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(Onion AV Club)   Seventeen successful adaptations of "unadaptable" books. Still no Confederacy of Dunces   (avclub.com) divider line 130
    More: Interesting, human beings, John Krasinski, Harryhausen, David Foster Wallace, Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gene Wilder  
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9543 clicks; posted to Entertainment » on 28 Feb 2012 at 2:10 AM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»



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2012-02-27 09:05:27 PM
If I never hear the title "Confederacy of Dunces" again, I'd be very happy. That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

/ and I've read Battleship Earth. Ugh
 
2012-02-27 09:05:38 PM
I'll go with "Johnny Got His Gun" and "Slaughterhouse-five". I'd delete "Lolita" and add "The World According to Garp".
 
2012-02-27 09:27:20 PM
Good. There's no reason to make a movie out of that book.

Books are better than movies.
 
2012-02-27 09:28:21 PM
I would add Blade Runner because so much of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? occurs inside the protagonist's head.
 
2012-02-27 09:49:16 PM
Levi Pants. Why?
 
2012-02-27 09:58:00 PM
EnviroDude: Levi Pants. Why?

Something from the Old Testament, I think.
 
2012-02-27 10:21:04 PM
Yeah, I have to agree with some of the other posters.... What's so great about "A Confederacy of Dunces?"
 
2012-02-27 10:25:10 PM
shivashakti: Yeah, I have to agree with some of the other posters.... What's so great about "A Confederacy of Dunces?"

I know I read it. Don't remember it that much.
 
2012-02-27 10:28:10 PM
Social Note: I have sought escape in the Prytania on more than one occasion, pulled by the attractions of some technicolored horrors, filmed abortions that were offenses against any criteria of taste and decency, reels and reels of perversion and blasphemy that stunned my disbelieving eyes, the shocked my virginal mind, and sealed my valve.
 
2012-02-27 10:32:19 PM
AzDownboy: Social Note: I have sought escape in the Prytania on more than one occasion, pulled by the attractions of some technicolored horrors, filmed abortions that were offenses against any criteria of taste and decency, reels and reels of perversion and blasphemy that stunned my disbelieving eyes, the shocked my virginal mind, and sealed my valve.


Some people just can't get into New Orleans. Not their fault.
 
2012-02-27 11:15:48 PM
The Dune miniseries on SciFi was, I think, a very good adaptation of Dune. Same thing with Children of Dune, which was an adaptation of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
 
2012-02-27 11:48:41 PM
I thought Fight Club was done well for a book with so much internel dialog.
 
2012-02-28 12:51:43 AM
and no Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
 
2012-02-28 01:08:04 AM
Cuchulane: That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

You have poor taste in books. What else can I say?

Seriously, it's a near perfect manuscript. If he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be one of the greats, no doubt.
 
2012-02-28 01:23:50 AM
They would have to change the book a bit, and make some of the characters seem less like stereotypes.

/How about a Goon movie instead. Better stereotypes.
 
2012-02-28 02:23:55 AM
Thanks for making me miss home, subby.

/too bad I'm gainfully employed in Texas at the moment
 
2012-02-28 02:24:52 AM
I always secretly hoped Terry Gilliam would wrap his head around Infinate Jest a pull a movie out of it. That and the Cristopher Guest ensemble taking on the Gideon Defoe pirate books.
 
2012-02-28 02:35:59 AM
doglover: Cuchulane: That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

You have poor taste in books. What else can I say?

Seriously, it's a near perfect manuscript. If he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be one of the greats, no doubt.


This^This
 
2012-02-28 02:40:28 AM
doglover: Cuchulane: That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

You have poor taste in books. What else can I say?

Seriously, it's a near perfect manuscript. If he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be one of the greats, no doubt.


Agreed - No interest in seeing a movie adaptation, except then more folks would read it.

what_now: Good. There's no reason to make a movie out of that book.

Books are better than movies.


Oddly, mediocre books are often adapted into excellent movies. Hitchcock understood this.
 
2012-02-28 02:48:37 AM
what_now: Good. There's no reason to make a movie out of that book.

Books are better than movies.


I agree that books are better than movies. That said, i want to see a Ken Burns style documentary/mini-series of Kim Stanley Robinsons "Red Mars". Hell, the whole trilogy would be great but IMHO the first book is the best.
 
