Blood Meridian: Or, What Makes a Book Unadaptable
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- Опубликовано: 1 сен 2023
- In this video essay, I talk about Cormac McCarthy's seminal novel Blood Meridian, the various attempts that have been made to adapt it. I dive into what I think is likely so challenging about adapting this book, and compare it to some other "unadaptable" works like Watchmen, The Sound and the Fury, Infinite Jest, and House of Leaves. Of course, I also compare it to The Road, as director John Hillcoat is currently the man in charge of bringing this adaptation to the big screen.
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bro just hit record and started yapping, get to the point buddy
bro has 0 attention span 💀
This is hilarious but you should probably unpin it. Appreciate the humility though
@@JB-bq2qj #1 yap enthusiast over here. If you were alive in Yapzi occupied France, you would sell out your own brethren to the Yappin SS squads smh
No Yappntry For Old Men (or Old Ones in stores now
WHERES THE MINECRAFT OBBY FOOTAGE!?
I think the best way to adapt Blood Meridian is a Brodway musical, and most of it would be a Judge monologue while he tap dances
Romantic tap dancing duet between the judge and the idiot
I'm seeing the scene in "Young Frankenstein" where the monster's in a tux, dancing with Gene Wilder and singing "Putting on the Ritz."
Now THAT could be death hilarious!
Ironically, I think Blood Meridian is an incredibly cinematic book. I think a lot of its scope and power comes through things that film is very good at conveying, but in order to do it justice for real it'd need to throw pretty much all easy marketability out the window and a director with the skill and the balls to forego conventional narrative and go as wild and raw and experiential as the prose of the book does. And that's not even counting the type of budget this would require, which makes it all the harder for all the rest to slide into place. It can be adapted, but not in a way that makes it feasible for the film market
Terrence Malick
@@nelsonmza9915 he'd have the right sense for the image, but not the right sensibilities. I can't picture him adapting material this dark and nihilistic. He might capture the beauty of it, but maybe not the horror. That said he'd be as good a fit as any I can think.
Perhaps it needs a horror movie director, from Korea or Japan.
Nonsense. The man has cleraly lost it. Anyone who makes movies like that trash with Cristian Bale shouldn't be alowed near features, period! @@nelsonmza9915
In Eastern Europe, we have "Đavolja noć" by fictional author Adam Medvidović which reveals what is happening in church and Europe in the form of a novel. It's been a channel of communication since Cold War. You have the first part in English.
For me, the best example for a perfect adaptation is American Psycho. They captured the bizarre comedy and satire of the book amazingly and didn‘t get too deep into the absolutely bonkers violence of the book. Not that I have a problem with that in general, but the experience that Ellis produced - to see Batemans gruesome acts through the eyes of your own imagination - would be completely lost in a gorefest-movie.
This is a good connection/example
I think it misses the mark actually on that, by not including the true extent of his violence, it waters down the character, I think the fact that people actually think Patrick Bateman is cool means it didn't go far enough portraying what he did and who he is.
@@PermadeathHD Sure he comes of nicer (lol) in the movie, but i think they did a very good job plotwise with the notebook at the end. it is just a short glimpse into his mind compared to the book, but elegantly done in my opinion.
I’ve always thought BM would fair infinitely better as a HBO mini series, it would be criminal to try and cram all of the book into at max a 3 hour movie.
that makes sense too, sure
I don't think a series is the right way, just because the plot of Blood Meridian isn't really formatted in a way that works well for a series. It's not a suspense-driven story, so an episodic format wouldn't retain enough viewership to justify the budget required for a longer series. I think a two part movie would do well, like they did with the 7th Harry Potter movie
Agreed. Impossible to cram all the carnage into even 3hrs.
A series is the way to go. There are several scenes that would work as climactic set pieces, and the whole story basically builds to a confrontation between the kid and the judge. Thinking about it, I make a connection with the recent series The English. I didn't really care for it overall, but the tone and structure of it reminds me of Blood Meridian somehow. Also the Australian movie The Proposition.
@@plaguepandemic5651Visual novel/video game! Something around the lines of Disco Elysium/Baldur’s Gate.
I recently browsed a reddit thread discussing possible directors for Blood Meridian, and several people mentioned Robert Eggers. I think his style of directing would really fit the vibe of the novel. But in the end, the change in media would probably transform the story into something different, fundamentally.
I could well have been one if those people. I've been beating the drum for Eggers for years, but alas.
I support Robert Eggers I was also saying in my comment Paul Thomas Anderson based off of There Will be Blood alone , and based on how great Killers of The Flower Moon looks maybe even Martin Scorsese 👀
your first mistake was browsing reddit.
More important he understands language and is very passionate about it, along with the intersection of myth and history where Meridian is located
that makes some sense - i luv eggers' aesthetic and that could be a starting point of sorts ... i'm thinking sepia tones that blend/bleed into red, at least in parts
Sound & Furry is unadaptable because it so interior. Its possibly the most 1st person book ever written.
Blood Meridian is a very 3rd person narrative (like epic poetry). This type of story could easily be adapted to film. The problem is capturing grand surreal imagery. Blood Meridian would work better as an animated film where you can create really dramatic shadows, coloring, and angel's inorder to replicate McCarthys prose.
