(via Chattaway’s FilmChat.) Now Disney’s meddling with the Hundred Acre Wood and replacing Christopher Robin with at 6-year-old girl, because Christoher Robin “just wouldn’t sell.” I need to find something to quit so I can say “I quit!” in protest. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)The Art of Adaptation Walt Disney Winnie the Pooh Related Specials: David Brooks on "Munich." Plus, NY Online Critics' Awards, LA Critics' awards.Amy Wellborn on the Narnia Film
I heard on the CBC Radio a week ago that there once was a letter from Lewis where he was describing how he could never see Narnia as a film, but possibly as a cartoon. What struck me was, that he said if it was a cartoon he would not want Disney to do it.
Think he’s rolling in his grave?
That’s my freakin namesake…..
I don’t know what to think. My reality is shaken!
Robin Christopher?
what, are boys not allowed to have imaginations now? (of course, i never really got into the whole teddy bear thing. nor do i think i would want my son to play w/ teddy bears, but that’s neither here nor there.
the thing is, winnie’s massively popular still, esp w/ the teenage (Urban, btw) girls i work with. i could see why disney would want to tamper w/ it. just, they shouldn’t.
Re: the Lewis letter, I comment on that a bit at my blog. He didn’t exactly say that he didn’t want Disney to do it; while he was opposed to a live-action version of the Narnia books, he was open to the possibility of an animated adaptation, and as far as Uncle Walt goes, Lewis simply said, “if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!” This was in 1959, the year that Disney’s Sleeping Beauty first came out.
Of course, for better and for worse, the Walt Disney Company today is not at all the company that was personally overseen by Walt Disney himself. So who knows what Lewis’s preferences would have been if he had lived this long.
You asked for it!
Edward Hirsch
Li Young Lee
Anne Sexton (particularly The Awful Rowing Toward God)
Mary Oliver
Richard Wilbur
David Citino
Jane Kenyon
Hey! Those are MY favorite poets. Don’t know why the comment turned up anonymously.
Beth, you’re right… now I’m kicking myself. Li Young Le is amazing, Anne Sexton is even better than the Peter Gabriel song about her (and I LOVE that song), Mary Oliver makes beauty look so easy, and Jane Kenyon was, well… a blessing.
That’s Coca Cola, by the way. The soft drink. Not to start any unwarranted rumors.
A great list from everyone, a few even I hadn’t heard of and that is rare. Here are good ones to top it off
Donald Hall
Jane Kenyon
Taha Muhammad Ali
Galway Kinnel
Adonis
Pablo Neruda
T.S. Elliott
Check out Lion Sun by Pavel Chichikov. He’s one of my favorite contemporary poets. His devotional poetry is absolutely brilliant. He also did a whole series of pieces based on etchings by Goya. You don’t have to view the etchings as you read, but it don’t hurt! Go here:
http://www.homagetogoya.com/
And I really love the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Czeslaw Milosz
William Blake
Some of Denise Levertov’s religious poetry is really wonderful. (And some of it falls flat. I like her regardless, though she had her off days!)