#classical adaptations

[flores-et-dracones]

Who did they pray to,

The dying and the dead,

Mothers for their sons,

Sisters for their brothers?

I would shear my head,

Rip my face open,

Drown Greece with tears,

And flood wretched Troy.

I would bleed my nails,

I would stain my soft skin,

This is the face that torched

The citadels of Troy.

For this body, my body,

Her men and maidens burned.

The earth was quaking,

I gave birth to tears and blood.

Pray for good fortune?

No, pray for mercy.

- Euripides’ Helen: A Version by Frank McGuinness

[k-wame]

best summary of this film ive ever read

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Started a new book series, and has been a journey...an Odyssey, if you will.

[keepscrollinghun]

The Mirror Crack'd (1980) dir. Guy Hamilton ↳ based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962)

[soratsuart]

I find it incredibly funny seeing some fans complain that the movie wasn't "lore accurate" as if FNAF has ever been consistent with its lore, like

Wow, the movie changes a lot of stuff and is not accurate to what we thought we knew? *looks at The Silver Eyes trilogy* I can't believe that, how horrible *looks at The Silver Eyes trilogy* Who would've thought they'd change stuff that makes us doubt what we know about the series *looks at the fourth fucking closet*

[horygory]

Silent Hill (2006)

[tossawary]

I don't have a solid plot attached to this idea, I don't currently really have the desire to drop everything to go write "The Hobbit" fanfiction, but for a while I've had the idea of *gestures vaguely" some post-canon story (probably some form of fix-it) taking place before, during, and after a grand dwarven opera performance in Erebor.

Because I am absolutely certain that the Lonely Mountain had an absolutely stunningly beautiful Royal Opera House (and plenty of other, less grand performance halls) that, at the city's height, was putting at least one show every single day. Orchestral symphonies, operas and operettas, dramatic plays, dance performances... you name it, they had it and more. The various cultures of Middle Earth evidently ADORE music, dwarves absolutely included. The Company all bring instruments to Bag End to play and sing themselves off before their quest!

Also, beyond the music side of things, with how dwarves are named as master crafters? Smiths and toymakers and magicians? No way that they did not have some of the most gorgeous costumes, sets, and effects on the planet. Dwarves would go WILD with their articulated stage puppets, I know it.

One of my biggest issues with the film trilogy is that it failed to deeply explore the Company as people who had lost their home, beauty and culture included. Smaug not only killed countless people, entire families, and leave many of the survivors poor and desperate, the dragon went on to hoard their heirlooms and life's work and leave these priceless gold treasures UNUSED. It is an additional heartbreak to imagine Smaug tearing through Erebor neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, so that he could tear out every gemstone in, say, mosaic made by someone's grandmother that sat above the breakfast table every morning. To think that Smaug in the aftermath tore magical lanterns off the walls, the sort that might have been decorated with animals or flowers, to make some daycare walkway just a little more cheery for the children, and in his greed left a dead city in the dark.

The live-action movies put both Smaug and the Balrog in these... absolutely enormous chambers that serve somewhat unclear purposes. The king's treasure vault and a former marketplace, I think? (Moria has been raised by goblins, I can forgive the emptiness.) It's a quick visual depiction of Thror's uncontrollable gold lust to give him a Scrooge McDuck room, sure, instead of anything with an actual organizational system (normally, I assume dwarves are big on sorting their vaults if they have one). Super big columns and hallways and staircases do somewhat effectively communicate the "lost glory" of Moria (I am very fond of these movies!!!), even if I also think it's not as interesting as it could have been. And the other obvious purpose of big, open warehouse-like spaces is 1) it's easier to animate the big creatures moving around in them generally and 2) it allows the films to show off the full-bodied visual spectacle of their big creatures.

But I think it would have also kicked ass to put Smaug in Erebor's former Royal Opera House or something, some enormous theatre decorated across generations. That could be big! The ART (statues, fountains, banners, windows, general architecture) that you could put on the exterior, which has had its face ripped open for the dragon to get inside? The ART that you could put INSIDE (mosaics, murals, and more) as Bilbo sneaks inside? Ohhh, you could include so many potential lore references with thematic relevance!

Also, Bilbo could get jump-scared by old articulated stage puppets or something. IT'S THE DRAGON-! Oh, no, it's some old opera prop. (Yes, we're talking more about an actual adaptation of "The Hobbit" rather than fanfiction concepts now.)

Sure, there's raw material treasure and coins hoarded here in this place, but there would also be musical instruments and toys and household tools and cookware and fancy dishes, wedding jewelry and anniversary gifts and family shrines and festival costumes, fountain statues and street lamps and mailboxes and business signs, and other evidence that people really LIVED here. These are all ordinary objects that Bilbo recognizes from the Shire.

