Thursday, April 1, 2010
Greed vs McTeague
I found the movie Greed to be very different from the book McTeague. This was not due to a change in the story or the characters that were used within the movie. I found this difference to be from the added images that were put into the movie. There was also the music that was added. I will get to that in a second though. For the images the first one that i didn't like that was added was the funeral that happened during the wedding. This set up too much how the end was going to happen. Why would a funeral be added. This was too much, it showed that everyone that was at the wedding was doomed. Which is true but i did not like how it was done. There was also the second bird. This kinda made worked as a symbol for the family, but it was not part of the book and i felt should not have been added. The other main images that were added were all the cats. The cats were a major part of this movie to show when Marcus was involved. There was too much added imagery which led to the viewers mind being shifted to think certain things about the characters. Then there was the music. The music that was added changed the story. It added a different feel and made certain parts more dramatic then they should have been. Overall though i would say that Greed covered the book pretty well, with a few minor problems due to over acting.
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I can see where you are coming from by saying that the added imagery was a little too much, but I feel that this film needed the music no matter what effect it had on the film. I could not imagine watching a film for over 2 hours with absolutely no sound. At that point a theatrical play would have been a thousand times better than suffering through a film where the only sounds was the shuffling of the people next to you. I can understand your argument against the music because without it the scenes are more in the interpretation of the audience as opposed to the music setting the mood, but I think that the music properly portrayed the mood that the audience should have received from the scene.
ReplyDeleteYour sense that the movie overdoes its emphasis on the gold, the music, the funeral/wedding, etc. has its roots in where we are as film viewers, Charles. A moviegoer from the 1920s would be baffled by all the quick cuts and other features of our movies, but we've learned to read movies in this way.
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