the obligations of adaptation

Last night after our play (a whole other blog on that soon  and the insufferable nature of writers according to Chekhov), we decided it was still early, the evening and slipped over to the movies to see The Bride, which I have been trying to avoid the mixed reviews to form my own opinion. The short of it: I appreciate what Gyllenhaal was doing, and I love the mix of cultural touchpoints that swings toward the fences. Was it as well executed as it could have been/ Perhaps not. There were points that dragged a little that made it less enjoyable. It also treaded into overkill on the feminist messages (I wanted them, I just wanted them a little more subtle and nuanced and less preachy.) Sometimes you make bold choices and people hate them, but I appreciate that someone made them. J hated it, as many people have, but I needed to process it and roll it over in my head a little more before making any sort of final call.  The closest comparison I can think of was, of course, the similarly contentious Wuthering Heights, but this felt like something else entirely. It calls on everything from Mary Shelley herself to movie musicals and mobsters. It has perhaps more Bonnie & Clyde energies than anything to do with Frankenstein itself. It taps into female anger and rage in a 1930s setting, and for that I loved it, despite its other flaws. 

As I was defending its boldness to J on the car ride home, we compared it to Scream 7, which we saw last week. While I appreciated the nostalgia of the new sequel, it felt less interesting to me than the last one, or even the one before that. Not that horror needs to reinvent the wheel with every new film or sequel, but more that that can't be the only thing carrying the film. So it was predicable. Expected. Not bad, but also not really spectacular enough to see again. The closest opposite case I could find there was that last sequel of Final Destination, a series I have a found spot in my heart, for but that had new energy this last one, as well as plenty of nostalgia bait so succeeded in capturing my interest more than Scream 7.  But then again, slashers are hard to be innovative with, and also fail sometimes (ahem..In a Violent Nature.)

But it all got me thinking about adaptations and the obligations of the person doing the adaptation. The best ones take the basic materials, certain plot threads, characters, settings, and produce something that either reflects or expands on the original work's themes. Or maybe even subverts them. My favorites often take things that were there already and tug at the threads a little to make them more visible. One of my best examples is, of course, The Shining, which becomes something altogether different in the hands of Kubrik than it was in King's original and is all the more brilliant for it. I would add Fennel's Wuthering Heights to this. As well as the series adaptations of shows like Hannibal and Westworld. Also, the sort of stuff Mike Flanagan does on the regular. When I was in the midst of my Yellow Wallpaper adaptation, while I tried to stay true to the original, I took a lot of liberties, removing the baby in the plot and tweaking the timelines., mostly because I think it stands well even without the post-partum depression angle, that contributed to the unraveling. Instead, its a miscarriage that causes friction in the marriage and her confinement in the wallpapered room. The ending is also slightly different. It still needs some work, so there may be other adjustments down the line.

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