تدريب Shadowing: 5 Books Better Than The Movie - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

There's a lot of debate about which movies are better than the book,

⏸ متوقف مؤقتاً

السرعة:

190 جمل

إذا كانت الجمل قصيرة أو طويلة جدًا، انقر على Edit لتعديلها.

There's a lot of debate about which movies are better than the book,

but some adaptations are universally considered to have missed the mark.

Here are five books that were definitely better than the movie.

Number one, The Lovely Bones.

The Lovely Bones tells a story of a murdered teenage girl named Susie Salmon.

It's told from the point of view of the murdered girl

as she watches from the great beyond as her family and friends mourn her and try to move on with their lives.

Her actual death is covered in the opening chapter,

with the rest of the book describing how her family and friends deal with the loss,

which is the story's biggest strength.

The mistake the movie makes is that it dedicates nearly half the screen time to the girl's death.

Of course, Hollywood would ratchet up this part of the story,

but it meant there was less screen time for the friends and family's stories,

which is what the readers loved about the book.

Susie's mother, father, sister, friends,

and even the killer himself have their stories told in the book as she watches on.

Since the movie focuses on the who,

what, and where of the death,

it has little time for these characters to be flushed out.

And the director Peter Jackson ramped up the special effects,

which shifted viewers' attention from the family and friends to what heaven looks like in this particular story world.

Movie critic Roger Ebert went so far as to call this movie deplorable,

and he didn't even read the book.

He's judging it as a standalone movie.

The Lovely Bones is a deplorable film with this message.

If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer,

you have a lot to look forward to.

You can get together in heaven with the other teenage victims of the same killer

and gaze down in benevolence upon your family members as they mourn you and realize what a wonderful person you were.

Sure, you miss your friends,

but your fellow fatalities come dancing to greet you in a meadow of wildflowers,

and how cool is that?

He goes on to say,

It's based on the bestseller by Alice Sebold that everybody seemed to be reading a couple years ago.

I hope it's not faithful to the book.

If it is, millions of Americans are scary.

That's a pretty bold critique.

Ebert was an avid reader.

I think he would have been pleasantly surprised if he had read the book.

It's noted, though, that Saoirse Ronan's performance as the dead girl was widely praised even by critics of the movie.

And yes, I had to look up how to pronounce her name correctly.

Number two, The Golden Compass.

His Dark Materials was the original name of the book.

In America, it was released under the name The Golden Compass

and later turned into a movie to capitalize on the success of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies.

The book brought a fresh story world to readers

when it was initially released in 1995 with its distinctive idea that the characters have mystical animals who accompany them in life.

The book alludes to theology,

physics, and philosophy through its story elements,

and some have called it an atheist's answer to C.S.

Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series.

For this reason, the book has been criticized as anti-church,

and the author, Philip Pullman,

has made no secret of his disdain for the Chronicles of Narnia.

He called it a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic, and reactionary prejudice.

But of love, of Christian charity,

there is not a trace.

I need to do a video about writers' feuds.

That would be kind of fun.

Philip Pullman's story involves children abducted by church members known as gobblers who use them for experiments.

Go ahead and draw your own conclusions on what that metaphor represents.

When the movie was released,

the filmmakers toned down the anti-church rhetoric, angering fans greatly.

The movie did okay worldwide,

but failed at the North American box office,

probably because moviegoers were tired of wizardry and were moving into Twilight territory.

The director, Chris Weitz, said he was at odds with new cinema to produce a family film,

so he had to tone down the anti-religious material that drew readers to the book in the first place.

This turned the movie into a mediocre fantasy picture

that left many of the philosophical elements of the book on the cutting room floor.

Ironically, the Catholic Church called for boycotts of the movie despite the fact

that the studio caved in and removed the anti-church material.

In 2008, what was going to be a series of movies was put on indefinite hold.

Number three, Cloud Atlas.

Cloud Atlas is a novel

that tells six stories in six different time periods from the 1800s to the future where humans exist in a post-apocalyptic world.

