I recently watched the Charlton Heston film, "Omega Man', based on the novel 'I am Legend' written by Richard Matheson, and I could not help feeling disappointed with how far the film wavered away from the book, the same certainly goes for the most recent remake starring Will Smith.
The Novel shows us a vulnerable, lonely man who is struggling to cope with the burden of a species. He has seen everyone from his normal life leave him, confused he just tries to survive. Whereas in the films we see two very strong male leads (Heston manages to stay alive all night with a spear through his chest) who miraculously manage to find cures for the disease, this does not happen in the book, and are able to save the day. The lead character has a completely different dynamic, which surely must change the entire story? Maybe all this has been changed to appeal to a mass-audience, making our main character appear like a superhero. But surely we can cope with our lead being a flawed individual?
I think that this question can be raised for so many novels that have been converted into motion features. 'The Killer Inside Me' ,written by Jim Thompson, was recently made into film directed by John Curran, who generated controversy because he followed the book so closely that the violent scenes became incredibly graphic. But I think that it has to be done this way to create the same atmosphere that the book is able to generate.
'Books like I am Legend were an inspiration to me' Stephen King
I recently read I am Legend, but unfortunately for me I had seen the film first.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed the book but all the way through my read there was a constant disappointment. Not at the book but at how far the film differed from the original story. I felt almost cheated that the director of the recent film used the title 'I am Legend' when they are almost two different stories.
I agree that surely we can cope with an imperfect protagonist. We don't need mollycoddling through a film so it doesn't upset us. Surely a good film provokes a reaction? Quentin Tarantino is often questioned about the violence to his films. But his response is that if someone gets there head cut off, we should see someones head getting cut off, not a bit of blood on the killers shirt.