I just googled "Sound of Furry" and.... I think you mistyped
Blood Meridian done in the style of Wizards or Fritz would be fuckin wild
i think any approach would have to be very experimental, yes ,,, maybe even some wild, western version of german expressionsim, etc.
Finnegan’s Wake tho
YES I agree it should be animated. Not only would it be much easier to depict Judge Holden accurately to how he’s described in the book, but I feel animation would fit both the often nightmarish tone of the violence but also the sublime beauty of many of the landscapes.
Mark Z. Danielewski was actuallt working on adapting House of Leaves as a series a few years back but couldn't get any companies to pick it up. He published the teleplays for the first three episodes he wrote and it's really interesting how he approached it. It was definitely not a faithful adaptation in terms of story and he tried to do interesting and experimental things with the series form in the same vein as with the novel form, rather than trying to directly replicate what he did in the book. I think it had a lot of potential. If anyone else had tried to do something with it though it would have never worked.
Also I have always thought 1Q84 should be adapted as an anime rather than live action series or film.
"That which exists without withholding its consent exists without my consent" James The Judge Holden Franco
Im not sure why we are still so stuck on film. A tv adaptation could potentially work. The Expanse, while not completely in line with the books, tells a 'novel' length story in about six episodes and I think its pretty good structurally.
The expanse has an actual plot. Cormac mccarthy is famous for essentially plotless books
@@ar4203 Thats a very good point. Still I could see it featuring a large set piece, region or event per episode which might be less grueling than trying to do it with film.
I don't think a TV adaptation for Blood Meridian would work at all, predominantly due to the fact that it doesn't really have a plot or coherent structure.
there was a lot of room for an expanse adaptation to shore up the weaknesses of the novels, which are a little, uh, sparse and functional.
Mary Harron is literally right there. She made the psychopathic wet blanket of a man that Patrick Bateman is into an engaging character and managed to wrangle the plotless novel that American Psycho is. The violence in the film is toned down a bit, but like I think she could do a great job. I would also say Antonia Byrd would have done a fantastic job as she has a knack for telling stories about broken, depressed character and working abstract ideas into the narrative of the story, and her one western is one of the best I've ever seen.
What name is that western? Imdb unclear
Ravenous (1999). It's goated as hell. @@TheDominicProject
One piece of media that was considered unadaptable for live-action TV is the manga and anime One Piece but because the manga's creator was involved in the live-action version and every change had to go through him, One Piece has a great live-action TV show on Netflix that exceeded bottom of the barrel expectations for it, but the changes they made to the show to accommodate it being a TV show and not a long-running anime or manga made it digestible for new fans to enjoy and still kept what makes One Piece the best-selling manga that it is while still being in a different medium.
I've always thought alfonso cuaron would do a good job of adapting blood meridian. He gets the mood so right in films like y tu mama tambien (random I know) makes me feel like he would pay attention to the overall backdrop, the character of the landscape which is ever present in the book, and not just the gruesome violence. The violence itself isn't what's horrible in my view, its the lack of meaning for it, the lack of a chance for any of the victims to avoid being victims, the hemming in of everyone in the story by the hostile environment. I also thought that some of the cinematography in godless would have lent itself well to blood meridian adaptation, similarly the direction and cinematography of the revenent in some ways seems to fit with this book too.
that could be, put cuaron and inarritu on it together with a splash of dali and see where things go ...
You are so right!
Many books the plot is the whole point. For McCarthy the plot takes backseat to language setting the mood, creating a visceral image of every scene for the reader which would be very difficult for a movie to be adapted. McCarthy describes smells, touch, the pain, thirst, rage, fear, hope, and every imaginable sensation a person experiences.
McCarthy's books are partially so difficult to translate into film, I think, due to his use of language. His prose is almost poetic, and unless that is being used as 'script', any film will suffer from its loss. (And, I agree with you, as to 'Hostiles'.)
The Cohen brothers pulled it off with "No Country for Old Men," which for my money is one of the best movies ever made. The novel was not one of McCarthy's best, either. The movie was better, and I say that about very few adaptations.
@@ty9884I agree with you on 'No Country for Old Men' being an amazing movie (although I'd argue about the quality of the book). It, and 'The Road' were excellent films, I thought. They both had outstanding direction, acting, writing, etc. They both managed to translate McCarthy's genius in prose and plot to film. But, it's hard to imagine 'Blood Meridian' being adapted; I don't think its use of violence is the issue, but the structure and language of the book are what I see as the difficulty. :)
@@curiousworld7912 It is hard to imagine "Blood Meridian" being adapted into film or any kind of live performance. It's so dreamlike -- nightmarish. David Lynch in his prime is the only director I can think of who might pull it off, but I'm afraid the theatre might empty as soon as you got to the scene where all the dead babies are stuck up in a thorn bush. That's the first time I quit reading the book and said, "My God, I just can't read this thing." It took me about four tries before I finally got through it.
@@ty9884Yes, the whole 'dead-baby tree' thing just about ended my attempt at reading 'Blood Meridian'. Every page seemed to elicit an 'Oh, my God!' from me as I read. Had it not been for the amazing writing, I might have given the book up. And, I agree that David Lynch might be the only director, if any, able to film this, but it's difficult to imagine. 'Dreamlike' and 'nightmarish' are the perfect words to describe this book. :)
@@ty9884 But No Country is not nearly as surreal as BM. It's easier to film. It's not the story, or even the violence, that prevents a film version of Blood Meridian. Why bother if you can't portray the landscape as weird, surreal and nightmarish?
