“I realize it has become too easy to find a diet to fit in with whatever you happen to feel like eating.” – Bridget Jones’s Diary
This is the fourth instalment in the Dalek game. I will now associate Bridget Jones with Frodo Baggins:
Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary is another book that has been unjustly judged by its movie. I did not like the movie - it was relatively faithful, but I found the story seen through that filter bleak and miserly. The book, however, is a much more faithful reworking of the plot (though not the characters and themes) of Pride and Prejudice, and is set during the publicity around the BBC miniseries, and that interaction is conscious and fun. The movie simplified the plot and lost some obvious connections, although in addition to the obvious casting choices it did drop in a few references to (and secondary actors from) the miniseries. Stories in movies get filtered through the director’s viewpoint before they get to me, and it doesn’t always match up with how I read the book – for example, I think the relentlessly dark tone of the movie of Fellowship of the Ring is a perfectly valid approach, but for me that book is full of food and parties, fireworks, baths, songs, random acts of iambic pentameter, and hobbits dancing on tables.
In other news: I am in Sydney in a youth hostel common room watching boys with propeller caps blow up the silver bag in which cask wine comes and discuss Being John Malkovich. When I am back in Brisbane, I will post pictures other than Daleks.
May 18, 2011 at 8:50 pm
[...] 101 Uses for a Dead Dalek [...]
May 18, 2011 at 10:07 pm
See, I loved the BJD movie. I ran it during the brief and joyful period that I was a projectionist, and at first I sneered at it for being a chick-flick. When I sat down and watched it, I found it exceeded my expectations by a long way and later bought it. I think I found the Bridget of the book to be a good bit more pathetic, and I had an easier time connecting to her when she was flesh and blood in front of me. (Plus the movie has the accents, which I love, and only can imagine when reading.) I very much see your point about the literary connection, but for me that’s a kind of perk that you get from having absorbed both pieces of literature, not the main point. I guess I’d have to ask Helen Fielding whether I’m wrong and that is the main point.
The second book/movie I thought was a total waste of time, except that Bridget interviews the real Colin Firth, which is so self-reflexive that I can’t even make it make sense.
May 21, 2011 at 11:47 pm
That’s really interesting! For me, I have a closer connection with the book, and find the director/actor’s viewpoint limits the potential. Hmm. Agreed on the second movie :)
May 18, 2011 at 11:18 pm
This “Daleks” game is cool. I am beginning to like the idea of The Four Daleks of the Apocalypse – there was at least one movie made by that title.
You’re in Sydney? Wow…hope you are having a good trip. I have seen wonderful pictures of that city.
May 19, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I should have said the movie title was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. For all I know there WAS a Doctor Who episode called “The Four Daleks of the Apocalypse.” :-)
May 21, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Heheh. Not outside the realms of possibility! I have that problem with a lot of war/science-fiction titles – once you add ‘Dalek’ in they are too close to events in the show!
I’m having a great time in Sydney – sketching and drinking coffee and looking at art. I’m putting some sketches up on Facebook and Twitter but will post them here when I get back.
August 13, 2011 at 9:16 am
[...] As you may have worked out, I love reworkings, reimaginings, reinterpretations and covers. I adore She Will Have Her Way, and was thrilled when I worked out Clueless was a rewrite of Emma (to be fair, I saw it in German first so I was just trying to keep up with the conversations). I love – as I did last recently – watching the Half Hour Hamlet and the Express Macbeth in a park performance and then seeing a community theatre production of Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters which reworks both plays again. I liked Bridget Jones, who has already featured in the Dalek Game: Bridget Jones’s Dalek. [...]