13 April 2008

Andrew Davies Can Bite Me

There are no words for the level of HATE I feel towards his new adaptation of A Room with a View.  In fact, I am so blinded with rage that I can't verbalize anything.  A Room with a View is one of my top 5 favorite novels and he desecrated it.  I realize I should just let it go, but I can't. I'm sure I'm overreacting, but when one of the best lines from the novel, one that signifies the whole theme of the novel, is left out of the adaptation for no apparent reason, how can it be a true adaptation?
"Leave them alone," Mr. Emerson begged the chaplain, of whom he stood in no awe. "Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there? To be driven by lovers-- A king might envy us, and if we part them it's more like sacrilege than anything I know."
Now I have to go buy the 1985 adaptation with Helena Bonham-Carter, Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Julian Sands to scrub this atrocity out of my head. Especially the part about George dying in WWI.

6 comments:

Heather said...

I happened to be poking around on Youtube once and noticed some videos from this version.. It was Whacked.. really bad. what the 'H' was was that WWI thing?? so random.. anyway, I haven't seen the whole thing.. just got sucked in to the videos by sheer curiousity and it was way weird.

anyway.. I agree with you.

Scully said...

I'm glad you agree. I would recommend the 1985 version, but there is nudity, due to the pond scene, so watch at your own risk. It isn't rated, and I saw it with someone who had seen it before so they skipped over that part.

Nemesis said...

I did not hate it the way you did, but about 10 seconds in I was like, "Waaaait. Are they trying to say that George died in WWI? Because they had Better. Not. Be. I will kill everyone."

Scully said...

Now that the rage has subsided and I can speak in actual words, I think my main complaint is that by including the WWI stuff, Davies turned himself INTO Reverend Eager by driving the lovers 'off the box' metaphorically speaking. Also, I think that by insinuating that Cecil Vyse was gay (which I don't think Forster did) ultimately cheapens Lucy's decision. It nullifies her choice between out-moded Victorian standards vs. the future of a free-thinking existence. If one is completely incompatible, her choice isn't a choice at all, but rather the only option. And most of the character development was missing, all because he wanted include the cumulative 20-30 minutes of WWI stuff.

Unknown said...

I need to watch the 1985 version again, I don't remember it too much, esp however since I just got back from Italy! And I need to read the book again so I can remember the plot better---- :)But it sure sounds like they are all striking out on these remakes of old favorites!

ZB said...

Liking the new blog look!