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selenakI just (re-)watched Great Expectations, the 1946 David Lean version. Best Dickens-on-film ever, and there is some competition for that title (among others Lean's own Oliver Twist). Despite the wonderful, haunting opening sequence on the marshes, there aren't many of the startling visuals that were later David Lean trademarks, and rightly so; Dickens isn't a landscape writer at heart, he concentrates on people and the city atmosphere. And yet each frame is perfect.
So are the actors, despite the fact John Mills is way too old be taken for a man in his early twenties. Never mind; he's good. 16-years-old Jean Simmons as the young Estella looks spookily like Vivien Leigh, so it's startling to see her replaced by Valerie Hobson, not Leigh, as the adult Estella, but Hobson works as well. Estella is somewhat unique in Dickens' oeuvre; usually love interests are either Sweet Flighty Young Things (model Dora) or Earnest Future Helpmeets (model Agnes). Estella is neither, being raised to break hearts as Miss Havisham's revenge on the male sex and absolutely and completely honest about it to Pip (who of course is a master of self delusion). Speaking of Miss Havisham, Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard makes an explicit comparison between her and Norma Desmond. It occurs to me that Dickens might have created something of an archetype here. Of course horror movies also present the archetype of the Demonic Host (Dracula, or your Mad Scientist of choice) awaiting and then trapping his unsuspecting guests, but if it's a woman, there is bound to be a backstory of rejection and loneliness; Miss Havisham, dumped on her wedding day, and Norma, dumped by her fans.
Someone, it might have been Orwell but I'm not sure, called Great Expectations the counterpoint to David Copperfield. David is saved from orphanage, poverty and his horrible stepfather by his fairy godmother, Betsy Trotwood; Pip on the other hand is slowly turned into a snob by Miss Havisham's summonings, and alienated from his loving adoptive father, Joe. And the money he receives unknowingly from Magwitch completes the process. Both Pip and David are first person narrators, but David is the idealised child, even as an adult, who never loses his innocence, is kind and loyal towards all his friends, etc; Pip is the unidealised child who reacts to being humiliated and snobbed by desiring to (and succeeding in) becoming a snob himself, who feels embarrassed by his old friends (though at the same time ashamed that he is embarrassed). So Mills' slightly too old face is strangely fitting.
Browsing through the net, I found this story; LotR fans, you'll never look the same way at Ents again.*g* Also, the icon cracks me up. It was bound to happen...
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ajhalluk has a go at the twisted subtext in Harry Potter; she's talking canon, not fanon here. Not that I agree with all interpretations, but it's fascinating stuff.
Meanwhile,andrastewhite has produced her second Babylon 5 story, here. I still feel a bit of godmother pride myself. *g*
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theatrical_muse this week posed the question: What's more important, self preservation or forgiveness? Already, there have been some great entries, for example one for Kira Nerys of DS9 fame, and one argueing the opposite pov, as is fit for the character, for Vila Restal from Blake's 7. Naturally, londo_mollari didn't keep quiet, either, speaking from his middle-of-season 4 pov.
So are the actors, despite the fact John Mills is way too old be taken for a man in his early twenties. Never mind; he's good. 16-years-old Jean Simmons as the young Estella looks spookily like Vivien Leigh, so it's startling to see her replaced by Valerie Hobson, not Leigh, as the adult Estella, but Hobson works as well. Estella is somewhat unique in Dickens' oeuvre; usually love interests are either Sweet Flighty Young Things (model Dora) or Earnest Future Helpmeets (model Agnes). Estella is neither, being raised to break hearts as Miss Havisham's revenge on the male sex and absolutely and completely honest about it to Pip (who of course is a master of self delusion). Speaking of Miss Havisham, Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard makes an explicit comparison between her and Norma Desmond. It occurs to me that Dickens might have created something of an archetype here. Of course horror movies also present the archetype of the Demonic Host (Dracula, or your Mad Scientist of choice) awaiting and then trapping his unsuspecting guests, but if it's a woman, there is bound to be a backstory of rejection and loneliness; Miss Havisham, dumped on her wedding day, and Norma, dumped by her fans.
Someone, it might have been Orwell but I'm not sure, called Great Expectations the counterpoint to David Copperfield. David is saved from orphanage, poverty and his horrible stepfather by his fairy godmother, Betsy Trotwood; Pip on the other hand is slowly turned into a snob by Miss Havisham's summonings, and alienated from his loving adoptive father, Joe. And the money he receives unknowingly from Magwitch completes the process. Both Pip and David are first person narrators, but David is the idealised child, even as an adult, who never loses his innocence, is kind and loyal towards all his friends, etc; Pip is the unidealised child who reacts to being humiliated and snobbed by desiring to (and succeeding in) becoming a snob himself, who feels embarrassed by his old friends (though at the same time ashamed that he is embarrassed). So Mills' slightly too old face is strangely fitting.
Browsing through the net, I found this story; LotR fans, you'll never look the same way at Ents again.*g* Also, the icon cracks me up. It was bound to happen...
ajhalluk has a go at the twisted subtext in Harry Potter; she's talking canon, not fanon here. Not that I agree with all interpretations, but it's fascinating stuff. Meanwhile,
andrastewhite has produced her second Babylon 5 story, here. I still feel a bit of godmother pride myself. *g* theatrical_muse this week posed the question: What's more important, self preservation or forgiveness? Already, there have been some great entries, for example one for Kira Nerys of DS9 fame, and one argueing the opposite pov, as is fit for the character, for Vila Restal from Blake's 7. Naturally, londo_mollari didn't keep quiet, either, speaking from his middle-of-season 4 pov.
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I really, truly hate you.
Date: 2004-01-17 06:06 pm (UTC)As I said...
Date: 2004-01-17 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-18 02:34 am (UTC)I think I must have first seen this film when I was about 10, and the opening sequence scared me half to death then, and still does. It would definitely be my pick for Best Dickens Film, despite Oliver Twist.
That Ent story and the icon are hilarious.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-18 10:19 am (UTC)I knew you'd like them.*g*
no subject
Date: 2004-01-18 03:38 pm (UTC)Muppets Christmas Carol.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-19 01:45 am (UTC)