Comments on: The Unfilmables

By: Deron Bauman

Deron Bauman — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:33:14 +0000

India, well said.

By: Andrew Simone

Andrew Simone — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:32:08 +0000

I was wondering if anybody would notice that. He (I assume it’s a ‘he’) is just one of those people, I gather. Why anybody dislikes dear ole’ Jane has always confused me.

By: India

India — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:25:16 +0000

I’m sorry, I haven’t clicked through to the article because I’m still stuck on the second line of the quote:

especially pre-20th century novels such as Jane Austen’s gossip columns

Um, exsqueeze me?

By: John Buaas

John Buaas — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:02:51 +0000

Re the post’s comment about One Hundred Years of Solitude‘s chief difficulty being that it doesn’t have one central character from its beginning to end: That’s not quite true, but we’ll leave that alone for the moment. What IS interesting, though, is film’s apparent implicit requirement that it have a central character or characters, which is something I’d not thought about before reading and thinking about OHYoS’s filmability.

I’m sure there are other instances, but the one film I can think of now that blatantly violates that “rule” is Psycho: what must have its first audiences thought when the film clearly establishes Marion (Janet Leigh) as its central character, only to have her killed off a half-hour into the film, and we’re forced to go along for the rest of film with Norman Bates, of all people? The shower scene’s visual power is undeniable, but I can’t help but wonder if some of its power also derives from having to switch POV horses in midstream, as it were. I’ve not read the novel it’s based on, so I don’t know if the film’s narrative structure follows the novel’s. ‘Twould be interesting to know . . .

By: Sheila Ryan

Sheila Ryan — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:41:10 +0000

Knock it off, guys. I got stuff to do. Can’t be diving into this exchange right now — much as I want to.

(So go offline, Sheila, and get your damn work finished. The film/literature/narrative conversation started a while back, and it probably won’t have reached a conclusion before this evening.)

By: Andrew Simone

Andrew Simone — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:20:43 +0000

I don’t know much either, but I hang out with a bunch of folks who do (so I pretend to know what I am talking about).

By: John Buaas

John Buaas — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:10:56 +0000

I saw this a couple of days ago. I thought some of the choices didn’t seem especially daunting to me; but then again, I know approximately nothing about the art of film-making.

By: Andrew Simone

Andrew Simone — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:42:46 +0000

I knew you would love the post, Sheila.

I just knew it.

By: Sheila Ryan

Sheila Ryan — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:19:23 +0000

Well, in the spirit of Mary Jeys vis-a-vis the Le Mans racing jacket — “Thank YOU, Andrew.” I only have, like, 101 Important Things to Do today, and here you go posting a link to something that will provide much entertainment and quite possibly offer opportunities for me to wax indignant and get all testy the way I like to do sometimes.

(Say: Maybe I could take a longer look at this AFTER I’ve done my onerous tasks. Hunh. Resist the siren song of diversion at least for a time. It’s a thought.)