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Randomness- A General Review of The Works of Douglas Adams and a Few Comments on the Movie

I never really appreciated to power of a fiction novel for entertainment until I was in college. I had suffered through the classics and did all the required book reports throughout grammar school. We had studied some of the greatest authors when I was in high school. Quite honestly, though, it wasn't until I was a freshman at Purdue that I started to enjoy reading books.

Whatever possessed me to take a couple of literature courses...?

Before college I could not imagine ever reading a book in one session. That really is how a book should be read, I think. Maybe authors should cooperate and keep books to much shorter lengths. Yeah, I said that. That was me. The very same guy that sseems incapable of writing a 'short' anything.

It is probably no surprise that a couple of my favorite authors at the time wrote science fiction. It may surprise you to know that both Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Douglas Adams have a good deal more influence on my writing all these years later - even though I do not write like either of them.

I remember reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. A friend of mine at college had just finished reading it and handed the book to me and said, "Here. This guy is even more warped than you are. Enjoy."

I admit that I did not think it was possible for anyone to be any stranger than I was. You see, all throughout high school I had managed to effectively not care about not fitting in. So by the time that I was at college where difference is tolerated even if not accepted, I was a grand master at being bizarre.

I also admit that I didn't go straight away to find a cozy corner and start to read about Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. Once I began to read, though, I could not put the book down. The only book that I had ever read cover to cover without stopping was H. G. Wells The Time Machine. Hitchhiker's Guide was maybe not the second book that I could not put down but at the time it was one of the select few. When I had finished I couldn't wait for more.

I guess it is timely to discuss all this because of the recent release of a screen adaptation of the book. My children are much more well-read and I was at their age. To some extent I suppose that is to be expected. My children have the rare opportunity to see someone writing a book, conjuring the images from the thinnest vapors of imagination. When I find inspiring is that my children seem to be pretty good at writing.

My kids have read Hitchhiker's Guide, of course.

A friend at work mentioned how transgenerational Douglas Adams books are. I think most well done humor is. In Adam's case the randomness of his style, of the things that his characters do and say, the gadgets of the book and the hilarious commentary on bureaucracy, politics, religion and physics speak to the kids of today. It wasn't that the great wit and satyre were lost on my generation it is just that the spontaneity of the plot seems uniquely suited for the young of today.

The movie did rather well its first week. I'm sure that anyone that saw it without having first read the book will not like the movie as much or may even not understand it. The movie doesn't have to follow the book, although it sort of does.

The protrayal of Zaphod Beeblebrox in the movie is nothing like the scheming, conniving, egotistical opportunist of the books. In the books Zaphod is a a borderline genius, and just generally very cool. In the movie he is portrayed as an idiot, a lucky idiot perhaps. His most famous contribution to Glactic culture was the Pan Galactic GargleBlaster, a drink that is explained in the movie but I think they left out that Zaphod invented it. I think the movie character was intended to poke fun at politicians who rely on image more than substance - well like that doesn't haoopen in the real world. So maybe the intent was a hollywood cultural dig at 'W', whom so many of the elite of Southern California seem to think of as the Village Idiot of Crawford, Texas. Like Bush maybe there is more to Zaphod that meets the eye. Zaphod has two heads and female Vice President. So the similarities collapse under the strictest analysis.

Another difference was that Arthur Dent and Trillian have a love relationship. In the books Arthur identified with her as a fellow earthling and even vyed for her attentions but whatever he felt foir her was largely unrequited.

What I really missed was the full explanation of the Improbability Drive's reliance on Bistro Math. Granted that would be a very hard concept to explain in a movie, for those that have never read the books. I personally feel it is the most hysterically random part of the series of books, well that and the planet Cricket.

I have said somewhere in this blog before that books and movies are separate genres. I can respect each as a distinct medium. Some books translate to film much better than others. As much as I laughed and enjoyed the movie, it failed to live up to the quality of the book.

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posted by Unknown @ 4:05 PM