Change of emphasis

Today, during Reading Hour, I finished The Group by Mary McCarthy. It was the fiction work among the five books I’m currently reading. I vaguely remembered watching the 1966 film years ago but I’d never read the 1963 book. And I’m so glad I did. What an amazing book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good read.

In celebration of finishing the book, I decided to look for the film. I found it on Amazon Prime so decided I’d watch it tonight as a sort of comparison. I wanted to see what kind of adaptation it was, given I’d only just finished the book.

I’m glad I did, however, I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the film.

Obviously, I realise that there’s only so much one can do when limited to 153 minutes but, to my mind, the adaptation took an amazing novel and turned it into something else. It’s advertised as a social satire which I think demeans the true depth and strength of the original work.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think anyone can do whatever they like when they decide to interpret another work. The thing is, there’s lots of works that show the world as it’s shown in the film and not enough that show the world of the novel.

According to McCarthy, the book was not a feminist work rather, she was more interested in equality and saw her novel as taking that stance. Regardless of that, her characters seem to be constantly battling against the patriarchy, so I can understand the feminist adoption of the novel.

Interestingly, The Group film was adapted, directed and produced by men. I’d be very interested to see a female film version of the book because I think it would be decidedly different. Actually, what I’d love to see would be a TV series based on The Group adapted, produced and directed by Jenji Kohan. Now that would be brilliant.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the film. My enjoyment was probably mostly because I knew the story and the lives of the women in the group in a lot broader sense than the film shows.

As a footnote, apparently Candace Bushnell was asked to write something that updated The Group. She came up with Sex in the City.

PS: Last week, in Amsterdam, I had an Indonesian meal and reported that the last time I’d had one was on an early trip to Brittany. Well, I’ve found the post. It was in 2003, and it’s at the end of this post.