Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Ltd.

Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Note: I thought I had already written this up and posted it, but apparently I never got around to it.  So, this is now a month out of date as I first saw Alice in Wonderland on opening day.  Oh, well, here it is anyway.

Alice in Wonderland brings together three of my favorite creative people: Lewis Carroll, Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp, so I was understandably excited about this movie.  So much so, in fact, that I went to see it on opening night, which is something I rarely do because of the crowds and smelly teenagers (both of which were in force Friday night).  Until I can see the movie again on DVD, I can’t really write a full review, but here are my quick thoughts on the movie having just seen it last night.

First, the design, music and performances were great.  It is true (but no surprise) that Johnny Depp’s Hatter steals the shows; in fact, that’s generally true of any adaptation of Carroll’s books.  I have been involved in two productions of play adaptations of the books (my wife and I directed one together, and I later directed it on my own), and in each the Tea Party was my favorite scene.  Hatter, with the March Hare and Dormouse, is just such a crazy character that toning it down would, I think, miss the point.  While some people have criticized the amount of screen time Depp gets, I have no problem with it.

Second, I love that this movie recognizes that some of us are big Lewis Carroll nerds.  There are in-jokes throughout that only someone who’s actually read the books (rather than just seeing the film adaptations) would get.  For example, in the opening scenes, Alice has to dance a quadrille with her potential fiance, a nod to the Lobster Quadrille in the books.

Finally, the movie is not entirely even.  I feel like things move a little too quickly once Alice gets to Wonderland; I think there should have been a few more things happening before the Red Queen is introduced.  Also, the whole dance the Mad Hatter does was, to my mind, entirely useless.  Yes, I understand that this sort of nonsense (in the bad way) is meant to appeal to children, but I think it breaks the feeling of the film, especially the modern dance music.  This sort of thing should be put out on some separate DVD that’s used to gouge parents rather than thrust upon us in the theater.

So, overall I enjoyed it very much and will get it on DVD.  I think it works nicely as a modern companion to Carroll’s original works.

“Man can’t use his mind to know the truth; if he uses his mind he just comes up with something stupid like the theory of evolution.” – Jimmy Swaggart (quoted in C.S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason by Victor Reppert)

This quote made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it.  A note of context: Reppert used this quote to demonstrate the idea of fideism, which states that “religious beliefs are not open to rational evaluation.” (Reppert, p. 29)  I’ll leave it to you to determine how you think this is funny.

So I recently made a trip to Hastings (“You’re entertaiment superstore!) and picked up a few things. First, I got volumes 4 and 5 of Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley.  I’ve been enjoying the Scott Pilgrim series over the past month or so, and these two volumes were great.  For those who don’t know, the book’s titular hero falls in love with Ramona Flowers, who has seven evil exes that Scott must defeat to continue dating her.  The book is great for fans of video games and music, and I’ve enjoyed the romance story between Scott and Ramona.

Second, I got volume 1 of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.  I had heard about this book for years but had never picked it up (as with Scott Pilgrim as well).  I felt that the beginning was too much like 28 Days Later in why the main character, Rick (a small town police officer), doesn’t know what’s going on (he was shot on duty and in a coma for a month), but overall I enjoyed it.  There were a couple of times when reading it, however, that I had to double check the pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something; at times, there is a slight jump in time, but there’s no obvious indication of it.  Other than those two quibbles, it was good, and the art style helps to capture the creepiness of a world overrun with zombies.

Third, I finally bought Night by Elie Wiesel.  I’ve wanted to read this book for a while, and I found it in the used the section.  I’m considering teaching it in my Reading class, given its shorter length.

Fourth, I got C.S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Support of the Argument from Reason by Victor Reppert.  The book is an examination of Lewis’s argument that the existence of rational thought proves the existence of the supernatural (an idea Lewis explored in Mircales).  It was fortuitous that I found this book at this time, as I was listening to a podcast in which the hosts briefly discussed recent scientific developments in brain research that suggest that there is no free will (something atheists have been claiming for years).  This “discovery” (if it’s held up) basically proves Lewis’s argument: in a “naturalist” system (in which nothing exists but nature), there cannot be true rational thought (because everything is cause and effect); thus, reason is a supernatural miracle.

Let me know if you’ve read any of them.  I may post fully reviews as I finish reading these books.

Coraline is one of my favorite books for children, in large part because Neil Gaiman has a cleverness to his writing and imagination that lend themselves to such books. I find that such cleverness lends itself to children’s entertainment, especially those that can appeal to both children and adults (such as the Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons of old, or Animaniacs). Gaiman’s worlds are unique, and his prose is full of turns-of-phrase that I love, little ways of describing things that sound good to the ear and read well on the page.

When I heard that Coraline was going to be made into a feature film, I was very excited, and I enjoyed seeing the first trailer for it in the theater. I was, to be sure, annoyed that Gaiman’s name was not giving top or second billing in that trailer; in fact, he wasn’t even mentioned. Instead, the chief name was that of Henry Sellick.

