So okay, the main focus of this picture is the man throwing his little girl into the air and catching her? That's great! And there's Aunt Agnes in the background eating a piece of pie and the park bench she's sitting on is green and a squirrel is a few feet away hoping to scrounge food...
And a whole bunch of other unnecessary details. Can the picture describe what is going on in the man's mind? The little girl's? Can it describe her laughter so vividly it feels like you can hear it? Will it let you know that mommy's just out of the frame yelling for them to be careful?
Don't get me wrong, pictures are great for capturing familial moments, just not so great for telling stories.
Words allow for details that aren't necessarily seen, and they allow the author to tell only the things that are pertinent or even hide details they don't want to reveal yet.
I felt like the drawings in the graphic novel took away from Poe's works. He was a master at playing with words and didn't need illustrations to create pictures in our minds. If anything I feel like the drawings set limitations on what images his descriptive talents could pull out of our minds.
For me, Poe's description of the eye in the Tell-tale Heart was extremely vivid. It was downright creepy. The black and white graphic adaptation failed to stick with me like the haunting words did when I read the original.
And I swear the same guy must have illustrated "The Raven" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" because in neither one can I tell what in the hell is going on. I mean, cool, he can create pictures in blocky black and white. How about some detail?
And I'm sorry, but I don't even think that "The Pit and the Pendulum" should count as an adaptation. Not even the same story, really. Changing all the important details but keeping the general idea doesn't count as an adaptation. It counts as a different story with a somewhat similar message.
All in all, I was fairly disappointed. I say instead of reading these dull graphic adaptations that on Friday everyone should pick their favorite Poe poem and have a round of recitations. I wonder how many people would bring "The Raven" or "The Bells"? ;D
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What really got me was the beating heart. In a very few words, Poe manages to have the readers hear it, too. But a little line of words running down the side of the page? Come on!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it would have been better if every other frame was a little blurry (from getting shaken by the heartbeat).
And changing the reason for reaealing the heart? Not cool!
P.S. For imagery, I prefer "The Bells," but it can't match the wordsmithing of "The Raven."