Episode 467 - Adaptions and Transmogrification!
Feb 23, 2020
The process of adaptation is quite interesting. Stories go through all sorts of changes when they're transferred from one medium to another. A lot of the time we bemoan that as “not staying true to the original” or “the book was better”, but there are many times where the adaption is really interesting in its own right, even though it's quite different from what it started out as.
Topics and Show Notes
A straight out bad adaptation (in my opinion) is Peter Jackson's “the Hobbit”. Instead of simply transforming the story to better fit the medium of film, it was changed to accommodate current fashionable Hollywood tropes- an A, B, C, and D story structure, romantic interests, tragic heroic characters, nemesis characters, high speed action sequences etc. It didn't retain any of the spirit of the story it was based on. Retaining the “spirit” seems to be the important part of making a good adaptation, details don't matter so much.
In that vein, Conan the Barbarian is considered to be quite a good film. It's the only successful Conan adaption from the original stories apart from the comic series. For the movie they changed details about the character (supposed to have square-cut long black hair instead of ragged brown hair, supposed to be swarthy skinned, and his origin was changed massively). The story in the film was loosely based on a few different Conan stories, but mainly it was its own thing. The story of the film stayed true to the theme of Robert E Howard's philosophy and character even though the details were all wrong, this made it a very good adaptation because it's the theme of the stories and character that makes Conan so good, NOT the details. Later adaptations in the form of other films, games, and TV series never managed to get that same vibe.
In the Quackcast we cover things like War of the Worlds, Robin Hood, the Marvel Universe, DC movies and so on.
What are some good or bad adaptations that you've seen and why did they succeed or fail?
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to TRUMPed, or rather the “making-off” the theme for TRUMPed. You can see what boundless taste and sense of style this fellow has in his choice of theme tunes, no Eleanor Rigby style classical sounding stuff for the blonde haired buffoon, Heavenly choirs and stately piano pieces are far too serious, subtle, stylish and sensible! Nothing less than a bubblegum jingle will please the Pres!
Topics and shownotes
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Links
Banes' creen Adaptations newspost - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/feb/20/page-to-screen-adaptations/
Featured comic:
Hyperbolic Fabrications Presents - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2020/feb/16/featured-comic-hyperbolic-fabrications-presents/
Featured music:
TRUMPed - - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/TRUMPed/, by Rawdale, rated M.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Episode 463 - Sexposition is not a new thing
Jan 26, 2020
Sexpostion is sex plus exposition, it's exposition with sex on the screen. Tantz Aerine addressed the topic of sexposition in an article last year, but what we're doing here is talking about the reason it even exists, why it isn't a new trend, and why it probably won't last.
Episode 454 - Are Marvel movies "Despicable"?
Nov 24, 2019
This week we look at the famous quote by respected film director Martin Scorsese that “Marvel movies aren't Cinema” and also the quote by fellow director Francis Ford Coppola that Marvel films are “despicable”. We try and look at the proper context of these remarks outside of the twitter garbage and social media outrage to see if either had any point or whether they're way off the mark and deserving of criticism.
Episode 452 - Storytelling styles change!
Nov 11, 2019
Storytelling styles change over time for various reasons: fashion, audience expectations, competition for audience attention due to increased choice and availability of media, technological limitations and abilities, and culture. We chat about the reasons for the changes and how styles have changed.
Episode 451 - Fans who criticise are are good fans
Nov 4, 2019
“Toxic fans” is a bit of a catch cry now and that has seemed to turn into the idea that any fan who is critical of something or doesn't like it isn't a “true fan”, fans must should love everything. I find this a dangerously silly notion and one clearly driven by business interests with only a limited relationship to reality. It's quite similar to the idea that you're “either for us or against us”, the twisted idea of “patriotism” that says you must agree with and love everything your country and your leader does no matter what or you're a traitor.
Episode 449 - Star Wars 2 the franchise strikes back
Oct 21, 2019
As promised we dive right into the second half of the Star Wars chat! We cover all the Star Wars stuff besides the original trilogy and the new trilogy. There's a lot to cover and we only touch on most on it: Solo, the Star Wars Christmas special, Droids, the Ewok films, Clone Wars, the games, the books, comics, Solo, Rogue One…
Episode 448 - King of franchises: Star Wars!
Oct 14, 2019
Continuing on our focus on movie franchises for the month of October, THIS time we focus on the king of them all: STAR WARS! This was a genre defining series, not only for movies but for space opera, “SciFi”, and science fantasy on all media! The original trilogy was quite a milestone. Predictably further instalments weren't quite as well received but it still remains popular even so! Currently it's having a resurgence in popularity once more.
Episode 417 - Can we be better?
Mar 11, 2019
What is Social Marketing? Basically its word-of-mouth and viral marketing smashed together and weaponised: Marketing companies hijack hot-button social issues and hitch their client's brand to them in clever campaigns (“We can be better”, etc). The purpose isn't really to make a brand seem progressive, modern or new, rather it's another way of getting it trending on social media that's guaranteed to work, unlike the legion of hit or miss but mostly failed “Viral” campaigns. Whether people say negative or positive things about this issue is irrelevant to the marketer, as long as people are talking about the brand is all that matters. Free advertising is the goal, but it has a social cost.
