alterations

[incandescens]

Looking at some of the discussion of Hero I've seen around the place (and may I just say that I would like to heap coals of fire on the heads of everyone who's already seen it, YOU LUCKY SO AND SOS) it seems to bring up a question which has been raised before, from what one might term the other side.

How much is it permissible to alter the substance, characters, background, history, or other details of a storyline for a film, in order to conform with the current taste and theories?

Is it right to portray as a virtue things which were regarded as virtuous/upright/proper/natural at the time of the original story which is being filmed? Should one do anything else?

How much of a story should be changed to agree with the taste of the public, or the nationality of the filmmakers (Braveheart, Enigma, King Arthur, other stuff)?

No, I don't have any answers.

---

The Tower walls at midnight burn,
With fraught desire -- the rocks beneath
Are taut and wet with fiction's blood.
Someone leaps. The other turns. But who is who.
(and who are you?)

[...]

-- Close to the River, Anno

Comments

[incandescens]

I worry about the people watching who aren't suspicious, and who believe without thinking. There are too many people who will unhesitatingly assume that Hollywood is telling them the truth.

[incandescens]

And so nobody cares? That seems a shame.

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

I think it's less that nobody cares but that what can you do? Rail against the wind, I suppose, but Hollywood will do what Hollywood will do and screw the few who might object.

[incandescens]

And now I get wistful for Pratchett. "Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness."

[bruceb.livejournal.com]

As usual at times like this, I quote the opening of Clive Barker's Weaveworld, because I believe it to be entirely appropriate:

"Nothing ever begins. There is no first moment; no single word or phrase from which this or any other story springs. The threads can always be traced back to some earlier tale, and to the tales that preceded that; though as the narrator's voice recedes the connections will seem to grow more tenuous, for each age will want the tale told as if it were of its own making. Thus the pagan will be sanctified, the tragic become laughable; great lovers will stoop to sentiment, and demons dwindle to clockwork toys.

"Nothing is fixed. In and out the shuttle goes, fact and fiction, mind and matter woven into patterns that may have only this in common: that hidden among them is a filigree that will with time become a world. It must be arbitrary, then, the place of which we choose to embark, somewhere between a past half forgotten and a future as yet only glimpsed."

[incandescens]

That's a lovely quotation. I've read Weaveworld a while ago, but I'd forgotten that.

[copperbird.livejournal.com]

Is this a particular issue with Hero?

[incandescens]

In the discussions on the rpg.net forums, some people are claiming that the whole film demonstrates Maoist ideology (why, the protagonist is covered in a red flag at the end!) while others say it simply stresses nationalism, which is perfectly reasonable, and others say that the actions of the Emperor in unifying the country may not be good but are understandable. There is tizziness.

[copperbird.livejournal.com]

I had noticed that rpg.net seems to have a proportion of very outspoken reactionary american types :)

For other reviews, try this: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hero/
(It's just a collection of links to online film reviews - most of these reviewers are from the US and collectively they adore it. Hmm. Which makes me think I want to see it, actually :) My research says 24th Sept for opening date... maybe a trip to London is in order ...)

To answer the question, I think the spin a director puts on a story is as valid and interesting as any other part on it. If these things have merit, it's because they can teach us something about ourselves and the society we live in. (I do think it's intellectually more honest to at least mention when RL history has been changed for artistic reasons, like in Enigma). We can look at Casablanca, Olivier's Henry V, and Leni Riefenstahl's films now and still see merit in them despite the overt messages. Maybe even because of them ... it maybe says more to us about our grandparent's lives and views than if they had told the stories 'straight'.

But I still won't watch Enigma :)

[incandescens]

Interesting set of reviews -- thanks. I definitely want to see it, and am planning two trips; one with parents, one with friends.

Mm. You have a point. Films made with directorial bias are in their way as useful a historical document on the perceptions of the times as a totally unbiased representation of the story would have been.

(Don't worry, I'm sure they're working on a version of Boudicca where a conveniently shipwrecked Native American will teach the Celts how to use bows and arrows before leading them in driving away the Roman oppressors -- and marry Boudicca, oops, Boadicea happily at the end of the movie, of course.)

[diony.livejournal.com]

But can there be a totally unbiased representation of the story? In translating to a visual medium things are going to change, and those changes are going to reflect the culture of the people doing the translation.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I think there is Maoist ideology there, which in the current sociopolitical context is rather interesting. (I was discussing this on a similar thread in corneredangel's blog, which I'll link in order not to type it out again XD: http://www.livejournal.com/users/corneredangel/501710.html)

[incandescens]

Interesting. Thanks.

[baileyflower.livejournal.com]

I think it's worth noting that rpg.net is pretty much my benchmark for defining internet cesspools, and I haven't gone there for over a month (was Flower of December while i was there).

[solaas.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* Sometimes a big piece of cloth in a bright, vibrant colour is just a big piece of cloth in a bright, vibrant colour. It's PRETTY! Implied and/or percieved ideologies can go hang.

[/philistine] ;D