I didn't hate the movie "The Stone Angel" by any means, but definitely found it less enjoyable than the book due to the following reasons:
First, I disliked the lack of detail in the movie, and felt that the movie version of "The Stone Angel" was more modernized than anything. For example, the language in the movie was more coarse, and most of the characters in the movie really weren't anything like the characters portrayed in the novel. I'll have to agree with Mark when saying that the "Murray character" in the movie was a horrible representation of Murray F.Lees from the novel. To be honest, I found the meeting between Hagar and Murray to be important in the novel, and didn't agree with the change in his character in the movie.
Secondly, Bram was made out to be irritating, rude and rather uncaring in the novel, whereas in the movie, I found him to be a decent husband/father and actually felt sorry for him when Hagar and John left him, especially because of the changes made during that scene in the movie, displaying Bram's emotional side, leaving him heartbroken and alone, rather than uncaring and sarcastic, as he was made out to be in the novel.
Finally, I thought Hagar's death was poorly recreated in the movie, and really didn't think it did much for her overall character, thus showing the lack of detail in the movie. It's not hard to understand that movies trigger a different type of audience, and in that aspect, I thought the movie was entertaining, however, I didn't think the movie did the novel much justice.
Jenn
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Nice work, Jenn. You must have been posting at the exact same time I was, so I apologise for not mentioning you along with the others who have posted.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you refer specifically to Mark's post with respect to the Murray character. That's the right way to go about building an online conversation.
I agree with Jenn's opinion on the movie, especially her take on the scene where Hagar and John leave Bram. Like I stated previously, I have a real problem with the way Bram was represented in the movie (especially his relationship with Hagar).
ReplyDeleteI think by having Bram so openly upset when Hagar leaves once again takes away from the complexity of the characters and their relationship. I think the part in the novel where they leave is one of the most interesting and powerful points in the novel, and should have been kept as it was. In the novel, we see a normal, civil exchange of words, but the reader is able to pick up the electricity and true meaning behind Hagar's and Bram's words. The movie makes it so that the audience does not have to think and read between the lines as much.
This part in the novel basically sums up their relationship, in the sense that there is so much left unsaid between them, and the viewer really loses out by not having this in the movie. However, the director had already portrayed their relationship in such a drastically different way already that, to have kept that scene how it was would not have made sense.