Haven't read Blood Meridian yet, but as soon as you referenced one of the big challenges being structure... My mind immediately went to House of Leaves. Read it in the Fall of 2009 or so and it made a huge impression.
Then you pulled out a copy lol
Don't you love when things like that happen? Checking out the rest of your channel now.
I really liked the Watchmen movie. Might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Doctor Manhattan scapegoat ending was a better idea than extra dimensional squid being anyway.
I prefer the comic book ending, but watchmen movie gets a lot criticism, but it wasnt bad. I really prefer the psychic monster ending and I feel like at the time was more a good commentary about the politics during the cold war
@@Tonzoffun0420 I wasn't alive during the Cold War, so I'm pretty far removed from it, but I'll take your word. Alan Moore is indeed a genius. Zack Snyder is a hack, but as Addison said, a stopped clock is right twice a day.
You weren't bothered by the total butchering of all the themes though?
@HOTD108_ No. Just about every comic movie is missing the soul of the comics that inspired it. It was an entertaining movie, and that's about all I could ask for. The book is by far superior , but what book that has a movie based on it isn't?
@@HOTD108_ I haven't read the comic yet, so I've only seen glimpses of the genius that is. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I didn't read the book before I watched the movie. I'd love to read, but I am poor, so I know little besides other youtube videos, of the themes within. I figured that it was another cold war era "we can get along if we have a common foe" type trope.
It's nice to have a RUclips video that isn't just a bunch of jump cuts and the same droning background music
blood meridian is one of those books i never quite had the courage to pick up, but i did want to tell you i really enjoyed this video essay. the production was just right, the occasional clip, the soundtrack coming in at the end, your pacing was great even though there weren't many (if any!) visible cuts and your perspective was consistently incisive and engaging. instant subscribe, great way to spend 15 minutes :)
Thank you so much!
The biggest thing Clockwork has in common is the language entry barrier and all the complications stem from there.. Its the reason stuff like Gravitys Rainbow and Infinite Jest are considered unfilmable..
some things are just so highly literary, highly related to the actual invention and art in aligning words, that translation isn't possible. only some wild expressionistic attempt to convey the impressions of the words into cinema could make sense, but it's impossible for nearly anyone to conceive how
This is also why a story like House of Leaves can only exist or make sense in book format.
To me, true art takes its media and accomplishes something that can never truly be copied in any other form. It can be a western novel, a Rembrandt painting, a felted doll, a plate with a portrait done in spaghetti and marinara sauce-just anything that the artist expresses their vision through in a unique and meaningful way.
The funny thing about Gravity's Rainbow is it refers to the movies constantly, while remaining unfilmable. It's such a mischevious book!
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. I would actually love if anyone tried to adapt this book into a movie. I personally feel that people should be bold and try to make movie versions of "unadaptable" material. I say why not. I know that people hold stories close to them in a sincere and precious way, and I understand that and respect that. But you'll always have the book. Even if an adaptation falls completely flat and lands way off its mark, you have the book, and I think the effort alone in trying to branch mediums with "impossible" material is commendable. That's just my take. Anyways, you made a great video and I hope you make more. I was particularly drawn to this video because I just finished Blood Meridian ten days ago and I've been absolutely devouring any and all thoughts and opinions and analyses related to the book and its author. I think your take is a refreshing one.
Joyce in general - Ulysses is even less adaptable to me
Agreed. Let people creatively roll the dice and at least add something...
Totally agree with your definition of "unadaptable," I think many people misuse the term.
Also, I absolutely picture Brando's Kurtz when I imagine The Judge.
Catcher in the Rye I would also kinda put in the "unadaptable" category (Not just because of the injunction by the Salinger estate). It's a good story that would not make for a good film. Sure Holden is a strong character, and he technically has an arc, but following an angsty teenager fumbling around as he tries to find himself would get pretty boring in a movie. Especially if you're going for feature length.
It's a shame that we're 100 years too late but Blood Merdian would have ripped as a silent film epic - I bet Abel Gance could've delivered something sublime.
Other than that, I reckon it would work as an animated film/series. Some of the passages and images that McCarthy conjures would definitely be done justice if it were animated. As a medium, it is just less tethered to reality, geography and time in the way that film is, and it would also allow for that interiority that you mentioned. Budget and audience is a whole other matter, however...
If it has to be a live action film adaptation, I reckon Paul Thomas Anderson would give it a good go. Inherent Vice as a novel has a sought of sprawling plot that sort of floats and drifts that it felt similarly unadaptable but he somehow made an excellent film out of the book.
Great video, guy! Really engaging and with great points
I loved House of Leaves. The author is Poe's brother (the band, not the poet). I still often think about it.
That book will mess with your mind. Try The Raw Shark Texts by Hall. It’s a trip.
@@kgilliagorilla2761 Thanks for the recommendation. I just put a hold on it.