It's an ambitious story that succeeds greatly in what it's set out to do.

The book came out in 2004 and the Wachowskis made it into a movie in 2012.

The novel structures its six stories in a unique way,

it splits each one in two for a total of 12 sections.

The first half of each story is told in chronological order,

one through six, and then the second half of each story is told in reverse chronological order,

going from six back down to one where we started.

The stories are united in a few common themes of how we treat people,

reincarnation, and humankind's yearning to be free.

The movie was polarizing among critics and audiences,

with some saying it was the best film of the year and others saying it was the worst.

Some audiences found it hard to follow since it jumped around in time

and some critics found the project to be a highly self-indulgent

project with actors showing off their ability to be covered in makeup and speak in different accents.

My own opinion though is I thought the movie failed for the simple reason

that they abandoned the more linear format of the book and allowed it to jump around sort of pulp fiction style.

One technique the book employs is that each of the six stories builds on the previous story,

sort of like one of those Russian nesting dolls.

The 1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1 format was perfect for that storytelling technique.

The choice to abandon this format in the movie

and jump around between the six stories actually made the movie more confusing for me,

despite the fact that I read the book.

I have to imagine audiences who didn't read the book would be even more lost and confused.

100

I think the movie would have been better

101

if they had just stuck to the more linear format to the book but I still appreciate the Wachowski's efforts.

102

The movie is an achievement of artistic endeavor.

103

I'd rather see an ambitious failure than a safe formula any day,

104

but I understand why audiences might be turned off by it.

105

I still own the Blu-ray and watch it every now and then.

106

Despite its flaws, the movie deserves to be seen simply because it exists.

107

Number four, The Scarlet Letter.

108

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is about a woman suffering after being

109

caught as an adulterer in a strict religious community in 17th century Boston.

110

The story explores themes of sin and guilt and was made into a much hated by critics movie back in 1995.

111

The movie's main sin is probably related to the casting of Demi Moore back

112

when she was considered the hottest actress in Hollywood.

113

At the time, she was known for sexually charged movies like Indecent Proposal and Disclosure.

114

The movie is shot with an obvious nod to grocery store paperback eroticism.

115

The movie adaptation drops the themes of sin and guilt to highlighting hypocrisy of religious zealots,

116

which might be an admirable theme,

117

but it's not what Hawthorne's story was trying to do.

118

The book starts at her trial,

119

but the movie recounts the events leading up to the trial,

120

since that's where all the eroticism would take place,

121

and thus capitalizing on the bodies of these great-looking actors.

122

In Roger Ebert's scathing one-and-a-half-star review,

123

he wrote, The great inconvenience of the scarlet letter from a Hollywood point of view is

124

that the novel begins after the adultery has taken place.

125

This will not do.

126

If you haven't figured it out yet,

127

I was a huge follower of Roger Ebert,

128

so you're going to see quite a few quotes of his in my videos.

129

Fans of the movie will point out that the movie should be seen as standalone from the book,

130

with some praising to me more in Gary Oldman's performances,

131

while followers of the book consider the movie to be an injustice to an American classic.

132

Number five, Atlas Shrugged.

133

Atlas Shrugged has earned its place as a literary classic,

134

although it has its share of critics.

135

Even if you are not a subscriber of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism,

136

many have said the book is too long and repetitive in its themes,

137

and that Miss Rand should have employed a manuscript editor to trim some of the fat.

138

I read the book a few years ago and agree with those criticisms,

139

but I still think that launching a philosophy through fictional storytelling is a monumental achievement in literature.

140

With that said, the movie adaptation is awful.

141

For years, there was an effort to bring this story to the big screen,

142

but the holders of the book's rights insisted that the core message of objectivism and the long speeches remain in the script.

143

Ayn Rand did manage to get one of her books turned into a movie,

144

which was The Fountainhead.

145

It was said that she hated the results as the message of individual freedom was somewhat muddied in the film version.

146

This likely led to a lifetime of skepticism and handing over the creative decision-making for Atlas Shrugged to Hollywood.

