This meme celebrates an awesome adaptation related to a weekly category. Any format of adaptation (television series, film, web series, etc.) is acceptable as long as it is based in some form on a book. Awesome Adaptations was created by Alisa Selene at PictureMeReading.
An Awesome Adaptation Based on a Poem
Title: Jabberwocky
Adapted from: Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Adapted from: Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
This is a strange film. Which fits because the source is a strange poem as well. It follows the adventures of Dennis Cooper (played by Michael Palin) who wants to make something of himself so he can marry the girl of his dreams. Who really doesn't like him. And though many odd twists of fate, he winds up killing the Jabberwocky who has been plaguing the city for a long time. The film is a satire and has some very funny scenes some of which are rather morbid. There's also quite a bit of raunchy humor. What made this film feel so strange is that the story is pretty silly, yet the directing and some of the acting is so earnest and somber. The directing in particular is fabulous - very atmospheric and it felt very authentic to the time period. Terry Gilliam does not skimp on capturing the sordid squalor of living in that time period. I was also really impressed by Michael Palin's earnest, dim-witted Dennis - who so desperately wanted to be approved by his Griselda. He's so adorable in this, but then I tend to think Michael Palin is adorable in everything!
The story of the film takes the basic idea of a fearsome creature called the Jabberwocky and a quest to kill the creature and embroiders a tale of a reluctant, generally down on his luck hero who achieves great acclaim but never really gets what he wants. It's also silly and irreverent and I think that captures the purpose of Lewis Carroll's poem perfectly.
The story of the film takes the basic idea of a fearsome creature called the Jabberwocky and a quest to kill the creature and embroiders a tale of a reluctant, generally down on his luck hero who achieves great acclaim but never really gets what he wants. It's also silly and irreverent and I think that captures the purpose of Lewis Carroll's poem perfectly.
I'll have to check this out, I love the Jabberwocky poem so I think it's really cool that they made a film inspired by it, and I like that it's a satire! The only Jabberwocky "retelling" I remember is a poem someone wrote called Jabberstocky which kept with the poem's format but poked fun at the stock market/money. :) Great post!
ReplyDeleteAlice @ Alice in Readerland
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
It's a very particular type of humor, so if you like Monty Python you might like this as well (though it's not really the same as Python humor either...) The Jabberstocky poem sounds fun- I can imagine how easy it would be to showcase the craziness of the stock market!
DeleteWow I really want to go see this now. I remember when we had to memorize "The Jabberwocky" poem in English class in my 7th grade year and we had hand motions to help us but I loved that poem nevertheless. I like how even though it's a poem it also tells a story, which I love about poems. That and when it's a few lines but has me with them feels. ^^
ReplyDeleteI hardly remembered the poem actually so I had to read it after seeing this movie. It must have been fun to memorize! It is very interesting how Carroll conveys so much in such a unique way!
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