She Geek Critique – Enlarging the Universe

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you know how I feel about creators messing with their creations after the fact. (I sort of went off a little on a certain comic book icon and a particular movie director about this.) I am of the opinion that once your creation is released to the world (no matter what form it takes), you should let it be appreciated for what it is and not try to meddle with it. Over the past few months, however, some changes have been announced for a couple of iconic works. 

The first I found out about was for The Handmaid’s Tale. With news that a show was in the works (it recently premiered on Hulu), there was increased interest in the novel (ok, that plus that current state of political affairs in the US leading people to reading more dystopian fiction). It was announced that a new audio version of the book would have additional content at the end that would provide more detail for the conclusion and themes of the story. I’m not positive how I feel about this, as I like the sudden conclusion to Offred’s tale and the reveal at the end of the novel. However, this additional content has been written by Margaret Atwood and directly addresses tyranny, a focus that many have gravitated to the novel for.

The other “enhancement” relates directly to the television version of one of my favorite books, American Gods. This is another show that has recently premiered (on Starz) and has brought enough attention to the original material that there is now a comic book series for it too. The change made in this instance is to add a new god to the mix who was not in the novel (for those who have not read it, the basic plot involves new and old gods walking the Earth, battling for supremacy). Vulcan is based on the Roman god of fire and metalwork – he is presented as, essentially, the god of guns. Neil Gaiman came up with the idea based on personal experience during a road trip. Knowing the source material, this addition makes sense. The story is set in the US and, considering the prevalent gun culture, this god fits in perfectly.

There you have it. Even I am willing to admit that, on occasion, changes to source material can work. Of course, these two recent examples are additions to the original stories that flesh them out more. Obviously I’m still not ok with messing around with what’s already in place.

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