If the name Henry Sellick is not familiar to you, that’s primarily because one of his best works is usually ascribed to Tim Burton: The Nightmare Before Christmas. While Burton was involved in the creation and production, much of the work, including the direction, was done by Sellick. That film is a perfect example of what I mentioned above: a clever, quirky children’s story that appeals to adults as well, and giving the tone of Nightmare, Selllick was a good choice for the creator and director of Coraline as a film.

However, after having finally watched it, I have to admit that I am, to a certain extent, disappointed.

And, I kinda feel bad about that.

See, I think Coraline is, independent of the source material, a good film. Henry Sellick makes fine, living, colorful worlds with interesting characters. I enjoyed the performances of all the voice actors: Teri Hatcher is great as the mother and other mother, John Hodgman’s father is, although not British (a small quibble I won’t mention again) spot on, and Keith David’s cat is appropriately smug. Dakota Fanning’s Coraline fits very well, and the others are great.  The film is also beautiful to look at. I haven’t researched how they achieved all of the animation effects, but there’s a wonderful dichotomy between what looks like computer animation and real world textures. Everything has a depth to it, and it’s wonderful to look at. There are scenes that are obviously meant to appeal to those watching the 3D version, but these work appropriately in 2D, and I didn’t feel pulled out of the film because of them.

Given how well everything works, it remains to find a reason for my disappointment. A part of it definitely comes from plot and character differences between the movie and the book, and this is one of those conundrums that fans of any book often find themselves in when it’s adapted to a movie. We want the movie to be exactly like the book, but we understand it cannot be. However, although we understand that it cannot be, we still (however slightly) resent the movie for not being the book. Admittedly, it’s not fair at all, but it’s just the way it is. No matter how much I try, I cannot approach this movie as someone who hasn’t read the book.  So take the following criticisms with a grain (or even a shaker) of salt.

First, I felt the character of Wybie to be completely unnecessary. That’s not to say I don’t understand why Sellick wrote him in (which I suppose to be to give boys a character to identify with and to give Coraline someone her own age to interact with), but I think it was not needed. What he did do was to take screen time away from Coraline’s interactions with the other characters, and I think this was a mistake. Wybie’s presence necessitates that some really great moments (especially between Coraline and the cat) had to be left out for time’s sake, which is, I think, always a problem.

Second, I didn’t care for the reordering of parts of the plot, specifically the number of times Coraline goes to and from the other world. Sellick adds one extra to-and-fro, and I feel this alters the dramatic tension. I think this might be one instance where the 3D imposed itself on the story; perhaps Sellick added one more journey to utilize the tunnel between worlds for the 3D version. Also, Coraline gets locked up with the ghost children earlier here, whereas in the book her parents are already missing and she has gone back to retrieve them. The separation of these events (her going back to get her parents and meeting the ghost children) weakens the story from a dramatic and thematic perspective.

My last criticism is really the reason that I think I was disappointed by Sellick’s Coraline. Although parts of the movie maintain some of the tone of the book, overall the book has a darker tone; the other world is not quite as happy, and there is more of a sense of danger even from the beginning. I suppose some people (perhaps Sellick himself) felt that making the other world lighter made it more appealing to Coraline, but I think this misses a key point of Coraline’s character. She is bored with the real world and craves something more interesting, even if it’s a little dangerous. And this is, for me, a completely believable character trait in a kid. For example, in the movie, Coraline is lured to the door in the drawing room by Mr. Bobo’s jumping mice. Certainly, this makes sense; the jumping mice are very cute. But in the book, Coraline is drawn to the door by hearing it creak open and by seeing a small dark shadow flit out from her room and into the drawing room. While this is much more creepy than Sellick’s version, the fact that Coraline is interested in the shadow and the creaking door fits with her character, and I think it makes her a more interesting and stronger character than just some girl chasing something cute.

Interestingly enough, there is one change in the movie that I think works. I like the way the other mother was portrayed as more like Coraline’s real mother. The reason I think this works is that this accentuates the weirdness of her button eyes, and in this way she comes across more disturbing than if the eyes were just one of many differences.

Given all of that, I did enjoy Sellick’s Coraline. It was fun to watch and continues the tradition of children’s entertainment that adults can enjoy as well.

UPDATE: Having watched the film again, I wanted to comment that I definitely appreciate it more the second time.  I think watching Coraline the first time worked out any disappointments/expectations that I had going in.  Now that all that’s worked out, I can enjoy the film on its own merits.

School is almost upon us (my district starts back on Monday) and that means that there will be much less time for reading. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot of reading to do, both for school and pleasure. Here’s a rundown of some books I’ve got going at the moment:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Gaiman is one of my favorite writers, and this was highly recommended to me by my mom and younger brother.  It’s basically Gaiman’s version of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.  Although I got this one primarily for pleasure, I’m seriously considering using it in one of my English classes this year (maybe in both).  On a related note, Gaiman wrote an introduction to a collection of Kipling’s fantasy and horror short stories.  I don’t remember the title, but it was at our local Barnes & Noble.

