Litbrit, writing at cogitamus, celebrates the news that director Spike Jonze has adapted Where the Wild Things Are. While I echo her enthusiasm for the original source material, I’m not convinced by the above trailer that the film will satisfy my discerning tastes. For I share with the fans of Watchmen a sense that some printed texts are sacred and should not be rendered in moving pictures.
* See here.
The Edge of the American West 
65 comments
March 25, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Urk
Not to be tiresome, but my objections to Watchmen being filmed have nothing to do with anything being sacred.
March 25, 2009 at 4:16 pm
ari
To be fair, I don’t really know if any fans of Watchmen object to the film on those grounds. I was mostly reacting to my sense of the backlash against the backlash against Watchmen, the movie. Also, my objection to Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is actually predicated on nostalgia and my nagging fear that having those characters come to life outside of my imagination will ruin the book for me (and perhaps my kids).
March 25, 2009 at 4:38 pm
JPool
See, I’m reassured by the fact that Jonze (whose work I generally really like, so I’m inclined to be generous) isn’t trying to reproduce the book all literal-like. It would be horrifying if it got the standard children’s story cinematic treatment (throw in some songs and a meaningless sub-plot), but this seems to be playing with the themes of the book to create a separate work of art.
March 25, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Urk
I looved that book as a kid, so much. My daughter, almost 3, who loves books, hasn’t shown any interest in it. Maybe too scary. I have a nagging feeling that even a bad movie version would make her more likely to like it, and I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I’m certain that however I feel about it could be generously described as curmudgeonly.
Biox, I agree, the movie would be a different thing, and on those terms could be good, even great. Since he’s gonna make it, I hope it’s good. I like his stuff OK too. I haven’t watched this trailer, not out of curmoudgeonliness, but because my internet connection is to slow to mess with it right now.
March 25, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Jonathan Rees
When are they going to do a film treatment of _In the Night Kitchen_? Now THAT would be interesting.
March 25, 2009 at 6:04 pm
kid bitzer
also, in the night kitchen with the night porter. that would be interesting, too.
March 25, 2009 at 6:14 pm
kid bitzer
just watched the trailer, with sound off.
some nice visuals, but the emphasis on direct sunlight, whether overhead or low and raking, seems to me alien to the book’s visual esthetic.
March 25, 2009 at 6:26 pm
rja
also, in the night kitchen with the night porter. that would be interesting, too.
I hear M Night Shyamalan’s doing it.
March 25, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Blume
I’m pretty eh about the whole idea of this movie. And AAAAAGH the music they have in that trailer is the kind of whiny indie-rock sound that makes me want to smack the singer.
March 25, 2009 at 6:49 pm
ari
he emphasis on direct sunlight, whether overhead or low and raking, seems to me alien to the book’s visual esthetic
Exactly. Though I guess Jonze is going for an ethereal, not-quite-real-but-not-necessarily-imaginary aesthetic. I guess.
the music they have in that trailer
I thought it was David Byrne. But I was probably wrong.
March 25, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Standpipe Bridgeplate
How is it that watching the movie-version of a book can render (aspects of) our previous conception of a character nearly inaccessible, even if it’s a book we’ve read many times? I find this deeply insidious and unfair, like grading.
March 25, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Kieran
For some reason I don’t like the book at all.
March 25, 2009 at 6:59 pm
kid bitzer
“exactly”.
awesome, ari. with our joint connoisseurship in the visual arts in total agreement, there’s no way we can be rwong!
y’know, kieran, it’s not my favorite either, possibly because it came out after i was the target age. on the other hand, there are some kids books that i got to learn as an old guy that i pretty much love, e.g. moira kalman’s max in love.
March 25, 2009 at 6:59 pm
ari
SB, I’ve been reading my older boy LotR, and visions of Orlando Bloom have crowded our the real Legolas in my mind. I’m really pissed at Peter Jackson.
March 25, 2009 at 7:00 pm
ari
Not to mention that anti-semite, Kieran. I’m pissed at him, too.
March 25, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Vance
For me the problem with the book is the therapeutic structure — Max tames his inner demons and is rewarded with cake. I probably like it better than Kieran does, but mainly for the drawings of the WTs themselves.
Reading with my daughter — she’s almost 5 — I’ve found almost nothing that I genuinely like, myself (as opposed to liking to read to her). Andersen unabridged is still a bit too advanced. The one real exception so far (and here I may put myself beyond all pales) is Beatrix Potter.
