MAN O STEEL
Sidekick
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
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I'll try to reply to each of your points, since I'm not sure it's possible to quote each sentence individually.
- Patrick actually is in the mini series, although he bears more resemblance to Victor Criss than he does Patrick. I suppose you could make the argument that the movie version is closer to the book, but neither delve into Patrick's psychosis, or his relationship to Henry. His demise (one of the most memorably unsettling moments from the book) is kept off screen.
- If you want to talk about Henry "making their lives a living hell", it seems curious that you wouldn't mind them changing the scene where he causes physical pain to one of the Losers by Eddie simply falling through a floor. In the book, Henry breaks his arm as payback for the rock fight. But not just that, Eddie does find courage to take on lost shot at him, telling him he's crazy, just like his father. That in itself is significant.
Speaking of Eddie, yes, he stands up to his mom. But the movie makes another poor diversion from the book by having Eddie's bully tell him his medication is a placebo. In the book, it's Mr. Keene. This is another example of the writer(s) not really getting the source material. Because Mr. Keene is someone who Eddie's trusts. He has no reason to lie to Eddie, in fact, he has his best interests in mind. This isn't the case with the bully, since her opinion would be suspect to begin with.
One more point on Eddie. Yes, we see the leper, and I won't disagree it's a better scene than what we got in the mini series. But this is one of the many surface details that are taken from the book without any idea of why it's in there in the first place. Eddie's leper is based on an earlier encounter with a hobo who makes a sexual advance towards him. The sexual overtones are completely left out, though.
- Yeah, I did watch the movie, so I did notice they were there. But why have most of them keep watch? While the mini series did cut out Neibolt, elements, and straight dialogue, were taken, and simply moved to the sewers encounter at the end of the part 1.
- I think you're taking some of my comments too literally. But even if it wasn't literally the entire summer, that was Bill's prime motivation. Prior to the Losers going to Neibolt, he and Richie even go so far as to bring a gun so Bill can kill It. The others might be slow to join together, but Bill getting his revenge is on his mind fairly early on. And again, the movie differs quite a bit by having Bill presume Georgie is still alive.
- Again, you're only focussing on the surface. Besides Stan literally being described as having the appearance of a little adult, he is symbolically an adult. Unlike all of the other Losers, we never meet his parents in the book (or, as I recall, the mini series). We hear about them, but we never meet them. And I believe it's because of all of the Losers, he's the closest to being removed from adolescence. And where his rationalism comes from.
Also, going back to the movie, why does Stan have his head wrapped if Pennywise's marks aren't visible to the adult eye?
- The final confrontation is a total mess. First, you have the inexcusable decision to turn Beverly, the movie's strongest character, into a damsel in distress. In the mini series, she is active participant, going down to the sewers, and is the one to put Pennywise to his early sumbler. Gone is the symbolism of using the childhood toy slingshot as a weapon against It, instead they use Mike's grandfather's cattle gun. Speaking of Mike, he tries to kill Henry, and it's completely glossed over. Henry, for his part, kills his friends, unlike the mini series which sticks to the book by having them killed by It.
- As for the nitty gritty, yes, characters swear, but why is this a good thing? Richie is far more crass and obnoxious than he is in the book and mini series. I don't remember Richie making jokes about nailing Eddie's mom in the book.
As for Derry, the mini series gave us the better version. First, the Barrens actually look like the Barrens. They're dark, and sinister, unlike the movie's depiction, which seems to consist purely of a quarry. In fact, the Losers hardly spend any time in the Barrens, in contrast to the mini series, which included the dam building plot. The rest of the city is depicted as being sunny, and pleasant looking, with the exception of the house on Neibolt. And I'm not sure we get that much of a different insight to the town than we do with the mini series.
I don't like having to defend the mini series since I'm not a fan, but I reject the notion that the movie is much more faithful to the book. I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses, but neither is vastly superior to the other.
Thankyou. Someone gets it. As I said it's not about what's included and what isn't it's about being more accurate in the things you do include. If you're going to show Mikey on his farm then make it his dad not his grandfather. What's the point in changing that detail? It served no purpose at all. Why make Ben the kid who knows about Derry's history instead of Mike?. Again it serves no purpose to change it. If you're going to have the house on Neibolt street, great but why change what happens there?. Again for no purpose. If you're going to have Eddie's broken arm, again that's great but why change how it happens?. Just to be different from the book?. I'm pretty sure King knows horror better than whatever alternative the director has in mind. It was change for the sake of change.
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