Zen and the Art of Adaptation
Now you may have heard this story differently from Vermithraxis…
Most of the fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones fall into one of two categories:
* Fans of the novels. These are the people who have read all the books, possibly more than once. They range from those who really enjoyed the novels and want to see HBO bring the books to life to the rabid fans who have more personal investment in the little details. You know the ones. The ones who got so impatient that Neil Gaiman had to publicly caution them, “George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.”
* New fans. These are the folks who hadn’t read the books before they started watching the show. Some of them still haven’t and don’t intend to. Heck, some of them had not heard of the books before the show began.
Me, I fall somewhere between the two. I read the first four books. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit and each successive one less. I won’t touch the rest of the novels until the series is finished. I hate cliffhangers, and book four had at least sixteen. Then Martin went something like seven years before he put out book five. I refuse to keep reading a story that may never be finished and risks ending on cliffhangers.
So, the point here is that I enjoy the story, but I have no particular attachment to it. I don’t mind if HBO combines characters, adds new ones, accelerates some plots and eliminates others. I don’t mind if the story HBO tells has only a nodding acquaintance with the original, as long as the tale is fun and satisfying. In this sense, my perspective is much like that of the new fan.
However, I have an advantage over the new fan. I know most of the characters and story, so I get depth and understanding as the show progresses that probably elude the new fans. After all, they’re being exposed to the immense cast, most of whom I’ve already met. They aren’t likely to catch every name reference and the attendant foreshadowing, or recognize the false leads in a show that appears to kill a main character in the first season.
I didn’t write this post, though, to brag about how I can enjoy the show without sweating any of the changes. I see in my situation the answer to a question that has plagued me much of my life and, I believe, plagues most readers at some point or another: is it better to read the book before or after you see the film/television adaptation?
I’ve wondered that every time I’ve run across a movie or television show that was developed from a novel, whether a major production like The Hunger Games or a smaller film like The Ninth Gate. I think I finally have the answer: the best way to see the adaptation is having read the book(s) without developing any attachment.
Sounds Zen when I put it that way.
Of course, what this really means is that if they ever adapt The Chronicles of Amber I should probably avoid it. I can’t pretend I won’t have some strong feelings about that one…
What do you think? Is the Zen approach best, or is there a better way to enjoy an adaptation?
