Johnny Depp the Gender Bender?

[laurainlimbo]

in my effort to avoid all of the important things in life (exercise, studying, writing), I've been reading too much stuff on the internet. for all you Johnny Depp fans out there, I found this video slideshow of his adventures in gender-bending through the years. I've always loved him, and seeing all these clips makes me realize what a talented actor he really is. I haven't seen the movie Before Night Falls (though it was on my Netflix queue for about a year before I left the country). The only one of these I didn't like was Willy Wonka - Johnny went way over the top on that one, and his performance gave me nightmares! and of course on this slideshow they didn't include some of my favorite of his performances, like Donnie Brasco, Dead Man, Gilbert Grape, and Benny and Joon... (but I guess those were not considered "gender-bending"?)

I've decided that I don't want to see the new Alice movie. I'm sure that the whole cast is good in it, and I'm sure that visually it's very stunning... but I read this review on Slate's website, and it sounds like Tim Burton is taking WAYYY too many liberties with the story. I'm a purist - I can't see why people can't make movie adaptations that even slightly resemble the story, especially when you're dealing with something as classic as Lewis Carroll! And why make the Mad Hatter a love interest for Alice? there wasn't the slightest hint of that in the book.

I'm not trying to sound like a snob, but I wrote a paper on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in college. I really loved everything about those stories! It's like seeing the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet - or any of these modern adaptations of Shakespeare. they don't work for me.

I know many people will disagree with me about this, but film adaptations work only when they stay true to the original author's vision. Why else do we want to see the film except to see a broader view of what we've read and loved?

anyway, that's enough of my soapbox. I'm back to staring at katakana and kanji and wondering if I'll ever learn Japanese well enough...

Comments

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

It's not actually a remake of the previous movies/cartoons/or novels though - it's an extension of the story, 13 years after the fact. Not that that matters but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

[laurainlimbo.livejournal.com]

that is funny because that review I read didn't mention that the movie is meant to be 13 years later. I figured because Alice is older that it's meant to be an extension or different adaptation of the story, but I hadn't really known that. so that makes more sense:) I wish I had more desire to see this version because Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was one of my favorite books growing up. It's so complex, and perhaps that's why Tim Burton is drawn to it. But I guess I'd love to see what he'd do with the original story, too:)

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

Oh really? Wow, that makes all the difference with this one! I looked it up on imdb to see a brief synopsis when I first heard it was coming out and it mentioned that it was an extension. And I love what Tim did with the Cheshire Cat - he was my favorite part :o)

[laurainlimbo.livejournal.com]

I love the Cheshire Cat - that does look really cool!