The League of Extraordinary Inaccuracies
All right. Saw “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” this weekend. It’s very shiny visually, and we won’t talk about how weak the plotline is or how it’s amazing that a submarine big enough to have hallways that intersect at 90-degree angles can also shove its way down an 1899 Venetian canal built for gondolas. And we won’t talk about the poor attempts at beefing up the razor-thin plotline with “betrayals” that were obvious 10 miles away (even the “twist” was sadly obvious).
I’ve never read the graphic novel on which the flick is based, but I can only pray that it was a little more . . . well . . . intelligent.
What we will talk about, however, is the film’s inaccurate portrayal of literary greats. Now, I’m all for “liberties” in the name of good fiction, but I also think that most of the audience
1.) had no idea these were literary figures beyond the movie and
2.) had no idea they were inaccurate.
And, that’s what is so very, very sad: That most filmgoers wouldn’t exclaim–as I did–”Mr. Hyde is not the fucking Incredible Hulk!”
So, in the interest of passing on some literary knowledge, if you do see the movie, check out the “springboards” for those characters (listed below). If you don’t see the movie, check out the books anyway. They are classics. If you only have time for one, I would recommend The Picture of Dorian Gray. (Ellison’s version of The Invisible Man would be a close, close second.)
If you’ve read them already, you deserve a gold star, and the old lit teacher in me promises to buy you a drink to celebrate your initiation into the shrinking world of the literati.
Oh, and for those of you who HAVE seen the movie and are confused about the one literary reference NOT tirelessly over-explained in the piece (and, sadly, this will NOT ruin the ending of the film for you): When the bad guy is revealed as the “Napoleon of crime,” Prof. Moriarty, they are referring to a reoccurring villain in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. (Yeah, the Invisible Man takes a load of extemporaneous introduction, but an off-the-cuff reference to a minor Sherlock Holmes character will pass muster because it was—as Sylvie pointed out to me—once referred to in an
episode of Star Trek?)
That said, your potential reading list is below. If you have no time to read, my heart goes out to you, and I’d guess you’ll be ignoring this right about now. [wink]
- K.
Dorian Gray: The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novella masterpiece by literary great Oscar Wilde. The LXG movie does this fabulous story of one young man’s descent into obsessive-compulsive disorder and masochism no justice at all. (It’s also a darkly comic piece about artifice and the need for perfection: When Dorian falls in love with a great actress, he later shuns her when her love for him transforms her into a “real woman” and not the “mere actress,” not the artificial, fake, surface girl he wanted.)
And, the Dorian Gray of the novel is obsessed with his aging portrait—the evil that he does as an individual being shown on the work of art and not on himself. It is his favorite hobby–comparing his own unlined face to the changes on the portrait. (The movie writers seem to have not actually READ this particular story.)
Read it for free at: http://www.upword.com/wilde/dorgray.html.
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The Invisible Man: I originally thought it strange that the flick was referencing a 1950s novel, but, after a bell going off in my head during a conversation with Steve, it seems I was only partially right. There is an earlier version of this tale. So, the film is two, two, two greats in one: The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells in 1897, and a later version by African-American author Ralph Ellison. In Wells’ version, an obscure scientist invents a way to render skin, bones, and blood invisible, and tries the formula on himself. Now he can go anywhere, menace anyone–sight unseen. He has only two problems: he cannot become visible again–and he has gone quite murderously insane. (He dies at the end of the book, which, strangely enough, the film deals with by saying that this LXG “invisible man” was a thief who stole the formula—although other characters’ differences from their books are never even mentioned.)
In The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952) wrote about the experience of being ignored as a black man in America—bringing to light a powerful meditation on race and social structure. (Same concept of the scientist
turned invisible.) This novel was included in the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century in the top 20. Being an outsider, being outcast, being looked down upon for a “defect”—all are feelings most people can relate to. It’s a great social commentary.
First line of the Ellison novel: “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids–and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
Online version of Wells’ story: http://www.bartleby.com/1003/.
I can’t find a free online version of Ellison’s (probably due to the copyright not lapsing just yet), but here’s an audio clip: http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/ellison/.
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Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde: (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson) Contrary to the writers’ opinions in the LXG flick, Mr. Hyde is NOT some strange “Hulk” version of Dr. Jekyll. He does not spout Bill Bixby-ish “you won’t like me when I’m angry” lines. This is a portrait of a man who becomes someone else completely when his dark side—which he has repressed his entire life and bottled up—explodes forth. And he is unrecognizable as Mr. Hyde NOT because he changes form or face, but because the evil inside makes him so unrecognizable. It’s a psychological portrait, and a damn good one.
Read it for free at: http://www.bartleby.com/1015/
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Mina Harker: From Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the novel she does become infected with vampirism, but it is reversed when a stake is driven through the heart of Dracula—essentially curing her “infection.” Her husband, Jonathan, does not die in the fight. The epilogue has them having a son.
Read it online: http://www.literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/
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Captain Nemo: (Author: Jules Verne) What are the odds that two summer movies this year would have characters named “Nemo”? Of course, they are both from the same source: the crazy, power-hungry submarine captain whose genius is his undoing from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (I love how he’s going to “stop” all war by blowing up all warships, which is a war unto itself. Ah, the hypocrisy of the single-mindedly self-righteous.)
Read it online: http://www.knowledgerush.com/books/2000010.html
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Allan Quartermain: From the classic serialized pulp story of the 1880′s King Solomon’s Mines, which was inspired by Treasure Island—because Henry Rider Haggard thought he could “do better,” not because he thought Robert Louis Stevenson’s work was art. (A sequel entitled Allan Quartermain followed.) Quartermain’s popularity as African pulp hero was replaced by Tarzan in the early 1900s.
Read the actual book (King’s Solomon’s Mines) for free online at: http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/H_Rider_Haggard/King_Solomons_Mines/