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines: This was suggested to me by a colleague as a potential book for English II Pre AP.  I’ve read the first chapter, and I can tell already that it will be a hard but compelling read.  I’m almost certainly going to teach it this year.  In a weird coincidence, my wife Jen is going to be reading a play version of it for one of her classes this semester.

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler: This is an analysis of Joseph Campbell’s comparative mythology for writers.  Not only is it useful for me as a writer, but the “hero’s journey” is actually on our TEKS for English II.

That’s it for now.  I’ll be posting some more about what I read as the year progresses.

I’ve now read up to The Battle of the Labyrinth, the fourth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, and I wanted to do a quick rundown of my thoughts about the series before I get to the last book.

I was introduced to this series by one of my aunts, but I’ve been reading my mom’s copies.  Let me say first that even after I finish the series, I fully intend to purchase the whole series myself.  I try to read a lot of young adult (YA) fiction because I’m an English teacher, and let me first say that I think this series is excellent for middle and high schoolers.  Like Riordan’s characters, his writing style is action oriented, moving quickly through the story.  His prose is straightforward and not overly descriptive (which is a good thing).  He gives you just enough description to jump-start your imagination without spelling everything out; this is excellent for teenage readers, as many of my students suffer from a lack of imagination.

When I first started reading The Lighting Thief, I immediately began comparing Riordan’s world with American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  The two share a similar concept: as people move, their gods move with them.  Riordan’s mythology, however, is much more focused.  In American Gods, the gods of the old world moved with the immigrants to America: Slavic, Norse, African, Indian, etc.  Riordan, however, sticks with Greek mythology, and instead of moving with individual immigrants, the gods move with Western Civilization (Greece being considered the foundation of it).  For both authors this presented an interesting challenge: incorporating the old gods into current society.  Riordan does an excellent job with this, and as with his descriptions, leaves some of it up to the readers.  For example, he never fully explains where the Lotus Casino comes from, giving those familiar with Greek mythology a little treat and those not-as-familiar something to find themselves.

From a character perspective, Riordan keeps his adolescents fully adolescent: like all teenagers, they are between childhood and adulthood, capable on the one hand of adult reasoning in some situations, and falling back into childish behavior in others.  The boy-girl relationships are particularly annoying in a realistic way.  I keep wanting to scream at the characters to just talk with each other openly, but like many males (myself included), Percy Jackson is often completely oblivious to the feelings of the girls around.  Despite the teenagery-ness of it all (and that’s not a criticism), I’m interested in finding out how the current love-quadrangle plays out, given the fleeting nature of most adolescent “love” relationships.  The gods are continually annoying in their lack of maturity, but as with the teenagers this is realistic, given how they were often portrayed in the mythology: capricious, easily insulted, and filled with self-importance (much like teenagers).

There are probably a couple of points that will annoy Greek mythology purists.  The biggest thing at the moment is the mixup of Kronos/Cronus with Chronos (they weren’t actually the same), but if one really wants to get picky, Riordan’s left himself a loophole (based in the history of mythology) to explain it away: the Greeks themselves weren’t sticklers for continuity and often had contradictory stories about their gods.

In the end I highly recommend this series to all readers middle-school and above.  I can’t speak for younger readers, primarily because I have very little experience with elementary-school children, but I imagine these books would be good a more mature fourth or fifth-grader as well (parental discretion should always be in force, of course).

This article marks the last of the reposts from the old R&G, Ltd. site.  I intend to continue this series, by the way, and post reviews of the next two books in the Martian Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs. – duane

August 5, 2007
Review – A Princess of Mars
Filed under: Literature, SciFi/Fantasy — duane @ 7:26 am

Edgar Rice Burroughs is better known outside of scifi and fantasy circles as the creator of Tarzan, but like many writers during the pulp era, he wrote in several different genres. In scifi, his principle contribution has been Barsoom novels, which contributed to a genre of pulp fiction known as “sword and planet” stories. While these type of stories are often called science fiction, they have more in common with fantasy; what little science they contain is very fuzzy and is basically magic in scientific trappings. Read the rest of this entry »

In teaching Macbeth in my English IV classes this year, I have searched out various productions of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Macbeth. Before this year I had never seen Polanski’s 1971 film of the play, but I found several activities that use it and so finally watched it.  There are several criticisms of the play, and responding to and considering each of those is going to be the primary focus of this article. Read the rest of this entry »

August 1, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Filed under: Literature, SciFi/Fantasy — duane @ 8:34 pm

I’ve talked about Harry Potter before, so it should be no secret that I’m a big fan. It’s also no secret that that last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was going to be a good book. We know by now that Rowling is a good writer, that she has created interesting characters, and that the story-line is compelling. And the majority of people already know if they’re interested in Harry Potter or not; while some people may have been waiting for the series to end before reading it, and others may pick it up later, a review of Deathly Hallows is not likely to inspire anyone to read it. I’m therefore just going to make a few comments about it, and save any potential spoilers for a larger article on the series as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »