The Great Gormenghast Read discussion
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The BBC mini-series adaptation
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Kyle, Steerpike
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Apr 18, 2013 12:02PM
The BBC did a unique screen adaptation of the first two books. We can discuss the TV adaptation here. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you think it's faithful to the novels? Did you watch this before reading the books, and if so, how did the experience differ from those who watched it after reading the books? Etc:...
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If it helps jog memories, I presume Kyle is thinking of the one with Jonathan Rhys-Myers as Steerpike: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197154/?...
This is where my guilty secret comes out: Peake is one of my three favourite authors (often in the number one position), but it was only because I accidentally saw the first episode on TV and became hooked that I subsequently read the books. Consequently, despite some flaws in the adaptation (and how could there not be any?), I owe it a huge debt of gratitude.
Cecily wrote: "If it helps jog memories, I presume Kyle is thinking of the one with Jonathan Rhys-Myers as Steerpike: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197154/?..."That's the one. :) A surprising number of big British stars in there!
Cecily wrote: "This is where my guilty secret comes out: Peake is one of my three favourite authors (often in the number one position), but it was only because I accidentally saw the first episode on TV and becam..."
Wow! That's pretty great, Cecily. If the show can do that to even one person, then I consider it a success! It will be interesting to compare the reactions between the people who saw the show first, and read the books first.
I started watching the series after I read the first book, while I was still reading book two. I was not impressed with the adaptation and never finished it. All the characters in Gormentghast are just so vivid and wild, whereas the actor portrays seemed to vacillate between serious and goofy, never quite matching the strangeness and unease of the books.Likewise, I didn't think the palette or architecture worked--after all, Peake describes shape, color, and structure throughout the book with his artist's eye, this ancient, off-kilter, half-ruined place. Yet the miniseries showed us a bright-colored, green sort of fairyland that seemed to have more in common with Narnia or Wonderland than Gormenghast.
Keely wrote: "I started watching the series after I read the first book, while I was still reading book two. I was not impressed with the adaptation and never finished it. All the characters in Gormentghast are ..."I can understand that, and I shared some of those thoughts. I watched it with someone who has not read the books, and I think they were ultimately more engaged with it than I was.
I kept thinking to myself that there is so much more going on than what is being portrayed in the scenes. A lot of the "juice" of the characters in the novels (for me, at least), is the action that is happening in the people's heads. Perhaps it is simply a limitation of the film genre, but I felt like the TV show lost a lot of the inner dialogue, that I loved so much in the book.
The person I watched the show with, for example, loved the (view spoiler), whereas I was inevitably disappointed by it, because I couldn't help but compare my enjoyment of that scene in the book, to my enjoyment of it in the show.
I'll admit though, that my opinion might have been significantly different if I had (like Cecily) watched the show first, thereby becoming interested in the books.
This reminds me that I actually own the BBC series. I wonder, maybe I'll watch it as a warm-up ...
Traveller wrote: "This reminds me that I actually own the BBC series. I wonder, maybe I'll watch it as a warm-up ..."Oh, definitely tell us what you think of it, once you do.
Kyle wrote: "...I watched it with someone who has not read the books, and I think they were ultimately more engaged with it than I was. ...I'll admit though, that my opinion might have been significantly different if I had (like Cecily) watched the show first, thereby becoming interested in the books. "
Which is why I doubt I'll watch it again, despite being glad that I did so once.
Kyle wrote: "The BBC did a unique screen adaptation of the first two books. We can discuss the TV adaptation here. Did you like it? Hate it? Do you think it's faithful to the novels? Did you watch this before r..."Oh wow! I didn't know about this.
Looks like some clips are available on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UTPo...
I thought it was very good, actually. The castle didn't look the way it "should" (especially the Hall of Bright Carvings), and I thought some bits were a little Alice-in-Wonderland-y, but a) I was just very pleased that someone had made the effort, and b) I thought the series captured some of the feel of Gormenghast. I also watched it with a newcomer to Gormenghast, and it made a definite impact on her. Not really a good one, but I do think she disliked the series for some of the same reason she would dislike the book. We'll see - I'm retrieving the books from storage for the Great Read, and I'll see if I can get her interested as well.
Christopher Lee played Flay. Loved that fact. The series didn't work well for me, for the most part. I find the books so much richer. And like someone else said, the series had a bit toomuch of Alice in Wonderland to it. Not gothy enough.
The books are far richer, but as much of that richness is description, a screen adaptation could only have emulated that with a narrator, which might have been annoying.I agree that it wasn't Gothic enough, but I wonder if the Aliceness is wholly inappropriate? It was one of the classics that Peake illustrated (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and there are similarities between those illustrations and ones he did of Gormenghast's characters.
