On Stories in Film

The maker of the film version, however, apparently thought this tame. He substituted a subterranean volcanic eruption, and then went one better by adding an earthquake. Perhaps we should not blame him. Perhaps the original was not 'cinematic'.... But it would have been better not to have chosen in the first place a story which could be adapted to the screen only by being ruined.... There must be a pleasure in such stories distinct from mere excitement.

—C.S. Lewis, On seeing a film version of King Solomon's Mines

Nothing is more disastrous than the view that the cinema can and should replace popular written fiction. The elements which it excludes are precisely those which give the untrained mind its only access to the imaginative world. There is death in the camera.

—C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: On Stories p17.
Posted by Tim at 11/03/2009 04:12:00 PM
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1 comment:

  1. Unknown11/07/2009 07:48:00 PM

    Written as an author, for sure. But of course he is correct, as film is an entertainment media and literature transports the reader to other worlds, sometimes entertaining along the way. Strong words, too, 'death' in a camera. But does the untrained mind capture the elements of the written word anyway? I'm not really sure the camera is that different from the pen. Its the creative and inspired design of each that makes the media soar!

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