Thursday, July 12, 2007

ambivalence

Do you ever read a book and think, "man, I wonder if this will ever be a movie?" and then one day you see the preview for that movie?

Last night I saw a preview for the Susan Cooper book "The Dark is Rising" which I loved as a kid. It was a lot darker than other kids books (of course); Its child hero wasn't this bold, idiotic kid who flew by the seat of his pants to save the day. He was thoughtful, and sad to find out that he was chosen for his particular task. He also wasn't a singular "chosen one," but part of a few people who were born immortal, and he acknowledges that being immortal pretty much sucks. Besides that, the writing was poetry.

So my first reaction, once I realized what story they were doing, was to be kind of excited. But the way Will seems written in the movie (as per the preview) is the sort of stock, brash, Eragonesque kid. And they seem to invoke the whole "chosen one" trope.

I will probably see it. But I am bracing myself to leave the theater mad.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Save yourself the heartache. Walden Media, the makers of the Dark is Rising movie, have essentially declared war on the fans of the book. The screenwriter is quoted as saying "I think some of that sort of, the pre-Christian element or the Arthurian stuff isn't really in the script." They've cut the heart and soul out of the story and replaced it with a lot of pointless violence. I could cry.

zurvan said...

Ah, it's worse than I thought!
Thanks for the info.