Book V Movie
They say that the book is always better than the movie, and it took me 20 years to realize that they aren’t wrong, but they’re also not right.
With the exception of The Devil Wears Prada (a clear example of a movie taking the best parts of a rather flighty book and making them greater than the whole), most movies are at a disadvantage simply because they have to cram into two hours what an author has 200 pages to expound on.
What a reader might think is crucial may not be what a filmmaker sees as key. Conflict arises and discontent ensues, more often than not.
They’re just two completely different mediums. You have to accept that at a certain point in order to enjoy both on their own merits. It took me years to understand that, so fickle I was about fidelity to the source text.
This brings me to the new age of the comic-based film.
There are two types of fans that love superhero films: the ones that take them as they are without a comprehensive understanding of comic history, and the ones who are well acquainted with 40 years of back-story, side story and multiverse story — and hope to see each one represented, somehow.
And so directors of these films have become savvy at straddling the line between the two extremes, slipping in references to famous stories even when they aren’t directly adapting them, if only to please the devoted without alienating the casual.
I was lucky enough to secure advanced screening tickets to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a movie that seemed to me very geared toward those purist fans (there will be no spoilers in this article, promise).
A simple shot of Batman looking grimly at a dilapidated and defaced Robin suit immediately spoke volumes to me — likely a reference to Jason Todd, the second Robin, killed by Joker, which then in turn means that there’s very likely a Dick Grayson floating around this universe as well, maybe even a Tim Drake. And all that adds something to Ben Affleck’s Batman that Christian Bale’s did not have.
When we left the theater and I mentioned it, assuming that they had already noticed the scene in the trailers, everyone was politely puzzled.
“What Robin suit?”
Suddenly, I realized I had become the nerd purist among us. I was bewildered. I was frustrated. I wanted to cry out: Don’t you know how significant that is for Batman on film? Don’t you see all the potential this gives his character? The movie becomes richer with that knowledge, even just a little bit.
So no, I don’t think the book is better than the movie anymore. But I do think you do yourself a disservice when you see one without the context of the other.
Paige’s Pick of the Week
Zootopia
Since everyone will be watching that there superhero movie this weekend, jump back into this older film while the theaters are empty. The hype is real. The sloth humor is unprecedented. (movies.disney.com)
