Memoirs of an Author
So, I watched the Oscars last night. (OK, I watched and I needlepointed, and I worked on Samurai Sudoku, but you know what I mean...)
And each time Memoirs of a Geisha won an award, I listened to the winners stand at the lectern and gush about Rob Marshall and how the movie was all his vision, and he was brave and courageous to create a woman's movie, and he captured the reality of a different time and place so completely....
And I waited for someone - anyone! - to mention Arthur Golden.
You know, the author of the book. The author who created his novel three times, to make it what it was (rewriting it completely, each time he realized that he'd started at the wrong place, from the wrong perspective.) The author who sold millions of copies of his books, feeding the then-burgeoning book group craze. The author who *spoke* to millions of American women (and quite a few men) through his tale about the Other, the geishas of his story.
(For the record, I don't think that MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA was a perfect book, or even close to so. I do think that it is one of the best examples of world-building that I have ever read.)
And not one of the winners, not one of the gushing speakers, not one of the people who devoted months of his or her professional life to crafting a major Hollywood motion picture, thought to give thanks to the author who wrote the novel that was the basis for the work.
I heard Golden speak last year, and he had some mixed feelings about the movie. He seemed accepting of the screenplay (and the necessary changes from his book) but he was a bit put out by the silly changes (e.g., substituting one traditional hairstyle for another that Marshall thought was more visually striking.) Maybe Golden made enemies on the set. Maybe he didn't fit into the story of "a woman's movie." Maybe it was just a strange oversight.
Did anyone else notice? Does anyone else care?
Mindy, who wouldn't choose this as a banner issue but could not help but be struck by the difference in the adulation for Proulx and the overlooking of Golden
And each time Memoirs of a Geisha won an award, I listened to the winners stand at the lectern and gush about Rob Marshall and how the movie was all his vision, and he was brave and courageous to create a woman's movie, and he captured the reality of a different time and place so completely....
And I waited for someone - anyone! - to mention Arthur Golden.
You know, the author of the book. The author who created his novel three times, to make it what it was (rewriting it completely, each time he realized that he'd started at the wrong place, from the wrong perspective.) The author who sold millions of copies of his books, feeding the then-burgeoning book group craze. The author who *spoke* to millions of American women (and quite a few men) through his tale about the Other, the geishas of his story.
(For the record, I don't think that MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA was a perfect book, or even close to so. I do think that it is one of the best examples of world-building that I have ever read.)
And not one of the winners, not one of the gushing speakers, not one of the people who devoted months of his or her professional life to crafting a major Hollywood motion picture, thought to give thanks to the author who wrote the novel that was the basis for the work.
I heard Golden speak last year, and he had some mixed feelings about the movie. He seemed accepting of the screenplay (and the necessary changes from his book) but he was a bit put out by the silly changes (e.g., substituting one traditional hairstyle for another that Marshall thought was more visually striking.) Maybe Golden made enemies on the set. Maybe he didn't fit into the story of "a woman's movie." Maybe it was just a strange oversight.
Did anyone else notice? Does anyone else care?
Mindy, who wouldn't choose this as a banner issue but could not help but be struck by the difference in the adulation for Proulx and the overlooking of Golden
Phyl
Silly actors. :P