DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '10 I => Topic started by: MsCriseyde on March 03, 2010, 01:43:26 AM
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News today that Tim Burton will be producing a film adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Grahame-Smith also penned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, drawing on Jane Austen's novel.
http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/tim-burton-to-produce-sla.php
I think we all know who the obvious choice to play Lincoln is, if Burton can see past Depp for 5 seconds. [snow_cheesy]
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LOL I just got that book.
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I can't believe those books have even been written much less that someone wants to make a movie! [eek]
It's always nice to see Selby in everything he does, but I honestly think he can do better than that foolishness (which, BTW, received a C+ from Entertainment Weekly this week - and the review ends with, "Fangs for nothing.").
LOL I just got that book.
Please tell me that's not true. [sad1]
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It's true, though if it helps, I didn't buy it. ;)
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Thank God! [whew] My abiding faith in you as a person of taste has been restored. ;)
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You're so funny.
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So I guess maybe I should use the spoiler feature to mention that I have wanted to read the P&P&V book since it came out and have been looking for it in the used bookstore that I frequent and that the Abe Lincoln book is on my list too? [snow_cheesy]
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield is having the author come in for a presentation on the book this weekend.
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The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield is having the author come in for a presentation on the book this weekend.
[wow] That must surely be a sign of The Apocalypse!
But then, there's no accounting for taste - apparently not even at Presidential Library & Museums. [sad3] Though one thing is probably for certain: Jane Austen is whirling in her grave over what they've done to her masterpieces Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
No doubt next up will be War and Peace and Werewolves...
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No doubt next up will be War and Peace and Werewolves...
I think they should take the trend postmodern and do a version of Dracula without the vampire. [snow_clown]
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Don't give them ideas. [snow_laugh]
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From today's LA Times:
"at a time when the market is flooded with vampire titles, most of them young adult romances, a writer who can transform the greatest figure from 19th century American history into the star of an original vampire tale with humor, heart and bite is a rare find indeed."
The full book review is here (http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book4-2010mar04,0,5426838.story).
(How wild is it that what follows is a review of "Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter" [who knew?!] by a different author that states that he "is working on another novel: 'Henry VIII: Wolfman'"? LOL)
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Well, at least with Abe Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Henry VIII, these new authors aren't bastardizing classic literature. No matter how clever the Jane Austen based books might be, it's still indecorous.
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I just find the whole debate about books like this interesting because it raises questions about what is essential to the story and how much we're willing to allow people to take license with it.
For example, the Lincoln play that Selby did last year had the President being visited by ghosts, spirits, visions, etc. and conversing with them. That is arguably an effective device for demonstrating how he struggled with competing ideologies about slavery and the war, but, while not as extreme as what this latest novel does (as I understand it, haven't read it), it's still superimposing a paranormal/supernatural element over historical events.
As for the manipulations of literature, that's not terribly different from what fan fiction does or from what Gregory Maguire has turned into a cottage industry, but we still have our debates about fanfic that goes too far, takes too many liberties, etc.
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The sad thing is that works like Jane Austen's are in the public domain, so anyone can do anything they want to them. [cryb] And it's one thing to use spirits and visions as dramatic devices, yet it's quite another to intrinsically and significantly alter a story's major protagonists, like, oh, making them zombie hunters. [wink2] But then, I have similar problems when it comes to the sort of DS fanfic that turns Barnabas into some sort of invincible superhero who's capable of succeeding at doing anything and everything while it completely ignores what a flawed and tortured man and oftentimes screw-up he truly is. That sort of DS fanfic steps much too far away from the character of Barnabas as he was always drawn on the series.
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The Lincoln Presidential Library's press release for Seth Grahame-Smith's appearance this weekend actually mentions Selby's Lincoln book as another Lincoln/vampire connection because of Selby's work on DS.
http://www.alplm.org/news/jan11_10.html
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Dear God. Poor David. Still, they say there's no such thing as bad publicity.
sigh.
G.
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The difference between these latest literary fads and fan fiction is that most fan-fiction writers do not expect to have a million people pay for the privilege of reading their flights of fantasy, which is based on someone else's intellectual property anyway and thus subject to restrictions.
The restrictions can be tight or loose--- DS is one of the loosest in that regard, I guess, as long as the writer doesn't try to sell it to a regular publisher without official permission. Recall when S.E. Hinton had to "file off the serial numbers" to publish her book as HAWKES HARBOR when it was rejected by DCP as a DS novel, a few years ago.
Abraham Lincoln "belongs to the ages", and Victoria has been the subject of speculative fiction (including her "guest appearance" in the new DR.WHO.) Being real famous people who did not have a copyright on their existence, they are fair game. Though there are limits--- it's not like they lived 500 years ago, when one could fudge around the facts. Their day-to-day lives are too well documented, and there's even photographs!
And not so many years ago, early in my lifetime anyway, there were still people alive who had personal memories of the both of them. Plus (and this is a BIG plus) the events they lived through were often terrible and full of REAL horrors, and IMO, not to be trifled with by adding cheesy supernatural themes. It's almost, for want of a better word, sacrilegious.
On the other hand, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER certainly could NOT be worse than THIS little gem I was recently reminded of:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168373/
Better a horror story than a horrible situation comedy. (David Selby was well-spared from THAT!)
Before I die, I fully expect to see a best-selling novel about Hitler or Stalin or Mao (or all three!) in cahoots with demonic space aliens. Hopefully, this will not be until the year 2065 or so, but my hopes have been dashed before.
Actually, the worst part, as relates to DS, is, again, the saturation problem. Too darn many vampire (and other supernatural critters) stories equals a dilution of interest, to my mind. I really doubt there is anything unique or original that can still be wrung from this theme, at least not for the next five years. Perhaps Burton and Depp are wise to put their DS film at the tail end of their to-do list--- give the public a chance to recover from the current epidemic of vampire themed media.
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I'm looking forward to reading the book and seeing the movie! Sounds cool!
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Before I die, I fully expect to see a best-selling novel about Hitler or Stalin or Mao (or all three!) in cahoots with demonic space aliens. Hopefully, this will not be until the year 2065 or so, but my hopes have been dashed before.
You won't have to wait that long. You can find that sort of thing being published contemporaneously with the events in question. One need look no further than the exploits of comic book heroes during World War II.
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Jane Austen is whirling in her grave over what they've done to her masterpieces Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
No doubt next up will be War and Peace and Werewolves...
I hear you on this one. They recently destroyed my favorite 'Persuasion' on the new Masterpiece Theater' remake. Just saw the 'Emma' remake which wasn't too bad but no on can match Doran Godwin as Emma. I think they are trying too hard to condense the storylines in her novels perhaps due to budget constraints. In particular 'Persuasion' needs to be moved along at a slower pace and the characters need time to fully develop.