ummm...

[lirazel]

So I just watched (without sound, because at work) this teaser for the adaptation of The Giver and I'm already annoyed. It looks like none of the movie is in black and white! Are you kidding me? One of the great joys of the book is when Jonas starts seeing colors--flashes of red in a thrown apple, in his friend Fiona's hair. I figured they would at least get that right: have the movie shot in black and white until he starts to see color and then gradually bleed it in. This would be so easy to do in film WHY AREN'T THEY DOING IT? If we're just told that everyone sees black and white but we don't get to experience WHAT IS THE FUN IN THAT?

Also: way too action-y looking and I'm skeptical they'll even come close in getting the ambiguity of the ending right.

I have Feelings about this because A) first book that taught me that ambiguity could be AWESOME and B) first dystopian book I ever read and here I am 20 years later, still obsessed. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT OKAY? AND LOIS LOWRY ALSO WROTE NUMBER THE STARS WHICH IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT AND THANKFULLY HAS NEVER BEEN TURNED INTO A MOVIE.

[eta] Speaking of dystopias, the Divergent series' premise sounds profoundly dumb to me. Um, excuse you writer, but EVERYONE is divergent. NO ONE IS JUST ONE THING. It's like the silliness of the Hogwarts house sorting--oversimplified categorizing of human beings--treated overly seriously? I'm annoyed just reading a basic summary. Is it just really well-written and that's why people are obsessed with it?

Comments

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

hihi! sorry for jumping in, but the whole factions thing has been so poorly misrepresented in the osmosis of pop culture that I kinda want to answer this as best I can (hope that's okay!)

I think a lot of people who are familiar with the texts are TERRIFIED of spoiling the game makers and the game and it is nigh-impossible to talk about the factions and the ridiculous therein without accidentally revealing what the strings are, who is pulling them, and why.

So I will try to explain how they work without being a spoilery jerk :)

Each faction focuses on a certain attribute: bravery, intelligence, and selflessness are the three most important factions in the book. (although peace does make a late-game swing that's pretty cool) And the presumption of the society is that people are naturally inclined to be only one thing. That's what people think. That being selfless (for example) is something that is inherent to certain people, they don't have to work at it, and therefore they belong to the faction that suits them perfectly.

But the text makes it really clear from the beginning that behavior is socially monitored. People in each factions expect people to behave a certain way and have interests in certain things, so they do. There's nothing "natural" about it. But you are experiencing this world from the perspective of someone that whole-heartedly believes that some people are naturally 'selfless' and don't have to try and don't struggle with that identity. So much of the series is following Tris (and some other characters) through breaking down this social programming - not just of only behaving a certain way, but believing in the system.

It's like the author took our racial stereotypes and ramped them up to the Nth degree: "white people are always..." "asians are always..." "Blacks always..." "Hispanics always...." etc. We've all heard the jokes. We all know the stereotypes.

What she is doing is exploring this kind of thinking, but using attributes (without any racial connotation - that was just Real World example to compare it to) as the center of a culture around which behavior is maintained and monitored.

It feels like a serious extreme. But that's what dystopians do - they take something from our own culture and put it into the extreme and then make us deal with what we are actually doing right now.

Divergent is about so many things. Mostly it is about the psychological need to divide people into "us" and "Other" and how strong that need is. It's also about the power of the human mind. We are all divergent - that's a fundamental truth to human beings. Being selfless isn't easy for anyone. Being brave isn't easy for anyone. And yet, there are some really brave and selfless people that we know. Imagine if you lived in a culture that forced those attributes onto from the time you were a child - exposed you to cultural hatred based on these attributes - and as you are struggling with what you are supposed to naturally be, you can't see that so is everyone else. and that no one actually fits any one attribute/faction.

All of the complaints and frustrations that Lauren and you have expressed make up the central conversation of the series.

and also:

isn't "sameness of personality" an easy way to clash?
I'm just going to smile. because I know the answer to this. and I think it wouldn't necessarily disappoint you.

Sorry for being so wordy!