Loved how her "Haunted" album tied in with the book ❤
I was going to talk about not thinking that there is anything inadaptable, but the word "adaptation" already says it all just in its semantics, having said that I prefer to say that comics and games are media that would do justice to Cormac McCarthy, but apparently they just weren't considered to do this, but I'm increasingly seeing gaming media as the best way to adapt because it encompasses all the others in its gameplays and for me Blood Meridian would greatly benefit from this or by the captivating drawings of someone comic book author who experiments a lot with graphic narrative.
10:57 Unadaptable is a strong word. I don't usually think video games are valuable as what we know as "literature", but there has been something that is not a direct adaption but a very strong inspiration from House of Leaves in the video game field. It is a long watch and at times requires knowledge about how the game Doom is both structured and written to follow, but still, it's very impressive ruclips.net/video/5wAo54DHDY0/видео.html The tl;dw is: Someone created a "found footage" modification for the original Doom. Some parts of it live through the interactivity, but many parts really resemble the "disconnectedness" of parts of House of Leaves I felt when reading that.
Anyway. Great video. Glad the algo put you on my recommended videos list!
I watched this whole video before I noticed your subscriber count. Your video was well informed, interesting and engaging. Hopefully you blow up soon!
A Lot better quality than most videos with that low subscriber count. Plus, it’s obvious he reads a lot but it didn’t come off as pretentious at all which is a problem I have with a lot of book channels.
I read _House of Leaves_ back when it first came out, and while I agree that the book is probably unfilmable, I always thought “The Navidson Record” would make for a good film (possibly a short film / tv series).
“TNR” is one of the main narratives of the book - the Navidson family moves into a sort-of-haunted house and they film their experiences on a camcorder. In the book it’s written as a summary of those home videos, so it’s already kinda framed as a ‘found footage’ film to begin with; the book itself could almost function as a shooting script.
Anyway I just always thought it would be cool to see an actual movie based on that section alone.
Hundred percent. The House of Leaves could not be adapted into a film, but it could very much be adapted into an HBO Limited Series where TNR is the constant thread. Using a limited episodic structure could play with time better while devoting an entire episode or two to the Johnny stuff to tie it together.
Todd Field worked on a Blood Meridian adaptation for a while. He's one of two people that i would like to see handle it. The other being Paul Thomas Anderson just taking a loose crack at it in some fashion (as he did with Upton Sinclair's Oil!). That being said, there is apparently an adaptation of Blood Meridian floating around out there that was written by Todd Field. I have never found it myself, but have heard it was around 180 pages and leaned more Terrance Mallick / Stanley Kubrick than Hillcoat/ Scott. Hopefully someday we'll get to read it.
Congrats on hitting the algorithm with this vid! I really like your analysis and presentation style, very confident in leading us thru your ideas.
I do have a tiny bit of thumbnail feedback (you can take it or leave it considering your current thumbnail is doing very well) - I think your click through rate would go up even more if you removed “it’s the structure” from the bottom right. So you use the vid title to present the question you’re exploring - heighten the curiosity by adding “it’s not just the violence” in the thumbnail - then people are like “well, then what is it?” And they have to click and watch your vid to find the answer. “It’s the structure” is almost a spoiler-summary of your answer, and it might diffuse viewer’s curiosity pressure a bit, removing incentive to click. Also, it might push away a more casual audience who doesn’t think they’re interested in hearing about story structure, until they hear you explaining it.
I know for me, I was about to click after I saw “it’s not just the violence” - then I noticed “it’s the structure” in the bottom and was like “oh… mm. Am I in the mood to hear about… structure?” lol. Then I decided to click anyway, enjoyed your vid, and wanted to share this bit of audience feedback.
(I have also been working as a content strategist for the last couple years so these are the things I think about all the time, especially when I notice a vid taking off on a new-to-me channel. But like I said, take it or leave it. If you do try it out let me know what happens to your CTR, for science! Lol.)
Congrats again! Keep it up!
Hey, thanks a lot for the feedback and support! I really appreciate it and can definitely use the tips.
Hillcoat did one of my favorite films “THE PROPOSITION”, which leads me to believe he would be the one director that might come close. I could see him pulling it off with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis doing the soundtrack.
great discussion, loved it
Theres a little bit of footage online of James Franco's blood meridian and so far I gotta say i dont think the BM adaptation would've been too good. I say this mostly because of how the judge is protrayed and how anti cinematic imo the mountain scene was. The Judge did not feel mysterious or threatning or even sisnister it felt like physically and personality wise they toned him down way more like they just got the nearest really tall and bald guy to play him. The mountain scene also wasnt too cinematic even if it was test footage in which it mightve been fixed but it felt like there wasnt much stakes when i read the scene it felt like there was a whole lot of pressure. Everyone else was casted fine like the kid and tobin werent too bad especially tobin i think that portrayal was amazing. But if that was a glimpse on James Franco's blood meridian I don't think it would be the best one.
This was very insightful. Thank you. 😊
Great material, thanks, currently reading BM. Cheers
Great video! Really enjoyed!
Excellent video - I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this! Subbed 😊
Watchmen is faithful visually, but no, Snyder does not capture its themes
I can't fisically like your comment more than once. It's a shame. Cuz I would.
THANK YOU! i've grown to hate Snyder because of his clueless fans and their toxic behavior. Snyder does not understand how to structure a story, create subtext, or recognize the differences in mediums like film and graphic novels. Even if he films the comic shot for shot, with identical dialogue, it would still suck
Zach Snyder and Micheal Bay are the same: cinematographers who were wrongfully out into directing roles.
