Comic Con

I was going to post this yesterday but my internet chose a particularly untimely moment to go haywire and we just got it reset.

As you might, or might not, know, Wednesday was the kick start to Comic Con, a gigantic convention that features comic books and video games as well as movies. Twilight was featured on Wednesday with a panel of actors as well as the director, Catherine Hardwicke, and the author Stephenie Meyer.

( If you want a detailed report of the convention, go check out Melissa’s blog . She is attending Comic Con this week and was lucky enough to get in to see the panel. It’s a great blog post, so read it! I thoroughly enjoyed it.)

Today I thought I’d address the two types of fan bases I see with books and movies that are adapted from one another.

Book fans. This can really be broken up into two categories, one with the book fans who steadfastly refuse to believe that a movie adaptation could ever be done properly of the book, and those who support the movie and are eager to see one of their favorites brought to life.

Movie fans. These are usually the people who saw the movie first and then picked up the book, or they just rely on the movie adaptation to tell them what happened in the book, and then ask a friend later. (Ahem…I would fall into this category for Lord of the Rings. I just couldn’t make myself read them. I’ll take a crack at them again someday but not in the near future.)

I think there is a big difference between the two types of fans. We all know from Harry Potter that a lot of material gets cut that we would like to see. The problem is, the material is cut because it’s like extra baggage. If it doesn’t move the plot forward and it is not a critical piece of information for a future movie, it was cut. There was no S.P.E.W. in Goblet of Fire because it didn’t help or hinder Harry from completing his tasks in the tournament. As annoying as it was, it made sense. Sure, it seems a little bit out of character for Neville to steal the gillyweed from Professor Snape’s office, but when you think about the person he grows into, it doesn’t seem as far fetched for him to steal something to help a friend in need.

At the start of this whole movie deal Robert Pattinson received a lot of raw, hateful comments and mail. A lot of it was from people who didn’t think he could pull of a character like Edward, who seems so complex at the surface but isn’t really, once you get past the mysterious exterior. What I was most concerned about was that he is not American. Could he pull off the accent? I think he has, from what I’ve seen and heard so far. But I was willing to wait to see the movie, or see some actual footage of him as Edward, before condemning him or singing his praises.

Let’s not forget that the differences between books and movies are very apparent. With books everything is left to the imagination, and the movies leave very little for you to fill in the blanks. The physical images are there. Book fans are very anxious about the movies being done right, but we are all have our own opinions. The characters have different voices in my head. To me, Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger is not academically focused enough. Emma is a great actress. But there is no longer such a braniac feel to Hermione. Now, I’ve never seen Kristen Stewart in any movie, but I’m hoping to find a copy of Speak somewhere that I can borrow. I’m sure that what Kristen Stewart brings to the character of Bella is going to be great. She seems to be very serious about doing it right for all of the hard core Twilight fans out there. But I know realistically that how she sees Bella is probably going to have differences with how I see Bella. And that’s okay, because we’re all individuals with individual opinions. That’s what makes the experience of books and movies so rewarding.

What I am asking is that you enjoy the new book when it comes out next Saturday. Read it, love it or hate it, but don’t make judgments about the movies and the actors until you see it, because really, how can we know how good or bad it all is until we’ve had the chance to judge with our own eyes?