I just finished reading Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Felt like getting some grounding on the author who may be the first commercially successful science fiction writer. Except that description might be a little off. Verne was a popular novelist and an adventure writer. Science fiction as we know it wasn't really on the menu.
Aronnax is an interesting choice of narrator. He's not detached by any means. His reaction to the Nautilus, being forced to live on it, and what Nemo does is naive in places, and this is a deliberate effect, one he questions himself.
While I haven't seen it, apparently the Disney live action movie cast Kirk Douglas as the Canadian whaler Ned Land. That seems to be a way of changing the focus from Aronnax to Land. The book's Land is very brave, of course, but is only the hero of the story in his own mind.
Aronnax is an interesting choice of narrator. He's not detached by any means. His reaction to the Nautilus, being forced to live on it, and what Nemo does is naive in places, and this is a deliberate effect, one he questions himself.
While I haven't seen it, apparently the Disney live action movie cast Kirk Douglas as the Canadian whaler Ned Land. That seems to be a way of changing the focus from Aronnax to Land. The book's Land is very brave, of course, but is only the hero of the story in his own mind.
2 comments:
strange bit of synchronicity: we read this post the morning after we'd watched 'sphere' the previous evening. 'sphere' being a michael crichton book-to-movie, in which a group of characters make contact with an alien entity, somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. understandably enough, one of the characters is played by samuel l. jackson (i mean, if the point of the exercise is to make a strong first impression, who else, right?) anyway, he does, indeed, make contact, proceeds to go into a coma, & then, later, miraculously, is his old self again, with one peculiarity: he can't stop reading '20,000 leagues under the sea', an old copy of which he says he found lying around. he says he read it once when he was young, but only up to page 87, at which point, something very scary happens...
you may or may not remember my high words of praise just a while back for 'from the earth to the moon'. it, along with 'the narrative of arthur gorgon pym of nantucket', another classic adventure i'd also 're-discovered', instantly became 2 of the most amazing, amusing, & completely deranged books i've ever read. verne, like pkd, is just such an enthusiast! he loves his stories, & really wants you to love them, too. i also re-read 'journey to the center of the earth', 'the mysterious island', & '20,000 leagues', but 'earth to the moon' was my runaway favorite. sheer joy from beginning to end...
we also, around that time, re-watched the disney version of '20,000 leagues'. everyone appeared to be having fun, especially, of course, james mason, the perfect choice for nemo. surprisingly, the movie was quite true to the book, story-wise, but, then again, disney wasn't quite as concerned about which particular messages they might be promoting as they are nowadays. most appropriate, of course, was the presence of peter lorre, who, always looking somewhat 'pressurized', made the perfect 'nautilus' passenger...
anyway, happy to hear your enjoying verne. a brilliant man, & genuinely timeless treasure, if ever there's been one...
That's an interesting scene/story element you describe. I mean, in general I find that Barry Levinson's best movies are the ones set back in Baltimore - a fascinating city to begin with - but there's something to be said for submarine claustrophobia as a storytelling device.
I know Verne was an admirer of Poe's. The subject is dealt with in an amusing way in this comic. The influence isn't immediately apparent, what with Verne doing a more expansive kind of adventure fiction than Poe is associated with, but that's not taking Pym into account. Melville is a much more obvious influence, especially in this book.
The movie does have a cool cast, I have to admit. Peter Lorre's an interesting choice. His character is Flemish in the book and the way he's described makes him sound like a very naive and approval-hungry teenager. Different interpretation. James Mason is a brilliant choice for Nemo. I don't think I've ever seen him play a hero in the traditional sense, but he carries an air of conviction, and he's always fun to watch
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