March 25, 2009 at 7:15 pm
kid bitzer
nothing wrong with beatrix p. it only seems soppy if you haven’t seen the iron fist under the glove. and that’s pretty hard to miss.
i mean, peter rabbit’s father–she put him in a pie, for god sake.
a lot of her stuff is extremely funny in a caustic, acerbic way.
March 25, 2009 at 7:17 pm
kid bitzer
agree with vance that the overly transparent “therapeutic structure” is offputting. as is max’s id. sure, sure, he’s a wild thing inside, and we’re supposed to identify with him immediately.
but is there anything to *like* about him? does he have any admirable qualities? would he taste good in a pie?
March 25, 2009 at 7:21 pm
JPool
The music is Arcade Fire, which is kind of like David Byrne with an ironyectomy.
Vance, I think I read the story differently from you. I think Max nashes his horrible teeth and roars his terrible roar and decides that enough for then and he can go back to his own bed. I think Sendak is actually pretty kid sympathetic that way.
Also, is your daughter old enough for Milne?
March 25, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Vance
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers is my favorite — it has a really great structure, doubling back on itself in an enormous “meanwhile, back at the ranch”, with a luxuriant coda. The picture of Tom Kitten tied up is horrible, avenged at the end by an equally cruel image of rats’ tails strung up as trophies.
March 25, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Vance
Milne’s a good idea for her, though possibly (and this is less important for now) a bit twee for me.
We’re probably not really differing greatly in our reading. But there are lots of books out there like this, clearly intended to help kids deal openly with emotional issues. It’s a judgment call whether Sendak is doing the same — but consider that, rather than just deciding “enough”, Max explicitly dominates the Things by staring at them unblinkingly, and is crowned their king before he leaves.
March 25, 2009 at 7:32 pm
kid bitzer
if you can find it, there’s an excellent video of willie rushton reading a.a. milne that takes some of the twee out of it.
willie rushton of sainted memory.
March 25, 2009 at 7:34 pm
ben
The music is Arcade Fire, which is kind of like David Byrne with an ironyectomy.
As I just observed on facebook, Arcade Fire is a band fronted by a husband and wife who are nearly thirty and over thirty, and yet they released an ep called “Us Kids Know”. They also have a song, “No Cars Go”, which features the phrase “us kids know”, and they’ve released that song three separate times (at least).
March 25, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Vance
Now I remember the twist that cemented the therapeutic reading for me — after being crowned king, Max represses the Things by sending them to bed without dinner, punishing them just as his unseen parents punished him. (Perhaps, after eating the cake that appears on the last page, he falls asleep, and in his dreams gives the WTs cake in turn.)
March 25, 2009 at 7:39 pm
grackle
I’m fond of The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit myself. I’ve always appreciated Sendak as the pioneer he was, letting his child characters have tantrums, be upset without moralizing, that sort of thing which made him controversial for a while. But, you know the target audience is pretty young, not literary in the way books can be for slightly older children; Kieran has probably just outgrown him, it happens.
March 25, 2009 at 7:39 pm
grackle
To clarify, first B Potter, then Sendak.
March 25, 2009 at 7:48 pm
ari
Vance, when the older boy was four and five, I enjoyed reading him various Roald Dahl books and stories. He only ever became upset or scared by Fantastic Mr. Fox. And only then because Foxy’s tale got shot off (very sad, indeed). That said, I do think that I used to edit out the part in James and the Giant Peach about James’s parents being killed. But not the last time we read it; that time I happily allowed Dahl to kill them off.
March 25, 2009 at 8:32 pm
JPool
Vance, have you reread Winnie the Pooh as an adult? There’s plenty in there that’s sweet or lovely, but if you think it’s twee then we have very different tastes.
You’re right, I had forgotten the reversed no supper deal. On the other hand, books like this never had a wild rumpus.
Ari, you may want to wait a while yet before reading your son Dahl’s “The Swan.” Also did everyone but me know that there’s a Fantastic Mr. Fox movie coming out this fall?
March 25, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Vance
No, I haven’t reread it (and I did intend to convey uncertainty about any tweeness). Thanks — and likewise to Ari for the Dahl reminder.
March 25, 2009 at 8:54 pm
ari
a Fantastic Mr. Fox movie
Noooooooooo. Will the vultures* leave nothing alone?
* Yes, Kieran, I mean the Jews.