2012-02-28 02:51:41 AM
Mugato: and no Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Having read the book many times I don't see how it would be unadaptable. The first couple times I read it (before seeing the movie, which i loved) I thought it was beggi\ng for a film adaptation. Just curious, how did you think it wasn't able to become a movie?
 
2012-02-28 03:04:56 AM
Came here to complain if the Tristam Shandy adaptation wasn't on the list, happy to see it's there. Absolutely hilarious movie that needs more love.
 
2012-02-28 03:07:28 AM
dutchoven69: doglover: Cuchulane: That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

You have poor taste in books. What else can I say?

Seriously, it's a near perfect manuscript. If he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be one of the greats, no doubt.

This^This



All of this. It is perfect. I've read some pretty funny books, but none have made me laugh half as hard as this one.
 
2012-02-28 03:09:39 AM
Cronenberg's Naked Lunch and Crash are both great films, but they both deviate far enough from the source material I'd hesitate to call them "adaptations." Particularly with Naked Lunch, it's more of a re-imagining.

But I'm not saying it would make sense to use either novel as the basis for a screenplay.
 
2012-02-28 03:13:01 AM
I can't remember any characters from A Confederacy of Dunces that I didn't hope would get punched. The only reason I read it all the way through was because the cover had some quip about how funny it was, and I figured I just hadn't gotten to that part yet.
 
2012-02-28 03:20:49 AM
Hoopy Frood: I can't remember any characters from A Confederacy of Dunces that I didn't hope would get punched. The only reason I read it all the way through was because the cover had some quip about how funny it was, and I figured I just hadn't gotten to that part yet.

I feel sorry for what went so wrong in your life.
 
2012-02-28 03:26:25 AM
Maybe some people just don't like New Orleans. I think I heard a lot from them after Katrina.
 
2012-02-28 03:27:04 AM
I'll also add Watchmen.
 
2012-02-28 03:28:52 AM
I've never accused a list of failing before, but without LA Confidential this list does indeed fail.
 
2012-02-28 03:33:49 AM
MrEricSir: Cronenberg's Naked Lunch and Crash are both great films, but they both deviate far enough from the source material I'd hesitate to call them "adaptations." Particularly with Naked Lunch, it's more of a re-imagining.

That was true of many of films on that list. They were less of an adaptation and more of an "inspired by".
 
2012-02-28 03:35:54 AM
I think the main problem here is that people can't read outside of their genre.

Personally I cannot STAND science fiction and I cannot read enough fantasy with magic and swords. But, as the author of Ender's Game noted, the only REAL difference between the two genres is fantasy has trees on the cover and sci-fi has bolts. So when I find myself in a sci-fi book, I can put away my preference and read the words the author wrote. Same for murder mysteries, biographies, and even magazine articles.

Some people can't turn off that switch. They read a book that starts with a fat man assaulting a police officer with a lute string and they're just "This is bullshiat." and don't judge it fairly.

Those same people would see a group of poor black women holding a semen stained bed sheet with "WORKERS UNITE" written on it in shoe polish in a movie and laugh hysterically until they shat their pants if said movie was in their comfort zone. They probbaly read a lot of one kind of book and enjoy those immensely.
 
2012-02-28 03:36:24 AM
Adaptation kind of counts.
 
2012-02-28 03:43:24 AM
Still waiting....

www.neilgaiman.com
 
2012-02-28 03:51:05 AM
TappingTheVein: I'll also add Watchmen.

I'm pretty glad Watchmen *isn't* there. It certainly looked like the comic. That's about it, though.
 
2012-02-28 04:05:34 AM
Harry_Seldon: Still waiting....

[www.neilgaiman.com image 240x181]


FISH CHIP
 
2012-02-28 04:12:12 AM
The list is incomplete without "The World According to Garp."
 
2012-02-28 04:18:26 AM
Cuchulane: If I never hear the title "Confederacy of Dunces" again, I'd be very happy. That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

Same. I read the damn thing cover-to-cover after seeing how much it was praised by its' fans, and...It's not farking funny. At all. It read like Tom Sharpe minus the wit.

Maybe you have to be raised in the South to get it, or something.
 
