Another of the five novels I wanted to see adapted is getting an adaptation (see, I knew you Hollywood producers were keeping tabs on me). This news is both delightful and disturbing and I will touch on both here in a moment. According to my really good and personal friends over at Variety, another adaptation of John Steinbeck’s magnum opus East of Eden is getting made for Universal Pictures.
Tom Hooper, who directed the very successful John Adams, is on board and Atonement and The Quiet American writer Christopher Hampton is helming the screenplay. They’re hoping to get into production later this year.
“There is an opportunity to show the sex, violence and darkness of Steinbeck’s work, along with the optimism and celebration of love,” Hooper was quoted.
Now, why do I find this news delightful? Well, every adaptation so far has sucked. Yes, even the James Dean version. While I will never be able to view the film without having read the novel first, it is barely even the same story (there are so many more layers and the film leaves out a good two-thirds of the novel, at least). Main characters are completely left out that (Lee) and themes and essential plot points that made the story so powerful are completely overlooked. Sure, James Dean is cool, but the movie is mediocre.
So, why does it disturb me? Well, adapting East of Eden is not only ambitious. It’s almost suicide. There is just too much to tackle in one feature film. I feel a lot of it can certainly be cut, but there are two essential story lines (the life of Adam, his brother and Cathy, then the life of his sons) that have to be focused on in order for the story’s ending to have meaning. As with Dean’s version, they left out the story of Adam before his children completely. Granted, this is a favorite novel, so there is some personal attachment to the story, but thematically, both story lines are needed to complement each other.
This is great news still. I remember quite a few years back, Ron Howard was on board to direct. Back then, I was all gung ho on a young Ryan Gosling playing the lead character of Cal (or even James Franco, I remember thinking, although the James Dean parallel was a little much to get past). Unfortunately, they are both way too old now. Regardless, Cal is the essential casting here, and not just because he is one of my favorite literary characters, but he is essential to the core messages of the novel. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definitely too old, but he still looks young and has the chops – could he pull off being in a period drama like this?
I don’t know. Once again, there is a lot of personal attachment to the novel, so I’m going to naturally be very critical, although I am almost always forgiving of novel-to-film changes, as they are a necessity. It only becomes a problem when the changes destroy the core themes and messages of the original work that I get disturbed. And obviously, I’m hypocritical, because it is always only when it is novels I care dearly about – but aren’t we all that way?
East of Eden readers, non-East of Eden readers – what do you think of this news?
Taking more-than-just-potshots at consumer culture and the recycling of ourselves into ourselves (reminiscent of the designer soap in Fight Club) malaise of youth and beauty obsession, World of Goo takes a big page out of The Lorax with its anti-corporate, growth-for-growth sake message. It also reminds of the gooier Bartholomew and the Oobleck. 
A chapter where the ‘goo’ go through the evolution of computers from NASA gravity simulations to social networking is particularly inspired both in terms of what can be done with puzzle game-play but also how diverse science and capitalism and human endeavor can play off one another in exciting ways. Kind of like the game itself. In terms of video game culture, I am no expert, but I know art when I see it. It is curious that this is a full ‘independent’ video game, rather than one of the monster video game studios (Electronic Arts, Blizzard, etc.). I find it most exciting that a game can be fun, deep, subtle, breezy full of sly wit all at the same time. 
