Monday, May 06, 2013
Rethinking Earthsea
Having read the 6 volumes of the Earthsea Series written by Ursula K. Le Guin I was moved to rewatch the movie version. Just because you're young and foolish and rich, (or middle-age crazy), enough to own a car registered at 320 KM/Hr doesn't make it legal to cruise HWY 400 at 200 MPH. By the same token the fact that you can perform a certain task doesn't necessarily make it wise to do so. Wisdom defines the difference between can and may, what it is possible to do and what one should do. Many's the trial lawyer who has learned the hard way that he/she should never ask a question in open court to which he is not certain he knows the answer. When exercising the use of power one must always be mindful of the full consequences of that act.
The above mini-sermon forms the basis for the first few books of Earthsea and the movie based upon them. Ged was raised without a mother by his Blacksmith father and has become an impatient, headstrong, impulsive but talented wizard. The movie does violence to the books' storyline; the principal characters are all there but the circumstances of most have been radically changed. Shot in the Gulf Islands of Vancouver's Inside Passage the music evokes a Celtic Background that is hauntingly beautiful. Why anyone would cast Shawn Ashmore in a part and then make him appear so dowdy is beyond me. The make-up department would seem to have been very busy, the gebbath appears to owe much to Munch's The Scream. Notwithstanding the fact that the setting for the story is an island archipelago Ged and Vetch spend an inordinate amount of time sailing, is it because these scenes were cheaper to stage? The scenery and backdrops are good, the acting perfectly serviceable but the screen adaptation eviscerates the very heart from the story leaving a hollow shell that drags on beautifully for nearly 4 hours.
Once again, read the books; watch the movie if you need a foppish time-waster.
# posted by garthmailman@gmail.com @ 2:06 pm 
