blogs_blog_1633

I don't see how its unfilmable at all. The only thing that would make for an awkward transition to the screen is the issue of color, but even that is pretty easy to get away with.

 

The problem is that the Giver movie we're getting looks awful, and not for reasons that have to do with the book being unfilmable. The trailer makes it look like it has a forced antagonist and a forced love interest, both of which the book had to lack for thematic reasons. The design also is too derivative of more recent dystopian teen novel adaptions. And then there's the little problem with the actors being about ten years too old, removing the whole 'growing up' thematic aspect of the book.

 

I'm a huge fan of The Giver (book), and I'm definitely game for a good film adaption. But this won't be it. Which is unfortunate considering just how love we've been waiting for it. It's been 'in development' for an incredibly long time.

I remember the color thing being a huge deal to me. It basically slapped me in the face and told me stop making assumptions about books. And that still plays into how I read today. 

 

I suppose there are ways to do it effectively in a movie, but they've already killed that possibility. 

 

Oh well...

The way the book described color was pretty fantastic.  It blew my mind, but yeah, you can't copy that into a film. 

 

Even so, I think a film adaptation could do nicely.  I can't say I have high hopes for this one, though. 

 

Also, this has reminded me that there was a cliffhanger to The Giver and now I'm upset.  =/

I didn't like it, but that's probably because they made me read it in middle school back before I could entirely appreciate dystopian fiction. To me back then, it was just a story about a really sad and hopeless and horrible place and a person who has to run away from the only family they ever knew. I should probably reread it sometime now that I'm a little more mature, a little more knowledgable as a reader, and not as wracked with depression as I was throughout middle school and high school.

Also, this has reminded me that there was a cliffhanger to The Giver and now I'm upset.  =/

 

Key word 'was'. There are two direct sequels now and you should (maybe) read them.

 

(Just know that they aren't really that good.)

 

Although, on that, I never found the ending to be a cliffhanger. Even before I know of the sequels I figured without a doubt that Jonas survived his journey. There was really nothing to indicate otherwise.

I've only read the first and second one. I know the second didn't resonate nearly as much as the first one did...

SSSHHH this is very hush-hush but I like you guys and I wanna share so

Okay so I live in New York and often wind up finding myself in the wrong place at the right time, and long story short last month or something I ended up in a super tiny test screening/pre screening of The Giver. It was of course unfinished, notably with some hilariously basic stand-in CGI for some stuff, but it was mostly complete, and I have to say it was really good. I'll give a little review of my experience in a spoiler tag in case somebody hasn't read the book or doesn't wanna know anything about what the movie is like until they see it.

The Giver was one of my favorite books when I was younger and though I hadn't read it in a while it was still very vivid in my mind, and the movie was astonishingly close to the source material. This is one of those occasions where the movie follows the original book very closely and is a very faithful adaptation. They might've added some stuff in and taken a few things out here and there, but honestly I might just be misremmembering the book 'cause I can't tell you for certain what was wrong. There's obviously the love interest, but it's actually very sweet and it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, and there's the fact that they're too old but honestly it doesn't affect teh movie at all, they're still young enough so whatever. They certainly act like the youngsters they are in the book. They mostly just condensed the middle of the book to fit everything into the running time, but nothing really got cut outright, they focused ont eh most important scenes and kinda sped through the rest a bit. The whole thing with the world slowing going from black and white to color is there, and the thing about "everything that was so alien and wrong with the society in the book was given almost no attention until the character starts seeing things he isn't normally supposed to" is there too and conveyed veery well. And I cried at the end even though I knew everything that was gonna happen, so I'd say they did a really good job at beating up your heart like the book does. The cast is phenomenal, except for Jonas' male friend 'cause his character seemed a little "eh" to me but it's not like he was really thaaaaat important. But yeah it has MERYL STREEPS as the chief lady in charge of the Community and this super cool dude as the Giver and Jonas is great and the baby is adorable. It's a very good movie. Also! Although the special effects and stuff weren't finished, it looks REALLY GOOD, really captures that futuristic homely utopia feel. Like, the ONLY THING about the movie that bugged me was that the memory scenes that weren't the sled ride went on for a little too long, and there wasn't enough variety in them-- and that's the kind of thing they can fix really easily it's literally just getting new stock footage and editing stuff around-- and also that in the beginning, instead of just a characters hair or a single apple turning colored, the whole scene would be a little colored too, but that's just artistic license really, it still gets the point across. Also, the cliffhanger at the end is the same as the book, but it's not really like a sequel hook or anything, it's a very satisfying ending. Also did I mention Meryl Streep? Cause she's perfect I love her.  

 
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, it's basically the most perfect adaptation I could've hoped for and I am gonna see it like 4 times when it comes out. That maybe be too much praise, but I loved it. I was very relieved and satisfied. If you love the book, the movie will not disappoint you. It's just like, a little more dramatic but not overly so, definitely not cheesy. Hollywood, ya know? Nothing is perfect but they certainly didn't mess it up. If you see any super dramatic trailers, that's just what trailers do, the movie isn't like that. It's lighthearted at parts and has a bunch of humorous moments, and there's some action in it which I didn't really care for 'cause they weren't really that suspenseful since I knew what happens. I made sure to explain how bad the scene was on the form, and it sounded like the people around me had the same thing in mind, so no worries Obviously they could change things before the official release, but everyone was required to give feedback with this long super detailed form so Im confident any changes would be for the better and I doubt it's gonna be very different from what I saw, which was GREAT. GET HYPE. I mean, sure, I may just have different tastes, but I'm really confident y'all would like it too even if it's not exactly like the book, I think it's more than close enough

If you have any specific questions about the movie, feel free to ask.

Just please don't tell anyone about it 'cause I'll get in trouble. I trust y'all

(And sorry about my spelling/grammar I don't really try very hard when I get excited I just need to get it all out)

Here's a recent trailer, by the way! It's one of the overly dramatic trailers that I was talking about 'cause it makes it sound like a thriller or something but I assure you it's not that actually that twisted ^^ And you can see the actors involved and how things look, if you're interested.

It does sound like it will be different in the book in a few ways, but I'm still interested.

 

It looks interesting in my opinion, and I'll likely give it a shot after it comes out.

Hm... If that's the case than maybe it could be good. I'm still skeptical, but I'm not as against it after reading that.