Best/worst film adaptation of a literary work?
- Created on 24 April 2007
- 24 April 2007
- Gerard Wood
This is a tough one for a reason that is so obvious it's barely worth stating, but what the hell - a film and a literary work are fundamentally different! Ridley Scott's Bladerunner and the novel by Philip K. Dick on which it is based, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, aptly demonstrate the issue. Both are excellent in their own right, but if we judge the movie on the basis of the novel where does that leave us?
Assuming it's even worth comparing apples and oranges (and some might argue it's not), the first thing we need to clarify is the basis on which we are to judge the movie. If we judge it on how true it is to the source novel, do we mean ‘how accurately does the movie mirror the novel?’ or ‘how true to the spirit of the novel is the movie?’
On the basis of the first, most, if not all, movies fail simply because novels and movies are such vastly different media. Bladerunner certainly does. It’s donkey's years since I’ve read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheepbut I’m 99% certain that there is no suggestion that Deckard is an android. This is a pretty significant divergence from the original text, so Bladerunner thereby fails miserably!!
But given that we're talking apples and oranges, maybe this basis of judgement is as pointless as those proverbial tits on a bull.
Which leaves us with how truthfully does a film capture the spirit of the novel. This is, I think, the most we can expect from a film version of a literary work. And on that basis Bladerunner rates very highly. Deckard might not be an android in the novel, but he has been dehumanised by his work and life and what better way for Scott to capture that spirit of the novel than to insinusate that Deckard is an android?
So, to kick off a list of items to include in these two polls:
Best
- Blade Runner based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by P.K. Dick
- Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy based on The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Dune and Children of Dune (SciFi Channel) based on Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
- Conan the Barbarian (John Milius director) based on Robert E. Howard's stories (yes, I'm serious)
- Excalibur (John Boorman director) based on Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
- Curse of the Ring (aka Dark Kingdom - The Dragon King) based on The Nibelungenlied and The Saga of the Volsungs (the second time I watched it I loved it!)
- Minority Report (Steven Spielberg director) based on a short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick (if only Spielberg had resisted the temptation to explain EVEYRTHING at the very end!!!)
- Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton director) based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
- The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner director) based on The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
Worst
- Beowulf & Grendel (starring Gerard Butler, who is far more convincing in 300!!) based on Beowulf
- Dune (David Lynch) based on Dune by Frank Herbert (I confess to liking this movie, but it takes almost unforgiveable liberties with the novel)
- Earthsea (SciFi Channel) based on The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin (Sacrilegious treatment of a fantastic literary achievement - it really has to be seen to be believed!!)
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