I am so glad I was not off base with the thinking of this wonderful creative man. He pretty much is every bit as cool as I have always imagined him to be.
Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim warned that parents should not allow children to read Where the Wild Things Are because it would frighten them too much.
"Childhood is a tricky business," Sendak says. "Usually, something goes wrong."That theme got him into trouble with adult critics in the past, but he’s not worried about how his younger readers will react."Kids," he explains, "are so shrewd."
My already massive respect for this him just grew even more.
On message boards around the globe the battle rages on about a mature minded movie involving what its like to be a child, made from a children's book containing adult concepts like the balance of love against anger and being in control of ones own destiny.
Many people seem to want this to be an all around "happy" film with no challenging content or themes. The way I read their comments, I think they would be happy if it was along the lines of Garfield or Spongebob Squaqrepants. They clearly don't see the book the same way I always have. I have even read many people complain that the Wild Things in the leaked test (now gone from the internet) were not smiling like they are in the book!
Holy crap! They think the beasts in the book are smiling! Grinning would be more like it large toothy grins, but mostly they are barring their teeth. Sometimes cracking what might be called a smirk. I mean, they threaten to eat him because they love him so much. : P
Some others in these threads try to point out that the actual words found in the book are not exactly "nice". But people seem to insist that the Wild Things are the 1960's equivalent of Mike and Skully from Monsters Inc. (I love Monsters Inc. btw but Its a different "beast") They call them "cute" and "cuddly". Good God are they missing the mark. I hope they didn't ruin those great characters for their kids by reading the book to them in a "baby talk voice"
I Imagine the parental censorship going something like this... "They woared their terrwible woars, wolled their terrwible eyes, mooshed their terrwible teeffhies, and showed their terrwible softy-wofty paws."
"They cried, Oh please don't go, we love you so! We'll eat...er kiss you on your belly welly!"
Ugh.
Anyone really looking at the art and reading the content should see that it is not a "cute" story. Its supposed to be a bit on the edge, without crossing the line. Max is an angry boy. He is frustrated, a bit out of control, and he is trying to deal with his anger at being punished. When he "runs away" what he is doing is working through his problems with his imagination. The wild things ARE his dark side! At least that is my take on it... It seems so clear to me and It's quite brilliant really.
In addition to its simple and elegant story, Maurice Sendak's art in the book is stunning and I can say with no hesitation that it was one of the things that influenced me to pursue my creative abilities. I am a bit subversive, dark, and spooky myself... coincidence? Only somewhat, I am sure I was drawn to the book because of those budding aesthetics in me, but all kids NEED influences that cover a full spectrum of tone. Spooky, joyful, wondrous, dire, playful. Just giving them one "flavor" of life is cheating them and not giving them the tools to deal with the dark uncomfortable feelings they may already have. Children can understand a lot, we just don't give them credit for it. Maybe the fact that I got my hands on a dark and creepy little book about a bad little boy that imagined being the king of the Wild Things helped me work through some of my problems.
Maybe some kids out there need a equally powerful film about that same boy to help them with their problems. So I guess what I am saying is if you had a happy go lucky childhood, or choose to deny yourself access to those dark feelings you had as a child, then the monsters were smiling... for the rest of us, they were "gnashing their terrible teeth" in an attempt to keep the rage under control. If you grew up like I did, constantly feeling under attack and in danger, you may be more interested in the Spike Jones version... in the same way that the original work by Maurice Sendak was more than just a cute little book to me when I was a kid.
Mr. Sendak gave me a tremendous gift back then... he showed me how to escape.
I just learned of this a few minutes ago and it was a bit of an opinion roller coaster...
Doc learns: Someone is making a film of his favorite childhood book Where The Wild Things Are Immediate Response: Yes! Slightly delayed response: Oh no... what if they don't honor the art or story
Doc learns fact #2: Its a Spike Jones film Immediate Response: Yes! Slightly delayed response: Wait a minute... that could be bad, or could be good. Better look for pictures...
Immediate Response to image: No! No! No! Its never ending story 2008! please "random deity" NO! *sobbing ensues* Slightly delayed response: Sure its live action, sure those are guys in big furry suits, but it still kinda looks cool. *sobbing ceases*
Doc learns fact #3: The creatures are lovingly crafted by Henson studios Immediate Response: Yes! If anyone can pull it off they can... Slightly delayed response: But can they do it without inserting themselves into the designs? The beasts of WTWTA have a look that is very unique and classic, the same can be said for Hensons creations, problem is, muppets usually LOOK like muppets. Even ones not supposed to, like Yoda for example.
Doc learns fact/rumor #4: The whole thing is getting killed. Warner Brothers is considering reshooting the entire film, fireing Jones and the writer Dave Eggers so they can rework it as a much more "Kid Friendly" film Immediate Response: That never sounds good, Studio executives tend to think of kids in the lowest common denominator. The EXACT thing I loved about the book when I was a child was that it WAS subversive! It did make me feel like I may have some power or control over my own destiny, at least in my imagination. Children are smarter than anyone EVER gives then credit for, at least some of them are. When you make dumb media for them, you fail to challenge them and thats a tragedy. Please do NOT make a sub par "kid friendly" overly bright and cheery, trend laden, product placement filed, piece of crap in the name of Maurice Sendak! Slightly delayed response: Eh, It probably would have sucked no matter what... *sigh*
Doc learns fact/rumor #5 Maurice Sendak has been quoted as saying that he loved Jonze and Eggers's script and that it was the perfect approach to the movie and if the movie was not made that way he would prefer there never to be a Where the Wild Things Are movie. Immediate Response: Yes! Go get them Maurice!!! Slightly delayed response: Wait a minute... Artist never have any control. Once he signed that paper WB can do what ever the hell they want. Even if thats a film version of Wild Things On Ice! Staring Dorothy Hamill as Max!
I have also just learned that some clips are starting to turn up on the interwebs. Aperantly there may be a fight going on and Spike Jones may be relesing the clips to prove that the film didnt need to be reshot due to tech dificulties like WB has be making souns about.
This is aperantly an early test... thats not the actual actor as Max and thats not his wolf costume, its an off the shelf sheep sleeper they purchased for the test.
That looked pretty cool... man, I don't know about this whole thing.
As I said... I am very conflicted. One thing is for sure... creative decisions about something very precious to me are currently being made by men in suits trying to maximize gross earenings... I hate that.
Updates: Rumor: Dan Masse / Film Threat says... "I was talking to Roger Ebert about it after he saw the preview - he said it was by far one of the best things he'd seen in the last DECADE."