They know how to make a movie look a certain way, but have no brain for storytelling whatsoever
@@XYouVandal He’s all slow motion and vibes
That's because Zack Snyder is a terrible director. He doesn't understand any DC character whatsoever. He's a wannabe Ridley Scott without the narrative ability, talent or vision and always will be.
The only adaptation of a dark philosophical book I can think of that worked well on the Big Screen was Apocalypse Now (Conrad's Heart of Darkness). It would take one HELL of a director to capture MaCarthy's Blood Meridian. Take the Apache attack passage, for instance. Are they actually going to show dying men getting raped, and live men getting scalped? Probably not. So straight away, the impact will be lost, and it will just be another generic battle scene, most likely with fast edits, Wilhelm screams and stupid orchestral music. Can't see it happening.
The social taboos of today won't even allow an indian tribe to look demonic. The book made every kind of people look devilish and hollywood doesn't allow that for most groups.
Didn’t Bone Tomahawk come close to depicting more of the brutality than most Westerns?
@@GuineaPigEveryday No, it was gratuitous and lacking a hundredth of the quality of Blood Meridian.
Just give it to Terrence Malick and hope for the best.
Haunted by Chuck Palahnniuk isn't a book that is easy to adapt. At most it can become a miniseries. There isn't much dialogue that is said between stories unless there is going to be narration. Not just because of the bizarre events that unfold.
Now Cows by Matthew Stokoe though! That will be difficult to adapt mainly because I can't just put into words what happens in that book. If it does get an adaptation I see it being like a CGI film like those Resident Evil films that aren't live action.
House of Leaves is such a great book. Purposefully unadaptable, creepy as hell.
I always thought “The Navidson Record” on it’s own would make for a cool found footage style film - they could just scrap all of the Johnny Truant stuff and stick to the house narrative / home movies sections
@@AwesometownUSA Agreed. I'd love to see it. That part has such a uniquely horrific creep factor in it's own right and it's definitely fleshed out enough to be a stand-alone story.
The biggest reason it's unfilmable is because there are no sympathetic characters, no character development and no hope. It's literally No Country For Old Men if we spent absolutely NO time with any of the 'good' or more identifiable/relatable characters except for their deaths. The structure is fine, the way it's paced is fine, none of those 'physical' reasonings are what's holding back any adaptation. It's not actually unadaptable, it's not at all, a ton of filmakers could make a brilliant movie, the issue is no one would ever bankroll a movie with no 'star', no hope, no obvious message, no answers, it's just not happening.
Also as a fan of great books being adapted into movies i'm so happy Franco has been cancelled because now he'll never be able to ruin an adaptation again. Seriously, what's his problem? He's a shockingly bad director and has consistently chosen truly great novels to ruin.
for some reason i started of with blood meridian as my first serious novel. and i finally understand why people call some books a hard read.
My best guess is the Blood Meridian film adaptation will primarily focus on Judge Holden, and The Kid will primarily be the placeholder for the audience on experiencing the book's main events. But small details like the Kid hanging out with a hermit who has a particular "heart" in his possession I'm sure will be cut.
“Because there’s no fucking squid!” Best line in the video.
Take a shot every time my man says “structure”
I was just waiting for him to say Infinite Jest was unadaptable and he goes and pulls out the exact same copy paperback version that I read
I think the screenplay for Blood Meridian is already written for you. Macarthy was a genius, I think he knew full well one day somebody would turn all of his great works into films. For instance, whenever the judge is waxing poetic about lessons from history, or seemingly able to already know everything there is to know about various cultures and languages. The cinema is written in an invisible ink, up to the readers interpretation and ability to decode. A short 5-10 second shot of the judge as a younger man in the halls of some great French castle, or the great room of an adobe fortress, or alone in a dark stable stall with a candle, reading the personal accounting of Spanish conquistadors. Then a smash cut back to real time and a quick, quiet brandishing of his scars, smile, or eyes. Something to humanize him without taking away from his general villainy. His ability to not just endure but flourish in the chaos around him isn’t happen stance. The final battle at the ferry, there is so much intentionally left out of the writing, like how the judge most certainly set up the raid through some back door deal with the Indians. Chaos for chaos sake. He was bored with his long sought after feudal lordship, as a calculating sociopath would be. Maybe show a leaking bucket under an old well pump, always hungry, never satisfied. That’s why he was ready with a cannon and a big old sack of gold. Then the Indians double crossed him and he made his way regardless. I don’t know, I’ve read that book so much over the years and I always seem to come out of it with an entirely new interpretation of what is and isn’t written, and the implications therein. Some day, a mad genius will write that screen play for real, but I doubt Hollywood would let the script be turned to cinema without molestation.
I’d like to see some test scenes before I’d say it’s a non starter.
Take the “raised his hat to show the tattoo that the kid didn’t see again until they cut his body down from the tree” bit.
I could see that working if presented completely out of the blue and without comment- cut from a low angle around the campfire just as the tattoo becomes visible to a high angle looking down at the corpse for 5 or so seconds- long enough so that the awkwardness of the insert starts to work itself on the viewer before the hat comes back down and the scene reverts to the present.
