Sunday, August 12, 2012

WEEK 4.

Le Guin’s (2004) reaction to the film ‘Legend of Earthsea’ was interesting because the title states ‘A Whitewashed Earthsea’ followed by ‘How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books’. Just from reading that, it clearly shows Le Guin’s didn’t like the film at all. Le Guin says in her review that Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the scripts for the Lord of the Rings, was the principal writer. It would make sense that if there were also similarities to the Lord of the Rings it could have come from Boyans. According to Le Guin (2008) science fiction mostly pretends that the future is happening in the present and usually avoids the actual present time, while fantasy is more direct in its fictionality. I couldn't  The Sci Fi Channel could have changed the the story because science fiction can be a bit different to fantasy.

From the book to the film of Wizards of Earthsea there are many obvious changes that have been made to the film as expected. There were some parts of the story from both the book and the movie that reminded me of the story of Harry Potter. It was interesting to research the original published/released dates for both of these stories. I found out that ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 1997, while Wizard of Earthsea was originally published in 1968. So although Le Guin’s Wizard of Earthsea and J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter have some similar story lines, both stories are also very different. Some of the similarities from the Wizard of Earthsea and Harry Potter are:

• Male protagonist
• Powerful Wizard
• Wizard School
• Pet (Harry Potter – Hedwig.  Ged – Otak)
• Best Friend – (Harry Potter – Hermonie & Ron. Ged – Vetch)

In my personal opinion, I think that producer of Wizard of Earthsea film could have thought up some of the same concepts of the Harry Potter film but not on purpose. The film Wizard of Earthsea wasn’t all that great. I did find it interesting just to see how the producer would present it. I knew there would be differences between the book to the film.

Reference

Le Guin, U. (2008, July 13). Plausibility Revisited . Retrieved August 8, 2012, from Ursula K. Le Guin: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/PlausibilityRevisited.html 


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6 comments:

  1. Kurt beekmansAugust 12, 2012 at 4:37 PM

    Hi Clarice
    Interest points about the similarities between Harry Potter and Earthsea I did see them myself but then I dont like and haven't watched or read the Happy Potter.
    Films will never be as good as the books they come from. I think what the film makers want to do is recreate the story for a new audience or generation.

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    Replies
    1. ClariceAugust 12, 2012 at 4:44 PM

      Hey Kurt :)

      Thanks for commenting on my post.
      There were quite a bit of similarities I found between Earthsea and Harry Potter. I have read some of the books of Harry Potter and I've seen the movies. But just saying I love the Harry Potter series.
      Thats an interesting point you made about film makers recreating the story for a new audience or generation. I definitely think in some stories its hard to create the imagination of the writer because everyone has a different view.

      (Happy Potter.. lol)

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  2. mike johnsonAugust 23, 2012 at 5:56 PM

    'From the book to the film of Wizards of Earthsea there are many obvious changes that have been made to the film as expected.'
    What are these obvious changes? You make that claim then compare Earthsea to Lord of the Rings, leaving your statement unsupported.

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  3. UnknownAugust 23, 2012 at 6:45 PM

    Hello Clarice,
    I also found similarities between Harry Potter and the Wizard of EarthSea. Harry potter kept popping up in my mind as I was watching the film. However, I personally thought that the book did not give the image of Harry Potter :)

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  4. AlexOctober 20, 2012 at 11:27 PM

    Hello Clarence

    I think your right about the similarities between Harry Potter and Earth sea. There is an evil student who kind of reminds me of Malfoy and a wise old and power wizard like Dumbledore.

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  5. Soyoun ParkNovember 4, 2012 at 3:45 AM

    Yea I agree while i was watching Earth sea, I could find several similarities as Alex mentioned, Malfoy character in Harry potter was similar. I think Harry potter was better for me. The plot twists, surprises, deaths, and conflicts all had so much depth and feeling.

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