Totally Random

I'm not sure there's just one answer - perhaps you'd need to look at each adaptation on their own.
If I was an author I'd probably prefer the film adaptation to follow my story pretty closely, but with the case of old fairy tales I guess the adaptations can be more free and also depends a lot on what you want to say with the movie (as opposed to what the author wanted to say with their book). I guess another example would be the multiple versions of Peter Pan in both books, films and TV series. In some, he's the original boy who doesn't want to grow up, in others considerably more sinister. The adaptations cater much more to what people want to say now, than what the original author had in mind.

Charlotte wrote: The adaptations cater much more to what people want to say now, than what the original author had in mind.

I think you have hit it right on the head there Charlotte.

That's something that does bother me, I will admit. Bringing modern views and sensibilities into very old stories that didn't view things the same way.

Cynical, existential revisions like these take more away from a story than they add, in my opinion!

I guess you could argue that they should write their own story instead of changing somebody elses
Still, I always did think Peter Pan a somewhat odd character and I really liked his "darker remake" in both Brom's book and the TV series Once Upon a Time. I doubt J M Barrie would have liked it, though... And one "remake" I really dislike is the "nice vampire". They're supposed to be monsters but these days they're all vegetarian romantics. Blah

I just read about the terrorist attack in France today, against the journalists and cartoonists of a magazine that has apparently offended some fanatics. I guess it was only a matter of time before it would happen somewhere in the world but that doesn't make it any less of a tragedy. At least twelve people have lost their lives because of a few idiots who can't accept that we're not all the same.

During this christmas holiday I read the second part of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy. It's about the second world war. I usually hate war stories but Follett writes about historical events very well, in my opinion (and with a focus on everyday life for people rather than just events in the trenches). While it's clear he (and most of the characters) doesn't side with the fascists he still manages to explain some of the sentiment that enabled Hitler to become a dictator. And it reminds me of the success of a fascist political party in Sweden in the last election - no matter how much they screw up by revealing their true nature they only seem to gain more support. It frightens me - we're not post WW1 Germany so I don't think it'll ever go that bad, even if they themselves seem to think they can become the #1 party in Sweden, but how can so many people support the same kind of reasoning? Again???

It's appalling how much hate we humans seem to carry around and how easily some (many!) of us revert to violence. It doesn't matter to me if the fanatics are left wing or right wing, religious or not, they're all dangerous and I hope 2015 can be a year when we manage to reduce violence and hatred instead of just increase it like it seems to me we've been doing for a long time now.

(And that all said, I don't get how you're thinking if you think it's OK to kill people who doesn't agree with you. By that reasoning they should also be allowed to kill you for the same reason. Plus a terrorist attack like that in France should reduce sympathy from people who might otherwise actually try to understand your "cause" so the terrorists should only be hurting themselves. Not to mention the way it starts war and gets loads of them killed, like after 9/11... Yet I suspect it functions more like advertising - they show they exist and get more funding from other fanatics. It's all just scary and really, really depressing. How can people become so sick?)

It's despicable, I can not put into words how enraged this makes me, how they believe they have any right to do that in the name of their 'God' makes me sick.

The mentality shocks me to the core, the fact that these extremists are currently controlling the world, with their diseased views and random violence, scares me because I think there will be retaliation.

And I don't know how else people can display their horror and anger without returning the violence.

Heavy stuff.

kazky wrote: And I don't know how else people can display their horror and anger without returning the violence.

That's one of the worst parts... No matter how much you want a peaceful solution, there's no talking to these fanatics.

I know what next

Just make sure that you do not turn to violence yourself.

Fire + fire makes more fire.

We 'rational' and unaffected people wouldn't Dom, but you've got to figure in angry and heartbroken people and 'other' extreme people and It's probably understandable.

if it had been one of my loved ones I would be hunting them down. No question. And two wrongs don't make a right, but violence like today can not be left unchecked and unpunished.

And I don't know what the answer is.