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Annie Proulx's still pissed...
SFEnnisSF:
I wonder what her reaction would have been if she'd had let Gus Van Sant do Brokeback Mountain a la "My Own Private Idaho" style... I bet her head would have spun around when she saw the finished product. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: sfericsf on May 05, 2009, 11:04:32 am ---I wonder what her reaction would have been if she'd had let Gus Van Sant do Brokeback Mountain a la "My Own Private Idaho" style... I bet her head would have spun around when she saw the finished product. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
--- End quote ---
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Imagine someone like Keanu Reeves as Ennis. ... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
--- Quote from: Kelda on May 05, 2009, 04:28:38 am ---Like Paul said whatever happened to Annie's statement about "finishing the story..."?
--- End quote ---
Well, but "finishing the story" is one thing. Telling an author he or she should have written an entirely different story than he or she wrote is quite something else.
As Annie essentially says, she didn't set out to write a story about two gay cowboys in love. She set out to write a story about homophobia.
I think it's interesting that she seems in particular to single out the "moving-on Ennis" genre of fanfiction for her authorial indignation. :-\
--- Quote from: sfericsf on May 04, 2009, 11:22:17 pm ---It's about how her audience interpreted the story in their own ways. She deliberately left "open space" in the story for it to be interpreted by the reader. And now she's upset with some of the interpretations. Why should they bother her? Yes, the reader got initially what the story was about. They read her work. IMO, she should be grateful for that.
But because a few folks took their interpretations a few steps further than how she would have, she now condems everybody and the whole story and wishes she never wrote it? Oh come on, what a temper tantram fit for a bitchy drama queen!!
I actually feel kind of insulted by her. She first gave us this gift of a movie that touched us all (in many different ways, as she intended it to with her "open spaces") and now she wants to take it all back from us? I used to have respect for her, but now I think I just wanna bitch slap her... OMG lady, let it go...
--- End quote ---
I don't think she's complaining about people "interpreting" her story; I think she's complaining about people more or less telling her that she got her own story "wrong," that she should have created an entirely different work of art than she did (that is, she should have written a story with a happy ending). And telling this to a writer who is a Pullitzer Prize winner. ... ::)
And I think you misspoke yourself, Eric. I'm sure you meant to say that Annie Proulx gave us a story. Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana, and Ang Lee gave us a movie.
If anybody has any doubts, my sympathies are entirely wtih Annie. I could wish she were a little less cranky about this, but she is who she is.
Shakesthecoffecan:
"Sometimes the cart gets away from the horse—the characters outgrew the intent. "
Yes, Ms. Proulx, they do. I think that is exactly what happened here. The film uses the tag line "...a force of nature". That is how I see it. We all have our expectations and feelings on Jack and Ennis, and certainly being the one who gave life to them she should be first in line to voice hers.
The truth is, they have trancended these expectations, they have crossed over into the world of folk figure. Paul Bunyan started with someone telling a story, Jack and the Beanstalk did too, and they were expanded upon time and again by different tellers, giving their spin on things. The story of Jack and Ennis is no different. I tend to think she should feel honored that her characters would achieve such status, but she is her own person, filtering things thru her own experences and prejudices and I don't befund her for what she is feeling. I probably would feel the same.
Mikaela:
--- Quote from: southendmd on May 04, 2009, 10:40:25 pm ---This interview is a rehash of her earlier "pornish rewrites" rant.
Anyone who's read Annie knows she's not big on happy endings. However, having written the story, with all its ambiguity, and the nerve she struck in so many people, she'll just have to get used to the fact that, although she "owns" the characters, Jack and Ennis now belong to the world.
It's bigger than her. Of course people get that it's about homophobia. It just doesn't end there. It's a springboard for all kinds of things.
--- End quote ---
I agree with this and with Amanda's posts here on this thread.
I am still surprised that this is Annie Proulx's reaction to having struck a nerve and managed to reach so many people with her story. People *do* get that BBM is about homophobia, - those who write "happy ending" stories are stating that they wish homophobia was a thing of the past, or a thing of less impact in society - and they use two beloved characters to make that statement and to show how a society and a relationship possibly could be, if and where this alternate development had occurred. Granted, I'm sure, some of it is poorly written and some of it is "porn without plot" - but at least she's inspired a reaction from readers who do not just shrug and go on without caring.
I'm of course not disputing that she has copyright to her story and its characters.
And I can very well see how she could be extremely annoyed by fanfiction being sent her - especially if they say "here's what you should have written" which I somehow find it difficult to believe that many people actually would be dumb enough to tell her to her face. She doesn't have to read it though, or even glance at it - and how does she know the senders are who they claim to be anyhow?
I don't think adding to a story, making up scenes, thinking out alternate endings is anything new. I bet everyone including Annie Proulx has done that when they read a riveting story. Doesn't everyone do that? From they're quite young? Even if they don't put the stories on paper/screen and don't write fanfiction?
I remain surprised at the way she dislikes readers with "strong fantasy lives". The story is ambiguous, and deliberately so - there are lots of open spaces for interpretation. One such interpretation is Ang Lee's film.
IMO fanfiction is another way of interpreting and discussing an author's story and its characters. Nobody (I think) will write fanfic about characters and plots that leave them profoundly indifferent. It is because she's moved people deeply and stirred emotions that a number of readers use this way of working through their feelings and opinions. Even if some readers aren't very verbal or choose unfortunate ways of expressing their admiration. I think it wouldn't hurt her if she was gracious enough to consider this, and to let be, let be.
She's created a story and two characters for the ages. They've taken on lives of their own. Many authors go their whole life without achieving that. I wish she could be proud of it, and not so annoyed with everything that follows.
Also I wish she could find it in herself to be less publicly dismissive of her readers' ways of expressing their feelings, their interpretations and - ultimately - their gratitude.
serious crayons:
I can see where getting deluged with fanfic mail -- some implying that "this is how the story SHOULD have gone" -- might become annoying, but it's highly ungracious to make such a big deal about it, IMO. As others have pointed out, she can simply choose not to read it.
And it seems odd to be so outraged that the characters you've created are beloved and have touched a cultural nerve. Are William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, L. Frank Baum, Margaret Mitchell and Gene Roddenberry all turning in their graves about the liberties others have taken with their characters and stories? If Annie Proulx gets this much unwanted feedback from fans, imagine what George Lucas must have to endure!
FWIW, the Paris Review was founded in Paris by Americans, including George Plimpton. It's now based in New York and is written and edited by English-speaking writers.
Somebody needs to buy the rest of the article so we can see whether she says anything more on the subject, possibly in a more positive vein.
Mikaela, your post came in while I was writing, and I see you have expressed some similar thoughts.
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