Or take one of the many, many battle scenes. Shoot it following the best rules for effectively getting action across on screen- well choreographed shots that clearly show what’s going on, but with individual moments chosen to make the scene completely baffling. Show no continuity for any character, never show the kid actively participating, just being in the background moving around, just like how that one character just randomly stumbles out of a tipi with a spear through them before Glanton slowly finishes him off before asking where his dog is.
I think you could successfully impart the feeling like you just ran right into a wall constantly that the book gives you with aggressive blandness in the presentation of the imagery.
Blood Meridian is very adaptable just more as a show rather than a film. If someone sought out to adapt the released Game of Thrones novels into three films, it would have ultimately failed. The freedom a show allows give ample room for adaptation.
Make Infinite Jest into a 23 episode tennis anime and you have a winner
I've said that the Soviet director Elem Klimov would have been an interesting person to adapt something like Blood Meridian; if you've seen Come And See, it would be interesting.
But, when it comes to adaptation, I think if it was done as, I know people will cringe, a very grounded and gritty anime series, maybe ten to twelve episodes, with no ratings constraints, it could be done; it would also allow for more easily adapted seamlessly as visual poetry on screen.
Yes!!
Was thinking the same thing, glad I'm not the only one! Come And See is a very unsettling film, I'd even consider it a horror film. I think the kind of horror, and cinematography present in Come And See would work well with an adaption of BM.
Generally, despite being a western novel, I think blood Meridian could benefit from a soviet style of filmaking, that tended to be more introspective and distant than your typicall Hollywood stuff.
@@xadalau9758 Exactly my feeling; like the protagonist in Come And See, the story unfolds around the character, but you never really get to know them in detail, allowing their surroundings to dictate the narrative.
@@noheroespublishing1907 I haven't gathered enough courage yet to watch come and see, but I know plenty about the atrocities that the nazis committed against the soviets for seeing them like subhumans and wanting to take their land. And Come and See is set in that scenario and about the victimized. While in Blood Meridian we accompany the agressors, so it'd be like watching Come and See but we follow the nazis instead.
That book behind him that moved. Kinda funny.
If Naked Lunch could be adapted for film, so can Blood Meridian
Why?
Hillcoat adapting Blood Meridian is interesting. I always thought The Proposition was the closest we'd get to an adaptation. Obviously they are very different stories, but share very similar themes and tone.
I haven't read it in awhile, but the unadaptable part of the book comes from the slog of violent set pieces by the gang. Hear me out. The first half of the book is very adaptable. Watching the kid's descent into violence, parties he meets along the way, and eventually joining the gang can be cinematic. That is the narrative part of the book. Soon after he joins the gang, it becomes going to x place to commit y atrocity...over and over again. I get it, that is the meridian of blood that they are crossing. And cutting it out of an adaptation would be a disservice since that is basically the point. Gratuitous violence. You could pick out a few of those set pieces and bookend it with the demise of the gang and the years-afterward ending? I'm probably wrong and need to read the book again.
Great video, subscribed!
I hope if they do adapt blood meridian they capture the almost contemplative quiet nature of it. I imagine lots of long shots and scenes of nature.
Judge Holden can't be adapted into a film villain, but we live in a world where Caligula and Redo Of Healer are allowed to be shown on TV and DVD. Hypocrisy.
No, it's not only his violence, but also his idea of violence. Imagine a villain that was made by all the bad things that a monotheistic god eternally has in their possession. Imagine a film where there's a character explaining in detail why to inflict suffering is a noble thing to do. Imagine how a character can be so devilish that his monologue is "God is War," All servants, religious people, they will be in rage. And they will yappin like there's no tomorrow.
This book could be pure cinematic gold.
Lots of good points - one I'd add is that "structure" here should probably also include McCarthy's writing style, which redeems the violence into something incredibly meaningful and sublime, making this book what it is. In other words - I think there's something that happens specifically in words that is impossible to recreate visually.
Why I think this is worth pointing out is that it touches both on what you were saying and on the idea that the book is unadaptable because of the violence. People are not wrong when they say that, but they seem to miss your structural point :)
i’m … intrigued … to see what happens with this newest adaptation attempt, but i thought Robert Eggers would be a good fit for director. someone else pointed out you’d need to throw all marketability out the window for the film and i think Eggers has done that THRICE, but still created three incredible films because of it. his attention to detail and his breadth and scope would be great for Blood Meridian, and i’m a bit sad he’s not helming this adaptation.
I always saw the kid as shallow appearing because he was purposely detached from his actions in the book. He didn't want to dwell on the things that he's done and the people he's with.
I’d love to see a ‘300’ or ‘sin city’ styled adaptation of blood Meridian with a horror feel to it and visually stylish. It might not be perfect but I believe it could be attempted
Hillcoat has always been a good potential choice, simply due to "The Proposition". Some other directors who could perhaps do it justice are Refn, Lynch, and potentially Eggers. I also think a young Coppola could have maybe pulled it off. It'd be a pretty tall order for any of them tho.
an adaptation of Harassment Architecture would be even harder
Finally someone I agree with on the Watchman adaptation I think it makes a lot more sense and gives a better twist than the damn squid/alien thing in the comic . I always thought the ending was a bit stupid.
