (slightly confusingly, still titled Game Of Thrones, despite being adapted from the second book, A Clash of Kings), an increasing number of liberties have been taken with the canon, which is enraging some of the more die-hard fans. Characters have been introduced or written out, conversations happen in different ways, at different times, and sometimes between different characters. More commonly, the tone and subtext of exchanges is altered, both by the lack of internal monologue, and the choice of which lines to keep and which to cut/merge.
Personally, I think they're doing a fantastic job. I'm very much of the opinion that to stay slavishly true to the original is the mark of a lazy adapter. If you're reinterpreting a work, you are creating a new piece of art, which, by the nature of its different medium, must fulfil different demands and work in a different way. The truly excellent comic book Watchmen, by Alan Moore (which you really should read, by the way - it is one of the best arguments for comics being "not just for kids anymore", along with the truly staggering Sandman series by Neil Gaiman) was adapted into an equally excellent film, which managed to please critics despite having a completely different ending! The different interpretation of results, however, was not only well supported by the preceding drama, but also lent itself well to the silver screen, and so, it was a success.
The most obviously different conditions between books and TV are both caused by timing. When reading a book, you can take your time over it, re-read sentences, and work your way to the subtext and the implications - two things that Martin loves to spread throughout his writing. A TV viewer doesn't have that luxury, and so insinuations and hints have to be made a little more explicit. Conversations must necessarily lose a little of their subtlety, or risk leaving non-readers stranded.
Additionally, a TV episode has to keep viewers wanting more, and so each episode must end on a cliffhanger, a dramatic scene, or at the very least something that makes viewers think that they will want to tune in again next week. While books can employ similar techniques (and, indeed, several of Martin's chapters do end on notes that leave readers frantically scrabbling through pages to find the resolution), they are not forced to with the same regularity as episodes, and do not have to hit the same narrative "beats". Chopping and changing of event orders is entirely understandable, under this pressure. As a good example, a particular character would have, in the books, spent several weeks wandering the wilderness, hiding from marauders and would-be captors, in the narrative space between episodes 3 and 4, before finally being captures. In the show, she is taken directly from her previous escort. While the intervening time helps build the sense of desperation, it is not, narratively, important, and so its removal is justified.
There are downsides, of course. I fear that viewers are missing out on some of the rich backstory and history of the world, and that future plot twists might seem a little like Di ex machina without the subtle foreshadowing that peppered the books - but, on the whole, I feel that a hard job is being done very well, and the crew and cast should feel very proud! Of course, it does help to have the author as an Executive Co-producer :)
Plus, at the end of the day, this way someone who has only seen the show can effectively discover a whole new depth to the series by reading the books, furthering their enjoyment - and that can't be bad!
[A personal plea - those links what you see up there are Amazon Affiliate links. If you click them and then buy anything (not necessarily the product they link to, as long as you browse in the same tab), a percentage of what you spend will go to me instead of Amazon, at no extra cost to you. Obviously, if you're thinking of expanding your library, or indeed buying anything Amazon-wise, I'd very much appreciate it if you did so via these links! It's completely anonymous and, once again, adds not a cent to the price you pay]
No comments:
Post a Comment