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10/12/07 16:56I am genuinely startled at the thrashing The Golden Compass is getting on the child_lit listserv. I have something more substantial to post about media and adaptations, I think, later (brought on by seeing Wicked and reading Wicked and reading the gay superhero YA novel Hero), but it brought to mind when I was in high school.
Being an on-a-teenage-allowance anime fan in the late '90s meant watching a lot of OVAs. This is because:
-It's not a commitment to buy a TON of volumes. Utena and Evangelion and Escaflowne and Fushigi Yuugi were about as much of a commitment as I could manage. (This was before Netflix, I hasten to add, and before Blockbuster stocked anything more than Pokemon and Akira)
-The anime companies, too, didn't really start committing to TV series until I was a little older. So when I heard about classic stuff on newsgroups, etc., it was usually OVAs.
Most of the OVAs I saw were pretty disappointing, if you haven't read the original manga or novel. They were confusing, they dropped off at the interesting part, they left tons of loose ends, they hinted at meanings that were never explored... but if you had read the original manga, that was different. There was no point in getting angry about all the things they left out, not just plot but characterization and thematic development, when you were turning 20 volumes of manga into a mere few hours of television. It was just kind of nifty to see your characters in full color, with some animation (however limited) and some music.
And that's how I trained myself to think about adaptations of novels like The Golden Compass, or Harry Potter. I have a decently vivid imagination, but there is something singularly impressive - to this modern person - about harnessing the power of CGI, Ian McKellen, and a full orchestra to supplement that imagination. It doesn't have to live up to the book in all other respects! I already have the book in my head, after all, the lovely prose and the deep themes. I am quite all right with seeing the movie more as a full-color highlights reel than a genuine adaptation. Or, as I've always thought of it in my head, "the OVA version," which is bound to be disappointing to non-fans and anyone who expects the movie to stand on its own.
Being an on-a-teenage-allowance anime fan in the late '90s meant watching a lot of OVAs. This is because:
-It's not a commitment to buy a TON of volumes. Utena and Evangelion and Escaflowne and Fushigi Yuugi were about as much of a commitment as I could manage. (This was before Netflix, I hasten to add, and before Blockbuster stocked anything more than Pokemon and Akira)
-The anime companies, too, didn't really start committing to TV series until I was a little older. So when I heard about classic stuff on newsgroups, etc., it was usually OVAs.
Most of the OVAs I saw were pretty disappointing, if you haven't read the original manga or novel. They were confusing, they dropped off at the interesting part, they left tons of loose ends, they hinted at meanings that were never explored... but if you had read the original manga, that was different. There was no point in getting angry about all the things they left out, not just plot but characterization and thematic development, when you were turning 20 volumes of manga into a mere few hours of television. It was just kind of nifty to see your characters in full color, with some animation (however limited) and some music.
And that's how I trained myself to think about adaptations of novels like The Golden Compass, or Harry Potter. I have a decently vivid imagination, but there is something singularly impressive - to this modern person - about harnessing the power of CGI, Ian McKellen, and a full orchestra to supplement that imagination. It doesn't have to live up to the book in all other respects! I already have the book in my head, after all, the lovely prose and the deep themes. I am quite all right with seeing the movie more as a full-color highlights reel than a genuine adaptation. Or, as I've always thought of it in my head, "the OVA version," which is bound to be disappointing to non-fans and anyone who expects the movie to stand on its own.