My favorite novel is also the most unadaptable, Gravity's Rainbow. I do kind of want someone with talent to try, but it'd be a mess. What an interesting mess it'd be
we need to clone a bit of kubrick's dna and put him to work on it
@@clumsydad7158Funnily enough, Dr Strangelove and GR share themes. Both movies explore the idea that warmongers are obsessed with sex! In GR, the rocket is like a fetishized object, a penis metaphor. In Dr Strangelove, the opening shot is, basically, two war machines having sex! Both men had similar anti establishment sentiments and they weren't afraid of presenting them in their fictional work. I wonder if the two men ever met. They'd have a hell of a lot to talk about if they did.
There are only 5 directors in this book's lifetime that should have made it into a movie. Let's get to the one who died in 1999. It's sad that Stanley never got to make a Cormac movie. Marty and Clint are both great at violence but both may be too mature to make it today. They both proved they could make unadaptable material into classics. The next one claims he's only making one more film, but man what he could do with this novel. This novel was made for his skills, and he's really, really great at violent films. That leaves the last two. They had a bit of a minor success with adapting a Cormac novel, and they were born to make this movie. I honestly don't know what's stopping them from doing it. Get off your butkus and do it Joel and Ethan.
I like Tarantino, but I think his style of humour and dialogue would prevent me from wanting to see his adaptation. He would do it his way, which isn't necessarily the right way. You're right that The Coens would probably be perfect considering their previous success adapting McCarthy. Scorsese's an interesting one considering that he has a western coming out shortly, but I just don't see him doing it. The Coens and (potentially) Robert Eggers would be my current picks to adapt it. I fear that John Hillcoat's version will end up being fairly generic, leaving us all unsatisfied, especially since people have been craving this for decades now.
I can't help but wonder what Kubrick would have made of it. He was a very philosophical man who studied themes of war and violence in isolated or chaotic landscapes.
Mel?
only kubrick could possibly do it, the rest unfortunately are too mainstream. i love no country for old men, and the coens rocked that, but that book practically was the screenplay. for BM it needs someone more way out there ... hard to fathom
I read and loved this book immensely, but I think I missed something in the story. I'll reread it one day.
I feel like a properly animated adaptation of blood meridian could make for a great, and interesting adaptation.
I actually take a stricter view of the term 'unadaptable' - I would say almost any novel, unless it's a very straightforward and simple action-driven narrative, is unadaptable in the strictest sense. But I'd also say that's fine - adaptation isn't and can't be a process of taking every element of a source text and perfectly transcribing it to the screen. It's an act of translation, and like any act of translation there are payoffs and compromises to make.
One example I would use is Cloud Atlas (which for the sake of argument I'm going to stipulate is a brilliant film). The novel was considered unadaptable largely because of its structure, and the film completely junks the structure and does its own thing instead. It finds a way to recreate the feel and import of the book without slavishly following the structure, and it's an excellent adaptation/translation. You could say the same about something like American Psycho, which deviates from the novel in a number of ways but successfully maintains the feeling and the ideas, and is a little masterpiece.
I think you're also making an unspoken assumption here, which is that 'adaptation' means 'big-budget, wide-release, crowd-pleasing blockbuster movie', which isn't necessarily the case. Under those criteria, something like House of Leaves certainly is unadaptable in any meaningful way. But I for one would love to see an experimental filmmaker like Takashi Ito adapt that book. And I'd push back against the idea that films have to have trite, easy resolutions to be successful or popular. Modern blockbusters might, but there are plenty of (brilliant, well-regarded) films around that absolutely don't.
(And on a side note, I'd definitely be one of those people who says Watchmen (2009) is a terrible adaptation, but not because 'there's no squid' or whatever. I think Snyder fundamentally doesn't understand what the book is about; he gets the visuals, and replicates them faithfully, but his handling of some of the characters and sequences is completely wrong for the material)
Great vid I enjoyed
interesting - for me it's the writing in blood meridian that is so dense and rich in parts; hard to see an adaptation that brings it all out. it's more in the literary - the actual experience of reading and the artistry of molding language, than in the broader psychological experience, at least until the dense psychology of the ending. ... off the top of my head, it seems like Suttree is the work that has more readily accessible subtext and locales that could be more easily rendered to cinema. to bring out blood meridian, it would have to be a more abstract and tangential art of interpretation - some type of odd inspiration/vision for how to translate to screen. something visceral and experimental
What about terry gilliams adaptation of fear and loathing!? The book, written by Thompson, was a complete enigma to me when I read it. The fact that terry was able to make that movie, and give it a similar feel as to the book, was simply pure genius/ or craziness, on his part.
Boils down to being unable to accurately evoke that imagery and the feeling the McCarthy creates with those little one liner bombs throughout.
If Nick Cave writes the script and Hillcoat directs it, this will be a slamdunk. I hope the psychedelic atmosphere of the novel will be upheld.
I found his sequel to Gladiator on line. I haven't started it yet, but I do know it starts with Maximus 'waking up' in the afterlife, so to speek. Eventually, the story has the spirit of Maximus reincarnating throughout history, fighting in famous battles and even turning up in WW2! Sounds wild!
I really need to read Blood Meridian. Especially with multiple people saying it is unadaptable. It must be a great book.
