hello? imagination?
i'm sure every generation has said this: "kids these days have no imagination." and here i am at 32 making this claim.
this rant comes because of the new movie, "bridge to terabithia." i read that book when i was about 10. i was a complete book nerd when i was a kid and i'm not ashamed to admit it. when i was bored, had to drive long distances, sit in a waiting room, or just wanted to sit out on the back porch in the summer... i would read a book. sure, we had cable when i was 8 or 9 (i watched my fair share of MTV), we had a VCR when i was 10 or so (the remote control was not wireless) and we had a computer and video games. so i wasn't bereft of occular stimulus. but i enjoyed so much just to sit down and read about people and imagine what they looked like, what they sounded like.
movies ruin that.
so now i see this commercial for "bridge." those kids are nothing what i had imagined them to be 22 years ago, nor are any of the surroundings or places. but what really kills me is that now all these kids are going to go out and sit in front of some huge screen and have the imagery spoon-fed to them once for $9-10 a ticket, when their parents could have bought them the book for $10, which they could have enjoyed over and over for free.
sure, some books just make better movies. star wars was a book (or graphic novel) before it was a movie. so was pride and prejudice and some of those classics. for me, watching those movies is better than reading the books because i find those books kind of boring. i'm sure many people don't share my opinionand that's fine. but the books i'm talking about are about 100-150 pages long, quick, easy reads that usually deal with hard issues for kids at that age.
*spoiler alert*
"bridge" deals with a kid and his friend, a girl, who ends up dying. i loved the friendship and the turmoil. i read to the end to find out how he dealt with his loss. this book was voted the Newbery Medal Winner of 1978.
so, here is my list of favorite childhood books, in no particular order:
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (deals with a young boy whose parents are divorced and doesn't have much a relationship with his father. told thru letters to the boy's favorite author)
• skinnybones by Barbara Park (told in the 1st person by a hilarious kid who has to deal with being the runt of his class)
• any of the ramona quimby books
• the secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• are you there, god? it's me, margaret by judy blume (ok, i had a hard time with this one because 1) she was jewish and i had never known anyone jewish and b) she was 16 and skinny and really wanted to get her period, which i just couldn't understand)
• actually, a lot by judy blume: Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Superfudge, Just As Long As We're Together, Blubber, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
the point to all of this is i am very happy that i have an imagination to rely on. it helps me through some boring moments. and it also gives depth to my sense of humor. and i think you can tell those who read a lot as kids and those who would rather watch the movie. they're the ones with that dead look in their eyes on the train, the ones who can't live without their TV and who don't get dry or sarcastic senses of humor.
this rant comes because of the new movie, "bridge to terabithia." i read that book when i was about 10. i was a complete book nerd when i was a kid and i'm not ashamed to admit it. when i was bored, had to drive long distances, sit in a waiting room, or just wanted to sit out on the back porch in the summer... i would read a book. sure, we had cable when i was 8 or 9 (i watched my fair share of MTV), we had a VCR when i was 10 or so (the remote control was not wireless) and we had a computer and video games. so i wasn't bereft of occular stimulus. but i enjoyed so much just to sit down and read about people and imagine what they looked like, what they sounded like.
movies ruin that.
so now i see this commercial for "bridge." those kids are nothing what i had imagined them to be 22 years ago, nor are any of the surroundings or places. but what really kills me is that now all these kids are going to go out and sit in front of some huge screen and have the imagery spoon-fed to them once for $9-10 a ticket, when their parents could have bought them the book for $10, which they could have enjoyed over and over for free.
sure, some books just make better movies. star wars was a book (or graphic novel) before it was a movie. so was pride and prejudice and some of those classics. for me, watching those movies is better than reading the books because i find those books kind of boring. i'm sure many people don't share my opinionand that's fine. but the books i'm talking about are about 100-150 pages long, quick, easy reads that usually deal with hard issues for kids at that age.
*spoiler alert*
"bridge" deals with a kid and his friend, a girl, who ends up dying. i loved the friendship and the turmoil. i read to the end to find out how he dealt with his loss. this book was voted the Newbery Medal Winner of 1978.
so, here is my list of favorite childhood books, in no particular order:
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (deals with a young boy whose parents are divorced and doesn't have much a relationship with his father. told thru letters to the boy's favorite author)
• skinnybones by Barbara Park (told in the 1st person by a hilarious kid who has to deal with being the runt of his class)
• any of the ramona quimby books
• the secret garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• are you there, god? it's me, margaret by judy blume (ok, i had a hard time with this one because 1) she was jewish and i had never known anyone jewish and b) she was 16 and skinny and really wanted to get her period, which i just couldn't understand)
• actually, a lot by judy blume: Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Superfudge, Just As Long As We're Together, Blubber, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
the point to all of this is i am very happy that i have an imagination to rely on. it helps me through some boring moments. and it also gives depth to my sense of humor. and i think you can tell those who read a lot as kids and those who would rather watch the movie. they're the ones with that dead look in their eyes on the train, the ones who can't live without their TV and who don't get dry or sarcastic senses of humor.
posted by mikraas at 10:52 PM
4 Comments:
Gurl don't forget Harriet the Spy! Another incredible book that was made into what was probably a hideous movie (I didn't see it, I'm making assumptions based on horrible trailers).
what about 'yours turly, shirley'?
the only thing i remember about 'skinnybones' is that the cat threw up in his shoes.
Those are basically all of my childhood favorites as well, I can't wait to introduce them to Kaitlyn! It's funny though my cousin J is 11 and he thinks reading is only for school, he thinks I am lame when he sees me reading for fun, I hope I can avoid that with K~ seems sad to me.
Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume were my favorites. I think I read everything by them. Including that one book (title of which escapes me and I'm not arsed to research) Blume did geared towards adults.
Perhaps it's the shift in your imagination that is the rationale behind your not liking the new version (cinematic) of your favorite story. I feel similarly about the Wonka books. Charlie and the Chocolate factory was best left to my mind and not the big screen.
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