147

The book was turned into a trilogy back in 2011 at a time

148

when the message of the book might be better received at the height of the Great Recession,

149

but it was largely panned by critics who either thought it was bad or just plain dull.

150

The book has several scenes of internal dialogue which outline the logic behind objectivism.

151

However, it's difficult to film internal dialogue unless you use intrusive voiceover like Dexter or Narcos,

152

so to someone not familiar with the tenets of objectivism,

153

the movie's message is somewhat vague.

154

One departure from the book that the movie makes is

155

that it's set in present times and alludes to the 2008 economic collapse,

156

but still focuses on the rail industry.

157

It of course explains why rail is still important to our economy,

158

but not very convincingly.

159

It would have been better to have just left it in the 1940s.

160

Most likely this was a budgetary concern that led to this decision.

161

Also, for some reason, the filmmakers decided to cast different actors in the roles for each of the three installments.

162

Three different actors to play Dagny,

163

three different actors to play Hank Reardon,

164

three different actors to play Jim Taggart.

165

What an odd choice.

166

But then again, I guess the James Bond franchise got away with this.

167

Not that my opinion matters,

168

but if I had my way,

169

I would have the movie take place in the 1940s like the book,

170

and I'd add a touch of magical realism.

171

The book is a perfect candidate for steampunk.

172

Remember that movie Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow?

173

I think that sort of look would be perfect for Atlas Shrugged rather than trying to piggyback it on the 2008 recession.

174

I hope someday someone gives it another shot for adaptation.

175

A 10-part miniseries might be a better route to take.

176

And I remember when I saw Atlas Shrugged in the theater,

177

the movie got an applause from the sparse audience.

178

The applause was very subdued golf clap.

179

I think they were clapping at the fact that it finally got done after 50 years of development purgatory,

180

not because it was a good movie.

181

So I do hope they get a second shot to get this adaptation right.

182

If you're an Atlas Shrugged fan,

183

how would you film the book and capture the ideas of objectivism on film?

184

It's quite a challenge for the medium of film.

185

As a former filmmaker, I'd love to hear your ideas.

186

That's it for this week.

187

Please check out my own book,

188

Grand Portage, about a man who drags a nuclear aircraft carrier across northern Minnesota.

189

It's available on Amazon and paperback and Kindle.

190

Thanks for watching and never stop reading.

TRENDING

الأكثر شعبية

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟

التظليل الصوتي (Shadowing) تقنية تعلم لغة مدعومة علمياً، طُورت أصلاً لتدريب المترجمين الفوريين المحترفين. الطريقة بسيطة لكنها قوية: تستمع لصوت إنجليزي أصلي وتكرره فوراً بصوت عالٍ — كظل يتبع المتحدث بتأخير 1-2 ثانية. تُظهر الأبحاث تحسناً كبيراً في دقة النطق والتنغيم والإيقاع وربط الأصوات والاستماع والطلاقة.

☕ اشترِ لنا قهوة

يظل ShadowingEnglish مجانيًا بنسبة 100% بفضل دعمكم. تكاليف الخوادم والذكاء الاصطناعي مرتفعة — قهوتكم تبقينا مستمرين! 🙏

التبرع عبر PayPal

ShadowingEnglish.com – تمرين التظليل الصوتي للإنجليزية

تحدث الإنجليزية بطلاقة باستخدام تقنية التظليل الصوتي. استمع لفيديوهات يوتيوب الأصلية، كرر جملة بجملة، وابنِ نطقاً حقيقياً وطلاقة — يستخدمها متعلمو IELTS حول العالم.

تدريب Shadowing: 5 Books Better Than The Movie - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

الأكثر شعبية

لماذا من المهم ممارسة الحديث مع هذا الفيديو؟

القواعد والتعبيرات في السياق

فخاخ النطق الشائعة

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟

تدريب Shadowing: 5 Books Better Than The Movie - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

تنزيل التطبيق

لماذا من المهم ممارسة الحديث مع هذا الفيديو؟

القواعد والتعبيرات في السياق

فخاخ النطق الشائعة

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