Its a great book but if you haven't read McCarthy I wouldn't read it first. Either All The Pretty Horses or The Road
@@ealing2009thanks for the recommendation
Good fucking luck, dude. It's written poetically and it's a fucking BRUTAL novel. It's excellent. I listened to it on audible while driving for lyft and Uber. When I finished it, I pulled over to the side of the road and thought about life, my life, and what it means for us as a species to continue into the future. This book affected me.
Yeah, I'm already on chapter 14. It's a good read.
@@oddiocurtiss i wish i could read it again for the first time
I just finished writing my first screenplay. All through out the writing process i would ask myself "should i make it a book or a screenplay?". And to this point i have never had an idea that can be strictly made in one of the forms and Not the other. Ive also never seen a a piece of lirature that can’t be adapted. It all depends on creativity and allowing yourself to stray from the source material. So this raises the question what is a good adaptation? Is a good adaptation the most faithful?>…..
Blood Meridian, for the most part, is so visual and can’t rely on dialogue or “action” (kind of horrible to think of what constitutes action in Blood Meridian), so the director really needs to have a strong visual language that at least tries to encapsulate a bit of Mccarthy’s grand descriptions. It can definitely be done, but it almost has to be a miniseries with zero content restrictions (HBO might be the only option there) and enough confidence in the audience to allow for prolonged silence and introspection. Paris, Texas meets No Country for Old Men.
Burgess hated Kubrick’s film of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, calling it “Clockwork Marmalade.” The changes to the story (the ending is changed since America’s version of the book had the final chapter removed, when Alex has renounced violence some years later) as well as the withholding of he explanation of the title, certainly annoyed him.
kind of reminds me of when they try to adapt Eragon it was nothing like the book but it captures the same sentiment
Would like to hear if you feel the same about Gene Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun.”
What makes Watchmen unadaptable it’s not its scope, violence or nuance. It’s the way it was designed, like the basis for your video, it’s the structure. In Moore’s own words, Watchmen was structured to make use of the elements only comics can offer. The best example for this is the 5th, or 6th story, Fearful Symmetry. The whole story is structured in a mirrored way that converges in the center fold pages of the comics. This even includes the reader being able to flip the pages back and forth to make the comparisons.
With that said, though, I do think Watchmen can be adapted in a very faithful way.
One just needs to take the elements in the story that are inherently linked to comics language and change them to film language.
I think the adaptability of books is determined by logistics rather than themes. Films and shows are especially expensive and time-consuming to produce. Not much is lost when a book fails. But when a movie fails, you will more than likely lose millions. This is why most studios prefer to make dozens of sequels, prequels and reboots each year. They’re not going to risk millions of dollars on a movie about a gang of violent sociopaths.
The stand tv movie series I thought did it well. 1984 has a couple good movies. Really want to watch the catch 22 series. Is that good?
I'm always confused when graphic novels are called "unfilmable" or unadaptable. I mean, its basically a storyboard right? All the content is right there. All the visuals and camera angles are right there.
Ive never read infinite jest but for some reason it was in my head as unadaptable. Will read when i find it at goodwill
It's worth taking a look at!
Yeah. I agree with you. I mean… you could make a movie based on the plot and fill in some of the landscape scenes but it’s a futile effort to a certain degree because so much of the great parts of the book relies on it being a book.
Word by word, phrase by phrase you’re sifting through and trodding over every rough jagged shard of stone and rough oblong of pumice and through all the acrid smoke and stink. And you’re looking off into the horizon at that blood red sunset or ominous thunderstorm. And you’re bleeding. And hungry. And sucking on a pebble to stave off thirst for even an hour more.
And it’s largely because of the author’s skill in economy of diction and efficient use of contrasts that the whole thing is held together and is compelling.
Nolan is my pick to adapt this novel. Momento is my case and point
There is no requirement that every successful novel be made into a film.
The structure of Blood Meridian is literally this happened and then that happened and it was like trying to eat icecream in hell or something yada yada
House of Leaves can never be adapted to the point that you have the same feelings you get from reading it. Makes me sad as it is my favorite book of all time but you are correct.
I've always wanted to see a House of Leaves movie and Miramax had plans to make a movie years ago but as you mentioned, it's pretty much impossible.
Wheel of Time would have been adaptable while Robert Jordan was alive.
Really good vid👍
I will never understand why authors allow their works to be made into movies. They are novels, not screenplays. Just write a unique movie. I don’t know of any movie adaptations that are better than the book. I tried to watch Game of Thrones, but stopped after a few episodes. I read the books so I knew what would happen and it wasn’t interesting. My imagination is far superior than the studio sets, which were laughable. Why do they use ruined castles in these shows? The castles would not be ruins. I don’t watch many movies, but I don’t see how this book could be made into one. I think the violence would be the issue even though I guess they show terrible things now a days, but I don’t watch that stuff. If they are faithful, then the scenes of violence would be too overwhelming and people will wonder if they are watching a horror movie. The scene with the dead babies in the tree comes early and I don’t see that going over well with the public. I hope no one makes this movie. It was also extremely surreal and would have to be filmed as such. Kind of like the new Dune movie with it being so atmospheric.
Great video
Often Dune is cited as unadaptable- I typically agree. Lynch did his best and the new one I actually love. But neither are remotely close to what reading dune is like