"Let's All Go to the Movies, Let's All Go to the Movies..."

I sit here contemplating whether or not I want to make the long trek across Smallville to the Mall Theaters to see a little flick titled World War Z. I think I want to see the latest offering starring Brad Pitt, but I am not certain. Some of you that know me already are aware of a little fact about my personality: I am one of "those people". "Those people"  try to tell other people that "the movie was good, but the book was much better." I will own it, and I am not ashamed. If a movie is as good as the book from which it sprang, I will admit it. However, if a book is truly fulfilling, a tool the author used to take me on a marvelous ride or a probe that he used to stir my thoughts, and the film adaptation fails to do as good a job, I do not see anything wrong with expressing my disappointment.

I liked the new Gatsby. I thoroughly enjoyed the watching Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird when I watched it on TMC with Heidi and Emily the other night. I will not complain at all about the most recent adaptation of Of Mice and Men. Are there aspects of the original novels that still stand out differently in my mind? Yes, but that is not a problem for me. That is not what causes me to hesitate in my decision to go see WWZ. 

Andrew Bauer turned me on to the piece that has a unique strucure and approach to the zombie apocalypse genre. Once I started reading the book, I was literally drawn into the twisting and turning story. It is told in such a way that I could not lose interest, and I needed to dive further in. Examinations of politics, religion, patriotism, war, the human spirit, and morality are all woven into the plot. I found myself thinking, "Huh, I had never really thought about that" many times, and I loved it. The problem is, I do not know how the book can be convereted into a traditional summer Hollywood blockbuster without losing so much of what makes the book so intriguing and interesting.

Several years ago, I saw a preview for a movie starring Will Smith.  The film was titled I Am Legend. I did what I tend to do, and I found the short novel by that title and read it first. On a side note, my daughter has inheritted this habit from me, and I am elated that she did. Emily read The Great Gatsby this spring, partly because she had seen the previews for the new film, and she felt she had to read the novel first. I love that she did that. I love the images, the characters, the action of a great author's work to develop from his words in my mind, for they are usually much more vibrant and satisfying for me than if I am forced to rely on the interpretation of director or producer. I will even admit that I read Twilight before fighting my gag reflex for 90 minutes of the film version.  Why I did that to myself is an entirely different topic, so I will leave you hanging on that one.

So, I read I Am Legend, another offering of the  post-apocalyptic genre. The novel focused on an ordinary man who somehow survived an epidemic that had revaged the entire region, and as far as he knws, the world. He is alone as a human being in a world where each night, his former neighbors and co-workers taunt him from outside his house, trying to lure him outside. The protagonist must protect himslef, and determine if he can or even wants to continue to live in this world. The novel explores where our fears might bubble up from, and how we as a individuals and a society combat those fears. Are our fears based in reality, and if so, why is our folklore packed with stories of vampires and the like, as well as the ways to protect ourselves against them? I thoroughly enjoyed the short novel.

I also enjoyed the film starring Will Smith. My only complaint is that they titled it after the novel. So much was changed, and so many of the truly thought-provoking questions were removed. To me, the point of the title itself is lost in the film. As I said, I liked the film and have watched it seveal times. I just wish they had called it something else.

So, my hesitation is not from a fear of zombies. It is not that I fear the film will not be an exciting summer blockbuster.  It is not a doubt that Pitt can pull off the role he has chosen. It is more that I do not see how his role could even be in the film in the first place, or how the film can maintain the qualities of the book that made it so enjoyable to me.  In the end, I will see the film. Hopefully, I will enjoy it. If I do not, I will probably tell you about it.