You make some great points. So often our culture devalues all 'adaptations' of an original source as being lesser, even though they often act as windows through which new fans with new perspectives discover a series, book, etc. I too have little interest in seeing the new movie. It just doesn't appeal to me. But that doesn't mean that I hold anyone who is excited in contempt. People have different tates and different perceptions, and that's a good thing!
I'll add another example to this very well-written essay that goes beyond 'the original' and one that, I admit, I've fallen prey to as well: academic snobbery. It happens in every field. Doctors tend to hate medical dramas (my father can't stand to watch "House, MD" and tends to spoil it for everyone by guessing the mystery illness by the end of the first half and then loudly bemoaning how silly it is that no one else is getting it.
And I can't stand the show "Bones". This is my bias, but I am a forensic anthropologist, and that hologram table bugs the crap out of me. I know a lot of crime scene investigators and medical examiners who hate "CSI", but the fact is that these shows, despite their glaring factual flaws, bring attention and interest to our fields. They will eventually, perhaps, enrich the field by bringing in a new generation of professionals whose input and perspective may have never come without that window afforded to them by a rediculous television show. And that's a good thing.
no subject
I'll add another example to this very well-written essay that goes beyond 'the original' and one that, I admit, I've fallen prey to as well: academic snobbery. It happens in every field. Doctors tend to hate medical dramas (my father can't stand to watch "House, MD" and tends to spoil it for everyone by guessing the mystery illness by the end of the first half and then loudly bemoaning how silly it is that no one else is getting it.
And I can't stand the show "Bones". This is my bias, but I am a forensic anthropologist, and that hologram table bugs the crap out of me. I know a lot of crime scene investigators and medical examiners who hate "CSI", but the fact is that these shows, despite their glaring factual flaws, bring attention and interest to our fields. They will eventually, perhaps, enrich the field by bringing in a new generation of professionals whose input and perspective may have never come without that window afforded to them by a rediculous television show. And that's a good thing.
No matter how stupid that hologram table is.