American Integrity in Film-Making

Recently I saw a film, The Dark is Rising. This is yet another film made in America and based on a British book.

Now the worst bit is I know that America is capable of doing these well. Take the Chronicles of Narnia for instant, a most excellent piece of cinema entertainment. So why do I feel such an urge to crucify the director of this new film? That may be a slight exaggeration. In fact I would simply like to beat him into a small bloody mess.

I have several grievances here. Firstly why is it so difficult to use the original concept from the book, that Will Staunton, and his family, were all British? Why do you have to instead arrange it, awkwardly, so that they have recently arrived from America where they have lived for generations. It is also quite obvious that your research never included visiting a British school, nor anything else requiring more than a ten second walk through London.

And why is it suddenly set in London?

Okay, I could have gritted my teeth and accepted that. I can put up with the massive nationalistic insecurity that drives directors to do these things.

But why throw in a love interest, and where the hell did the long-lost brother come from? Is there any particular reason that you invented these things, pulling your crap, stereotypical ideas from thin air? Any reason at all? Anything? Thought not. Maybe the original storyline is just too complex for your nursery-level mind to handle Mr Director. Maybe you should stick to making more American style films, such as Home Alone. That seems about your level. You could not seem to handle the idea of your hero having equally powerful peers, so instead you make him some sort of unique super-being, rising above the others and struggling to control his rage and angst as his powers blossom. Great story-telling there. So much better than just leaving him to focus on a world-wide struggle against the Dark which his side are doomed to lose if he is unable to find the signs. Gotta throw in the angst, have him blow up a few cars, go on, have fun.

Finally the biggest travesty of all. This is one book in a sequence called the Dark is Rising. All of these books pull in huge amounts of Celtic mythology, Arthurian legends and so on.

All of this is taken out. I suppose because any sort of history or mythology would either confuse the American audience, or offend the religious among them.

Mr Director, I have to say, you have managed to fail and dissappoint me even more than Spielberg.

Now a quick end-note to this. Some people have mentioned my blog is getting a little sad at the moment so I am asking anyone with a happy, silly, or any other idea for me to blog about to e-mail it to me. I am going through a bit of a mental block phase at the moment. I do not actually feel unhappy, but all I can think of to post about this week is my past, and frankly most of the stuff that has happened to me in the past is fairly miserable.