Part 5: The Film of the Book
"Ever had one of those days... and then your best friend turns out to be an alien."
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Movie Trailer
If The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a book about a book of the future then The Name of the RoseΦ by Umberto Eco is its symmetrical twin, for it tells the story of a very ancient tome –- and a deadly one at that. It also happens to be one of the few great novels to have been turned into a similarly great filmΦ.
In fact, so frequently has sublime writing been turned into risible celluloid (A.S. Byatt's PossessionΦ being one of the most conspicuous examplesΦ of recent years) that it is tempting to conclude that these two media are alien forms, as miscible as oil and water. Yet that sleek conveyor of information and entertainment formerly known as the telephone now enables us to mix them – should we try?
Naturally I would like to argue that we should.
But I'm not just talking about film tie-ins. Yes, publishers ought to get a lot more imaginative than simply changing the cover illustration when one of their books gets the Hollywood treatment. (For example, in the unlikely event that the publisher and the studio ever got their acts together, I would gladly buy an iPod-ready combination book-film package of The Remains of the DayΦ.) But much more importantly, beyond such obvious first steps lies rich potential in intimately mixing words with video.
To understand this aspect of our future, consider Shakespeare's plays. These were originally written not to be read, but to be seen and heard. Yet these days they are more often consumed in written form (especially by unenthusiastic schoolchildren). This isn't necessarily a bad thing (except for the schoolchildren). The printed page is portable, and it allows us to set our own pace, dwelling on whichever passages we choose – and Shakespeare's words are well worth dwelling on. But it also divorces us from the context for which they were originally composed. What's more, the dense Elizabethan language can be inaccessible to the modern reader without actors' cadances and actions to provide clues to the meaning.
Now we can have the best of both worlds: multimedia versions of the Bard's works in which we can skip between the text and a video of the play, or perhaps enjoy a combination of both. Just as we saw with audio, modern technology can bring us closer to classic artistry.
As an example, here is a segment from a play that contains some of Shakespeare's more impenetrable language: The Winter's Tale. (In this scene, Hermione, Queen of Sicilia, has just asked her son, the young Mamillius, to tell her a story.)
Mamillius (Prince of Sicilia):
A sad tale's best for winter: I have one
Of sprites and goblins.
Hermione (Queen of Sicilia):
Let's have that, good sir.
Come on, sit down: come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it.
Mamillius:
There was a man&ndash:
Hermione:
Nay, come, sit down; then on.
Mamillius:
Dwelt by a churchyard: I will tell it softly;
Yond crickets shall not hear it.
Hermione:
Come on, then,
And give't me in mine ear.
(Enter Leontes, King of Sicilia, with Lords.)
Leontes:
Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him?
First Lord:
Behind the tuft of pines I met them; never
Saw I men scour so on their way: I eyed them
Even to their ships.
Leontes:
How blest am I
In my just censure, in my true opinion!
Alack, for lesser knowledge! how accursed
In being so blest! There may be in the cup
A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected: but if one present
The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk,
and seen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander:
There is a plot against my life, my crown;
All's true that is mistrusted: that false villain
Whom I employ'd was pre-employ'd by him:
He has discover'd my design, and I
Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick
For them to play at will. How came the posterns
So easily open?
First Lord:
By his great authority;
Which often hath no less prevail'd than so
On your command.
Leontes:
I know't too well.
Give me the boy: I am glad you did not nurse him:
Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you
Have too much blood in him.
Hermione:
What is this? sport?
Leontes:
Bear the boy hence; he shall not come about her;
Away with him! and let her sport herself
With that she's big with; for 'tis Polixenes
Has made thee swell thus.
Hermione:
But I'ld say he had not,
And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,
Howe'er you lean to the nayward.
Leontes:
You, my lords,
Look on her, mark her well; be but about
To say 'she is a goodly lady,' and
The justice of your hearts will thereto add
'Tis pity she's not honest, honourable:'
Praise her but for this her without-door form,
Which on my faith deserves high speech, and straight
The shrug, the hum or ha, these petty brands
That calumny doth use&ndash:O, I am out&ndash:
That mercy does, for calumny will sear
Virtue itself: these shrugs, these hums and ha's,
When you have said 'she's goodly,' come between
Ere you can say 'she's honest:' but be 't known,
From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,
She's an adulteress.
And here is the same scene again, but this time with added actorial accompanyment...