We could tie these objects directly back to objects we saw featured in Bilbo's home early in this adaptation, which he was trying to "protect" from the dwarves during their "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates" song. There are half-burned portraits of people's late parents here too. Did he think that there weren't any dwarves who made doilies or handkerchiefs embroidered with flowers? Of course they made things like that too.

It's perfectly symbolic to, say, place Smaug's bed in an area like the king's throne room. The dragon is now the King Under The Mountain. But I think it would be deliciously haunting to have the throne room of Erebor be empty, the throne half-broken, the silver stripped from the walls and moved elsewhere, because Smaug doesn't care about Thror's old audience chamber. What's a dwarf king to a dragon? He burns the same as all the others. The dragon has instead made his bed in a beautiful public place of art and culture that was for the people, by the people, surrounded by the lovingly crafted belongings of the ordinary people he killed. Gold is gold to a dragon whether it's in a coin or a candlestick.

I think if you really want to sell one of the key messages of "The Hobbit", which in my opinion is: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." then you ought to throw yourself behind EREBOR being a place where food and cheer and song had value, not just the Shire. Thorin isn't lost at the end because he's a dwarf and dwarves don't value such things, but because he as a specific person who makes the mistake of weighing pride and gold over people, and he comes to regret that on his deathbed.

So, back to the fanfiction idea, I think that Erebor had music again in it as soon as dwarves started living in it again. It will take decades and decades before the Royal Opera House is half as splendid as it was before, and there is a performance there with beautiful costumes and puppets and sets comparable to those that came before, some traditional historical show that is part of specific seasonal holiday for dwarves. But that very first winter, when the future still looked grim, I think the dwarves cleared out a small stage and cast the roles of this traditional musical retelling of their history among them, based on who knew the parts best, because they aren't just miners and smiths and soldiers, and there was music again in Erebor that winter despite all the damage that the dragon did.

[weirdlookindog]

Helen Moller - Adaptation of the Classic Idea of Pan

from 'Dancing with Helen Moller', 1918

[ducklooney]

More media leaks and believe it or not the original plans for Ducktales 2017. Yes, the original plan was for Ducktales to be based more on the Carl Barks and Don Rosa comics, with Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck as the main characters. Especially the last poster by Joe Pitt, who was also one of the animators for Gravity Falls, Wander Over Yonder and Mickey Mouse Cartoons. These are designs from other animators, but there are more links to the OG Ducktales and the comics than to Ducktales 2017. Yes, Disney later rejected the ideas from Joe Pitt and then gave them to other people.

What do you think about all this? These are the original designs for Donald, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Webby, Miss Quackfaster, Gyro and Gizmoduck.

Still as a fan of the Donald Duck comics, I regret that they didn't adopt the original ideas for the Ducktales reboot to be more close to the comic book material, but again this is just my opinion.

[plumbley-bee]

Wild robot is so autistic child gets adopted by autistic mom coded and it made me WEEP

It's funny, its animation is gorgeous, and it left me in shambles but feeling whole by the end of it. Really goddamn good movie.

[puppiesareperfect]

It won’t happen but I would go crazy for a Shakespeare themed au episode of Phineas and Ferb

[queeringclassiclit]

John Watson

from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887-1927)

[starscreamers]

i'm sure starscream will take the role of lady macbeth if they explore his relationship with megatron in future expansion. i don't think his servitude ends in full loyalty. i think he will ( at the very least, try ) rule the decepticon from behind, and purposely lead megatron into his madness. it will be an interesting take on their power struggle, and instead of rehashing the same dynamic in which one will try to kill the other, it will be starscream navigating the faction while garnering support from his loyalist vs megatron loyalist. starscream could cause friction in megatron's mind by sabotaging and planting seeds by weeding out the decepticon he deemed an obstacle to the throne.

[djuvlipen]

you people really think poc are interchangeable. "nooo they are whitewashing heathcliff!! let's give love to the 2011 adaptation instead, where heathcliff is played by a black man". romani people and anti-romani racism have a very specific history in the uk (which is reflected, for better and for worse, in wuthering heights). it's still romani erasure even when the character is played by a black gadjo. just like casting ciara renée (mixed black, native and indian) in hunchback of notre-dame was romani erasure. just like casting norm lewis to play javert was racist against romani people. it's just as much a form of romani erasure and anti-romani racism as casting white people for the role

[keepscrollinghun]

The Mirror Crack'd (1980) dir. Guy Hamilton ↳ based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962)

[malifiquemakes]

Obito's Body

When your childhood friend dies and comes back wrong, so you gotta stab them in the tit heart to lift The Curse (and maybe make out with them a lil bit).