The Giver
question
The Giver movie: LOOK what they've done and share what you think!!
Barbara
(last edited
Jun 30, 2014 09:15PM
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Jun 30, 2014 09:03PM
Big time spoiler alert for my comments below AND in The Giver trailer for the movie due out in late August. The trailer is so shamelessly revealing that I will have to stop using The Giver in my English 8 classes. But even worse than spoiling the book for those who haven't read it, the trailer has alarming defects for those who appreciate the subtleties of the book:
1. In the movie, Jonah is appropriately innocent, wide-eyed, and rebellious, but he looks 16 or 20; this is disturbing since he supposed to be 11 and soon celebrating his initiation ceremony of the Twelves.
2. The giver character appears briefly in the trailer and Bridges seems horribly miscast.
3. The trailer gives away the big secret of chapter 19, so my students will already know what it means to be released before they are issued the book.
4. Students will also fully understand from the trailer what Lois Lowery reveals slowly and carefully in the book, that this community can't see colors, feel emotion, nor know or understand any history.
Please view the trailer on Netflix and articulate your own observations and disappointments!
BTW, my husband hasn't read a novel in decades but thought the movie looked stylish and interesting.
1. In the movie, Jonah is appropriately innocent, wide-eyed, and rebellious, but he looks 16 or 20; this is disturbing since he supposed to be 11 and soon celebrating his initiation ceremony of the Twelves.
2. The giver character appears briefly in the trailer and Bridges seems horribly miscast.
3. The trailer gives away the big secret of chapter 19, so my students will already know what it means to be released before they are issued the book.
4. Students will also fully understand from the trailer what Lois Lowery reveals slowly and carefully in the book, that this community can't see colors, feel emotion, nor know or understand any history.
Please view the trailer on Netflix and articulate your own observations and disappointments!
BTW, my husband hasn't read a novel in decades but thought the movie looked stylish and interesting.
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As a long time fanatic of the book, I will not be watching the film being released this year. I believe that instead of the message behind the book (which is not being portrayed at all by the movie trailer) is mostly focused on a non-existent love triangle. If Hollywood could not even get a 12 year old to play Jonas, then I can't imagine what other major changes they will make just to make money out of it... :/
I just posted in the Memoirs of a Geisha discussion that I am afraid to see that movie because I know they'll mess it up. This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The Giver movie isn't even out yet, and I'm already annoyed. There should be some kind of oath that movie makers have to sign pledging not to mess up book, lol.
This movie is taking the novel and I think putting a whole new twist on the story. Not all movies correlate exactly with the book they derived from and sometimes that's a good thing. Your eighth grade class should still read The Giver because the novel is a classic. It's something that everyone should read because it makes the reader reflect on their own life and how different things could be if we lived the way people in the book do. Sure the trailer threw me off a bit, but I really enjoyed the book and I just read it last week.
deleted member
Jul 01, 2014 03:01PM
0 votes
They're turning it into that whole commercial sci-fi craze trend movies have been going for lately although the book wasn't really anything like that at all. I'll watch it, but I'm not expecting a whole lot. Pretty disappointed by the direction they went, though.
I understand your feelings. As a teacher, once the movie comes out, the book is no longer a viable resource. Holes was the the book that all our students loved, and once the movie came out, subsequent classes no longer wanted to read it. The movie did the book justice, but it was nothing compared to the book. The best you can do is c/c book to movie. The Book Thief wa another movie that did the book justice. This summer I am reading all the books being made into film so I can c/c them on my own - adult and YA. I am interested to see how this movie turns out. Just finished The Fault in Our Stars and will see the movie.
I agree! I was super excited about the book being a movie because I think it is a great book. After I finished reading it I watched the trailer and it just left me confused! So many changes, and spoilers!! I am glad I waited until I finished the book to watch it. I do not have much hope in the movie even holding a candle to the amazing work Lois Lowry created.
Maybe they didn't want to deal with Jonas hitting puberty so they made him older :/ which is too bad because that was an important part of his developement and Lowry presented it in good taste.
I went to see The Fault In Our Stars in theaters and nearly cried before the movie started. Why did Hollywood do this?! I already see so many faults and errors that can ruin EVERYTHING!!!!
You should have had them read the book than watch the movie
The commercial seems accurate to the book. I was not a big fan of the book but I will watch the movie. By the looks of the commercial, I think the book will be better as they always say.
deleted member
Jul 12, 2014 02:27PM
0 votes
Saw the trailer and was VERY disappointed. From the looks of it, it doesn't have the same "feel" as the book at all, and doesn't appear to take place in the same universe, even! I'm telling everyone I know to read the book before seeing it, so that amazing experience won't be forever ruined for them.
I'm very scared to see the movie because the trailer looked very different from the book.
deleted member
Jul 18, 2014 08:20AM
0 votes
UGH! I haven't seen the trailer, but the spoiler thing seems insanely unfair. This was my favorite book for a long time, and I still consider it a classic. The book is almost always better than the movie.
I don't think the movie will live to the book (like many movies do). I've read the book twice in my lifetime, and even thought the last time was a long time ago, I can already see some flaws just based on the trailer.
Loved the book. Not interested in seeing the movie at all. I don't think it will do such a great book justice, and it will totally make it loose its reading value because non-readers will base the quality of the book on what they see in the movie. Us readers, know how many books made movies are just plain and horrible most of the time. There are some books that should just stay as books.
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