The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Adaptation Do's and Don'ts
vincentric:
--- Quote from: morriswalters on May 22, 2022, 12:13:37 AM ---Some things that fly in the books won't fly on any screen.
A tete a tete with a 14 year old in a tree house where she talks about fun time handcuffs while she takes off her bra won't make it even on Amazon.
Bondage sex with a proto vampire whose throat he later cuts after tricking her wouldn't seem to translate well.
Thomas banging his way through half the females in Chicago, which by any definition you care to lay down, is Thomas committing rape over and over again. And he's a good guy.
Lara have some type of weird relationship where she turns her father into a thrall by sexing him out of his mind. Seems pretty incestuous on its face.
Clearly he has some narrative hurdles. Maybe I'm a prude. The closest in tone from my old man's perspective is something on the order of Magnum PI. A very dark murderous Magnum.
--- End quote ---
It won't play if done suggestively, but it has the potential for comedy gold if done respectfully
Those two acts are separated by 9 books and 9 years in the characters lives. The sex scene was fine in the moment(unwise but understandable imo) and Harry has put himself through hell over the throat cut.
Maybe I've missed some stories, but Thomas put himself through hell by not sleeping around in the ones I read. And he's usually made a point of seeking out willing partners such as the swartalves.
Lara and her father's "conflict" is straight up incestuous. But it's that way because of White Court tradition laid down mostly by Papa Raith himself. Play up the Lara as a reformer angle and don't be graphic and it'll be fine.
Narrative hurles are all about presentation.
Ed0517:
I think we also have to ask - free-TV or cable adaptation? TV is going to want conisstent length episodes to fit in their grid. Chase was very happy with the Sopranos flexibility, he could hand one over to HBO that was 55 minutes, or 62, or 57, whatever. Film, cut, then time it so you could tell how long it was.
Until they actually put a number to it, and that was later in the series, I didn't picture Harry as THAT tall. Six four, five? Maybe. The one, two, five percenters. But six NINE gets noticed and mentioned. That's the how many in a thousand. The Wolfe mention shows the issue with numbers. I think the original is "a seventh of a ton" which is not usually good, but hardly disabling in most cases. Heck, Michael and Sanya are likely in the ballpark, and Hendricks more, though they are taller. I picture them in the 6'5", 6'6" area, though I think we are told Hendricks was 300 or more. Heck, my image of Michael was close to Merlin Olsen, and he played at 300 at times.
I think there is going to be an issue with religious ties. They are heavily linked with one brand of Christianity, which will turn some off some other Christians. Non Christians may be turned off. Athiests. The 30 piece of silver Denarians. The noose.
And so many characters... plenty will get dropped. Who's The Dresden Tom Bombadil?
As far as the sex.. Thomas is not raping his way thru Chicago. it's willing partners. Thomas is gorgeous. We keep hearing that. Think a Margot Robbie can't get some any evening she wants in the clubs?
Incest in the White Court? Um, Game of Thrones? Cercei and Jamie? Two of the main characters are brother and sister in bed in the first episode? With three kids? And some would read the whole powderkeg was sparked when a married prince ran away with the fiancee of another noble. consentual or not.
and what happens if Jim has not finished the series when the adaptation catches up? Holy G R R Martin, Batman! I want Jim writing the BAT, not some dude at HBO or Netflix. Heck, Martin never even told us for sure who Jon Snow's parents are....
Conspiracy Theorist:
The Lara/Lord Raith thing has to be clearly portrayed as a Lara as a victim, she was trying desperately to avoid Imari being abused in a similar fashion to her and her sisters.
The elephant in the room is the lack of significant recurring characters of colour. You have Rawlings, Lamar, Sanya and Martha Liberty and thats about it. Chicago has a significant African American population which is virtually unrepresented. Who would you race (and or gender flip?) Will perhaps? Would a black Mcanally fly? Paranoid Gary?
Mira:
--- Quote from: Conspiracy Theorist on May 22, 2022, 09:38:18 AM ---The Lara/Lord Raith thing has to be clearly portrayed as a Lara as a victim, she was trying desperately to avoid Imari being abused in a similar fashion to her and her sisters.
The elephant in the room is the lack of significant recurring characters of colour. You have Rawlings, Lamar, Sanya and Martha Liberty and thats about it. Chicago has a significant African American population which is virtually unrepresented. Who would you race (and or gender flip?) Will perhaps? Would a black Mcanally fly? Paranoid Gary?
--- End quote ---
Well, the original television show did make Morgan black and featured Ancient Mai a lot more than she is in the books. So changing the gender and race of the characters isn't too big of a deal.
Conspiracy Theorist:
Morgan is supposed to be of Welsh descent about 200 years old, (the surname is a giveaway)so not really appropriate, he isn’t from Chicago, and it’s a failure to address that issue which is the problem. Besides setting up an recurring antagonist as black I found problematic, same if they tried it with Rudy.
Ancient Mai as a dragon was just wrong. I have set out Harry as monster above, making one of his fellow wizards one goes against that.
How about Larry Fowler? Or The new Luccio I think both of those would work.
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