March 25, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Bitchphd
I agree with Ari, especially after watching that trailer.
Except for his weird furry fetish. I don’t agree with that at all.
March 25, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Bitchphd
And I have to say that anyone who isn’t a Semdak fangirl/boy is deeply flawed.
March 25, 2009 at 10:37 pm
eric
Beatrix Potter is excellent, and not at all sentimental.
Kieran doesn’t like anything.
The Wild Things must clock in at under a thousand words; how is this going to be a movie?
Milne is too clever to be twee, and he would have been an excellent blogger because he knew when the right reply was “Wol.”
March 25, 2009 at 10:41 pm
ari
The Wild Things must clock in at under a thousand words; how is this going to be a movie?
Long tracking shots of a cute kid wearing a wolf costume and running through hazy sunshine, apparently.
March 25, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Urk
We have a nice little set of Beatrix Potter books. Except for The Tale of Peter Rabbit I find them really irritating bedtime reading. The toddler thinks she likes them, wants to read one of them, loses interest and starts squirming on the lap. NO, she doesn’t want a different book, she wants to read Jemima Puddle-Duck. More squirming and lots of chatter, not book related. Finally agrees to settle down and switch to a different book. Next night, same thing. next night, same thing. Next night, same thing. then forgets about them for awhile. Then wants to read one of them, etc.
March 26, 2009 at 12:24 am
Vance
Even for me, Jemima is peculiarly distasteful. We spend most of the book waiting for her to be eaten by the fox, of whose designs she’s embarrassingly unaware. Then at the last moment, she’s rescued — but one of the rescuers incidentally gobbles all her eggs. Not that she cares much: she’s soon laying a new clutch back home.
March 26, 2009 at 4:44 am
Sybil Vane
In the minority position, I guess. I like the look of the trailer. Sunlight that doesn’t sterilize things can be ookier than dark and mist. And the prevailing theme of the trailer seems to be whimsy, which suits my experience with the book. Whimsy and magical thinking. You all are curmudgeons.
March 26, 2009 at 5:40 am
Blume
My best friend in college lived for a while in an apartment whose previous tenants had painted the wild rumpus scene on the wall of the living room. His roommate was freaked out by the way the moon looked, so he covered it up with the sleeve from a Barry Manilow record. Very odd.
March 26, 2009 at 5:49 am
kid bitzer
professional curmudgeons, if you please.
March 26, 2009 at 5:58 am
strasmangelo jones
The music is Arcade Fire, which is kind of like David Byrne
They’re kind of like David Byrne, if you’ve never ever heard David Byrne before, or Arcade Fire before, either. There’s not a lot of soaring strings in “Life During Wartime.”
March 26, 2009 at 6:06 am
kid bitzer
wait, you mean this *is* a disco?
March 26, 2009 at 6:13 am
dana
I don’t think I’ve ever read the book.
March 26, 2009 at 6:22 am
Sam-I-am
A quote from the Wikipedia entry on Jonze has me reserving judgement:
“Currently, Jonze is directing Where the Wild Things Are, which is now in its post-production stages. An early cut of the film was screened in Pasadena in 2008, receiving mixed reviews. Rumors pointed to Jonze’s dark interpretation of the story startling the test audience, and resulting in Warner Brothers’ decision to re-cut the film. It is also speculated that the film received massive reshoots to make its central character more likable. At this point it is unclear whether Jonze or the studio has final cut over the movie, which could massively affect its tone and quality.”
March 26, 2009 at 6:47 am
kid bitzer
i’m also glad that b and sybil have adopted the stance of kant’s critique of judgment, in which he said “if u can’t dig this then u r stoopid”, until his publisher told him to add more words.
March 26, 2009 at 7:06 am
Bitchphd
Urk, that’s normal behavior for a bright kid being read to and has nothing to do with whether the kid likes the book. Or so I’ve been telling myself for almost eight years.
March 26, 2009 at 7:15 am
Sybil Vane
Can only speak for myself, of course, but I have always wanted a bit more fleshing out of the very clearly Oedipal rlnp b/n Max and Mom. I see what I assume is an interloping suitor in the trailer. Am intrigued.
March 26, 2009 at 7:34 am
chingona
Long tracking shots of a cute kid wearing a wolf costume and running through hazy sunshine, apparently.
Isn’t that pretty much how they turned Brokeback Mountain into a three-hour movie? (Minus the wolf suit, of course.)
March 26, 2009 at 7:48 am
JPool
Yes, this is in fact a disco. Also, there will be a certain ammount of fooling around.
There’s not a lot of soaring strings in “Life During Wartime.”
No but there are non-soaring strings scattered through Byrne’s solo work (he covers Bizet’s “Au fond du temple saint” on Grown Backwards). Someone familiar with both wouldn’t confuse them, but there is a similarity to vocal style that I’m guessing is what Ari heard.
Long tracking shots of a cute kid wearing a wolf costume and running through hazy sunshine
Plus, the twenty-five minute wild rumpus montage. It’s intended to produce first identification with and then visceral revulsion from the very concept of rumpusing.
March 26, 2009 at 7:57 am
Standpipe Bridgeplate
Plus, the twenty-five minute wild rumpus montage. It’s intended to produce first identification with and then visceral revulsion from the very concept of rumpusing.
A rumpus either fits the Things, or organizes the Things. In each case I will show a contradiction.
March 26, 2009 at 8:01 am
Standpipe Bridgeplate
The irony of my project does not escape me.
March 26, 2009 at 8:04 am
JPool
Rolling Stone did an interview with Jonze in December that, while not exactly revealing indicates that both he and Sendak don’t think that the back and forth with Warner Bros ruined the film. As long as Jonze and Eggers didn’t do the Terry Gilliam version of “children can handle dark things” I think it’ll be good.
So why is it that I’m (prosepctively) fine with this, but the combination of Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach Dahl and stop motion animation, things I love separately, makes me kind of queasy?
March 26, 2009 at 9:14 am
eric s.
This aint no party
This aint no rumpus
This aint no fooling around
March 26, 2009 at 9:38 am
ben
Standpipe has a long-running fascination with that essay.
March 26, 2009 at 10:08 am
Bloix
My children loved Beatrix Potter. My own favorite was The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse. Mrs Tittlemouse’s relationship with Mr Jackson the toad is very droll and her encounter with the bumblebee is hilarious. There are also good sound recordings on the Rabbit Ears label – for Christmas, you can’t beat The Tailor of Gloucester, read by Meryl Streep with music by The Chieftains.
March 26, 2009 at 10:24 am
Standpipe Bridgeplate
Standpipe has a long-running fascination with that essay.
As to why, it’s a tragic story that involves poverty, charity, thickets of marginalia, and needless loss. The movie version is set to Sufjan Stevens.
March 26, 2009 at 10:36 am
Standpipe Bridgeplate
One of these days I’m going to find myself having turned into a Davidson-version T/o/S, except fonder of Jews. Please banninate me before I’m that far gone. (It could be worse. My one joke could be an innuendo about my beetle.)
March 26, 2009 at 10:37 am
eric
Beetles crawl innuendo, outuendo, innuendo, outuendo….
March 26, 2009 at 10:42 am
Standpipe Bridgeplate
eric is banned!
March 26, 2009 at 11:49 am
ben
MY BEETLE
I CANNOT SHOW YOU IT
March 26, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Kieran
For some reason I don’t like the book at all.
Kieran doesn’t like anything.
Ah yes, that was it. That was the reason.
March 26, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Kieran
And the Jewish thing, of course. Yesterday my daughter held up dinner for five minutes intoning an interminable blessing in Hebrew.
March 26, 2009 at 2:53 pm
URK
Thanks B. She’s indeed very bright. Bright enough, i like to think, that she finds Jemima Puddleduck’s dimness a little annoying.
“There’s not a lot of soaring strings in “Life During Wartime.”
That’s true, but now that I think about it, there should be.
March 26, 2009 at 2:59 pm
eric
Kieran doesn’t like anything.
Ah yes, that was it. That was the reason.
I recollect your absolutely indefensible being-unimpressed with Wall-E, is what it is. It’s okay, you’re a curmudgeon, we get it.
March 26, 2009 at 4:21 pm
bitchphd
she finds Jemima Puddleduck’s dimness a little annoying.
Oh, man. Yeah, PK can’t deal with Winnie the Pooh (too simple) or most of Beatrix Potter either. And I was heartbroken when I showed him “Bringing up Baby” and he loathed Hepburn’s character. “She’s SO STUPID!!”
March 27, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Kieran
I’m not a curmudgeon, really. For the record, I’ve now watched Wall-E about 50 times. (Thanks, kids!) The first half is very good. The second half, not.