2012-02-28 04:21:29 AM
Cuchulane: If I never hear the title "Confederacy of Dunces" again, I'd be very happy. That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

/ and I've read Battleship Earth. Ugh


Different strokes. As soon as I finished it, I flipped back to page one and started over again. But, I've spent a lot of time in New Orleans.
 
2012-02-28 04:39:30 AM
doglover: Cuchulane: That is the only book I can think of ever having read that I truly couldn't stand.

You have poor taste in books. What else can I say?

Seriously, it's a near perfect manuscript. If he hadn't committed suicide, he'd be one of the greats, no doubt.


Can you describe why you think it was "perfect"? I read it a long time ago and recall thinking it was fairly enjoyable read. Not amazing by any stretch. I think I got weary of the misanthropic element that is kinda played out for me.

I also recall seeing that it is Tucker Max's favorite book which probably also killed it for me, petty as that may be.

Not trying to be contentious here, just curious.
 
2012-02-28 04:47:25 AM
what_now: Good. There's no reason to make a movie out of that book.

Books are better than movies.


I would say that it would make a great movie, but then I read the Wikipedia entry (new window) about the attempts to make it into a movie. I like John Goodman, and I can see why they would pick him, but he's totally not right for the part; he has the look, but isn't slothful enough. Belushi would have been slothful enough, but his parts always scream, "look at me, I'm an attention whore," which would be out of character for Ignatius. The line "... John Waters was interested in directing an adaption starring Divine as Ignatius..." almost made me puke.
 
2012-02-28 04:49:58 AM
Harry_Seldon: Still waiting....

[www.neilgaiman.com image 240x181]


We all are.
 
2012-02-28 04:57:47 AM
Msol: TappingTheVein: I'll also add Watchmen.

I'm pretty glad Watchmen *isn't* there. It certainly looked like the comic. That's about it, though.


Have to disagree with you- lots of people never thought it could be adapted-but it was done so very beautifully. There were only a few minor changes- one line that should have been said to vedit- and the SQUID subplot. But the changes made sense for the movie audience.
 
2012-02-28 05:39:09 AM
DrPainMD: what_now: Good. There's no reason to make a movie out of that book.

Books are better than movies.

I would say that it would make a great movie, but then I read the Wikipedia entry (new window) about the attempts to make it into a movie. I like John Goodman, and I can see why they would pick him, but he's totally not right for the part; he has the look, but isn't slothful enough. Belushi would have been slothful enough, but his parts always scream, "look at me, I'm an attention whore," which would be out of character for Ignatius. The line "... John Waters was interested in directing an adaption starring Divine as Ignatius..." almost made me puke.


How? In all honesty, I think Divine would have made an excellent Ignatius.
 
2012-02-28 05:40:54 AM
A Confederacy of Dunces is the perfect book if your inherently annoying and aggressively oblivious.
Books with leads like Igantius appeal to a certain type of dip.
 
2012-02-28 05:43:17 AM
FourBlackBars: A Confederacy of Dunces is the perfect book if your inherently annoying and aggressively oblivious.
Books with leads like Igantius appeal to a certain type of dip.


You're not supposed to identify with him, you know. He's the protagonist in the loosest sense of the word. If you DO identify with him, I can see why you hate the book.
 
2012-02-28 06:33:25 AM
the first movie that came to mind was a scanner darkly. that book is practically unreadable, i was stunned that anyone would attempt a movie version, and i was double-stunned when the movie was actually pretty damn good.

watchmen and l.a. confidential also belong on the list.
 
2012-02-28 06:39:52 AM
Confabulat: Hoopy Frood: I can't remember any characters from A Confederacy of Dunces that I didn't hope would get punched. The only reason I read it all the way through was because the cover had some quip about how funny it was, and I figured I just hadn't gotten to that part yet.

I feel sorry for what went so wrong in your life.


OK, I take that back. His sexually-liberated-for-her-time not-really-a-girlfriend was kind of interesting. But pretty much everyone else.
 
2012-02-28 06:42:19 AM
Lenny and Carl: I've never accused a list of failing before, but without LA Confidential this list does indeed fail.

Yeah, I think Ellroy was even shocked at how good it was.
 
2012-02-28 06:51:05 AM
Last of the Mohicans is an unreadable book but excellent movie.
 
2012-02-28 07:05:17 AM
I would throw "Fight Club" and "Catch-22" onto that list.
 
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