Thursday, March 13, 2008

HP7 Gets Split!

It has been officially announced: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split into two films. All of Harry Potter nerd-dom (of which I am most definitely a part) is up in arms debating whether or not this is just a ploy to extend the franchise and get more money, or whether it is a good thing that we've actually been wanting for a couple of the previous films, or whether it even matters (we've got our books and let the world rot--we'll be sitting in our rooms reading). my thought is this: I love Harry Potter. Whatever reason the studio has for making two films (be it the artistic vision of not wanting to lose anything by cramming it into 1 1/2 hours or to make money) is irrelevant to me. More Harry Potter is more Harry Potter. There are many who hated the fifth movie and the notion that the same guy will be directing it pisses them off, but once again, I'm just not all that bothered. No movie does "justice" to the visions we all have in our heads of what a book should be. They are different formats, they are different ways of telling a story, and they are just plain different media.
Think about it for one second--there are too many things that can be done in writing that just can't be done in film. They don't translate (and the attempts to have them translate always feel lame). Conversely, take a movie like The Matrix; I have no desire to read a book version of that film. That film was incredibly visual and cinematic. The story was fantastic also, but the story was only one part of it. The visual is what took a fantastic story and turned it into something revolutionary (at least for American audiences). So, I suggest that those "literary purists" who just never seem satisfied with film adaptations of books either learn the art of film-making (and thus learn to appreciate what IS done well in the film version, or maybe to even do your own version someday if you are that pissed off), or stop watching film adaptations. It is very true that sometimes film adaptations are terrible by any standard. I'm not arguing that point. I guess I'm just fed up with the tremendous amount of complaints I get from "fans" who can't stand any attempt at expanding the ways in which we can enjoy the things we love.

Deep breath... and I'm... done.

No comments: