THE GIVER movie being made. Jeff Bridges to star?

[Unicron]

If you choose to read the book, which I'd recommend to you, you might change your mind about the movie. I can't judge it without actually seeing it, but everything I've read suggests it's not a well thought out adaptation. I can see that youth dystopian stories like The Hunger Games are hot right now, but that's not the sort of story that the book presents. The primary question that's presented in the book is, how much should you give up to create a "utopian" society? Jonas' community is very ideal and has accomplished many things, but it's only when he becomes the Giver's apprentice that he gets an opportunity to understand what the cost of that stability is.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

If you choose to read the book, which I'd recommend to you, you might change your mind about the movie. I can't judge it without actually seeing it, but everything I've read suggests it's not a well thought out adaptation. I can see that youth dystopian stories like The Hunger Games are hot right now, but that's not the sort of story that the book presents. The primary question that's presented in the book is, how much should you give up to create a "utopian" society? Jonas' community is very ideal and has accomplished many things, but it's only when he becomes the Giver's apprentice that he gets an opportunity to understand what the cost of that stability is.

Did the book have

Spoiler: Movie adaptation

A force field keeping all the memories of the human race out of their utopia?

Or, when that same force field is crossed (it keeps memories out, not people), the force field vanishes and all of the memories and sensations ever experienced in human history come flooding back into the isolated community, even though -- until that point -- emotions and memories were very clearly shown being suppressed using pharmaceutical means via daily injections and not due to magical barriers in the forest?

The movie's melodramatic and nonsensical ending completely marred the rest of the film for me. One would hope that the book (beloved as it is) has a much more suitable ending.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

None of that is in the book.

Spoiler: In the book

In the book, he escapes and hears music for the first time and finds it to be wonderful.

 

[Unicron]

Indeed. Now I'm even less inclined to see it.

Spoiler: more potential book spoilers

The book does establish that if the Receiver dies or leaves prematurely, then the memories they hold will filter back to the community. It's very dangerous since they're not accustomed to dealing with them, and is the whole point of Rosemary. It's why the Giver elects to stay behind and help the community after Jonas leaves, because he still cares about them despite the community's flaws.

The exact process of how the memory transference works is never adequately explained in the book; it's implied that the community uses a form of genetic engineering and that certain traits like pale eyes and Fiona's red hair (which the Giver says must frustrate the geneticists) still occasionally crop up. It's possible the ability to become a Receiver is genetic in some way.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Just read the wiki entry for the movie. It sounds terrible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver_(film)

 

[shivkala]

Just read the wiki entry for the movie. It sounds terrible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver_(film)

Well, to be fair, the awful grammar and syntax of the synopsis does not help at all:

The setting is a utopian society where in the year 2048, after a big war, "the community" had decided to get rid of colors, therefore different races, and feelings, such as love and anger, because they felt that they only caused conflict. In their community, everything is about sameness, thus there is no money or social status, everyone owns the same things, and everyone lives in a same sized house.

I've been disinclined to watch this in the theaters, as it was, and now, I'm doubting whether it will be worth renting. If Netflix streaming carries it, I might watch it then. Possibly. If I'm really bored.

Also, I hadn't been paying much attention to the movie at all, but I see Katie Holmes plays the mother. Granted she's not Jonas' birthmother, but still, it's scary seeing an actress who's less than a month older than me playing a parent. I'm getting old.



http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Thanks, Alidar and Unicron, for the book info. I actually think I may check out the novel version based on your descriptions, which sound miles better than the film version.

I'm sorry to say that when you both see the movie, brace yourselves for a disappointing adaptation.

 

[Unicron]

I think you'll like the book. I've never read any of the later stories, and maybe I'll get to that someday. But as I said above, I think one of the story's strengths is that there are no antagonists in the conventional sense. The community has become very one-dimensional, but if you lived in a world with the ability to control the environment so perfectly, where every need is provided from birth, then you might feel you need or want creativity as we define it.