Peculiar Peculiarity within Tim Burton's Peculiardom

Picture taken from Pinterest

I have one golden rule when watching a book adaptation: never compare the movie with the book. Treat them as separate entities.

Paulo Coelho said once that "A book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader." And of course, considering that ourselves are the best director/casting director/animatronic artist/composer in the world, we will almost absolutely be disappointed if we compare the book with the movie.

So far, only two book adaptation movies really disappointed me: Eragon and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

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First, let me just say that I'm heartbroken. Tim Burton is definitely one of my favorite director. And the fact that he cameo in the movie is awesome at the very least. However, even with all that awesomeness (added with the fact that Eva Green makes the hottest headmistress EVER), I still couldn't bring myself to like the movie.
 
Why, you say? I think it's mainly because I feel that the movie reduced a whole lot of elements in the book. The complexity of the plot, character, and even the peculiarity is reduce to a point that is almost nonexistent; which is pretty much depressing.

The book itself tells a story about a boy coping with traumatic loss that sends him to a roller coaster ride among the peculiar community, dragged into a generation-long war he didn't even know existed, until he finally realized that he is way more that he has ever think he was (and that he actually have a long lost crucial role to play in the peculiar community). Of course, the realization only came to him through a tumultuous hardship, as all good realization should be. The movie? Well, it's more of a classic boy-meet-girl story with a twisted twist.

All in all, the movie reminded me off this awesome
Venn diagram by The Oatmeal.

Second: characters. Some major characters got lost in translation. Olive is no longer an elderly women with elderly wisdom trapped in the body of a child. She is a mere lovestrucked teenager with pyrotechnic. Emma is no longer tormented and confined by her potentially destructive power and the fact that she is in love with both Abe and his grandson. She is Alice on shrooms. Enoch is no longer a sadistic necronomancer slowly growing his conscience with every step of the journey. He is a stupid and jealous teenager with the ability to bring toy story to life. The twins is no longer one conscience painfully ripped apart in two bodies. They are medusa offsprings who don't actually need to be twins for their peculiarity to work. Even the remains of Victor are reduced to ventriloquist's doll. And not even the scary ones like the one in my old Goosebumps book.

To be fair, both version of Miss Peregrine is a bit of a tyrant. But in the book, she is genuinely loved and needed by the peculiar children. Not a sexy-ghastly-and-slightly-OCD version of Hitler.

The conflict within the peculiardom itself is reduced significantly. The minorities' struggle for power inside the peculiardom that lead to the apocalyptic explosion that lead to the birth of abominations known as hollowghast that (given consumed enough eyes of peculiar children) turned into wights were lost; and replaced with a simple lab experiment went wrong. 

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Moreover, I got a sense that the movie is more like a culmination of Tim Burton's work rather than an adaptation of the book. The scenery inside the loop instantly takes you to Underland. Emma reminds you a lot of Alice (even her goddamned clothes has similar pastel blue hue). Miss Peregrine has to be the offspring of Mrs. Lovett and the white rabbit (I'm surprised that it's not played by Helena Bonham Carter). The hollowghasts are clearly Jack Skellington ver. 2.0 (now with added tentacles!).

Monologue With My Devil

"Hey!"

"Hey there!" 

"You don't seem surprised to see me."

"Can't say that I do. You're always appear right around this time." 

"And what time is that, may I ask?"

"When I'm happy." 

"Aaah..."

"What? No protest?" 

"Well, that's sort of kind of true, isn't it?"

"Yes it is." 

"You know it's necessary, though."

"What? For you to drag me down when I'm standing tall?" 

"For you to not go in over your head."

"What does that supposed to mean? Are you saying I shouldn't be happy?" 

"I keep you grounded."

"You make me doubt myself." 

"You're always free to ignore me."

"How can I, when your presence is so thick?" 

"You can try."

"Hhh.. I have the feeling that ignoring you will only make it worse." 

"You seem so sure."

"I speak from experience." 

"It's better this way, right?"

"I guess. There's no way for me to get rid of you, right?" 

"Haha.. Not a chance!"

"I thought so." :)

Nove Novembre

John Glenn once said "There is no cure for the common birthday." (Thanks, Quote Garden!). No matter what we do, we are socially obliged to go through the day that marks another one of our 365 days journey under the sun. At first we are keen to welcome it. Up to a point, you just no longer give a shit. After all, it's just another day in your seemingly unending collection of days. Alas, society (and facebook) will always remind you how supposedly special the day is.

Don't misjudge me. I hove nothing against birthdays. I don't mind getting older, nor do I mind celebrating it. It's just the way it is.

Anyway, this birthday I feel particularly on a reflective mood. So I thought to myself: "Why don't you just write a little bit about how last year's has went?" Then I replied: "You know what? That is actually not a bad idea." So, here are some highlights of last year in my life.

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New Job
I landed myself a new position last year. A change that happened on the perfectly right moment, as I started to feel stagnant in my previous position. The new post allows me to learn new things, experiment, and interact with people. After a year, I still think that this new position has a lot of new challenges to offer. Plus, I got to go to new exciting places and meet with amazing people all over the globe.

Scorpio, by Agnimaya

Losses
Last year, far too many people--good people--died. Some of them I know personally, others are second-degree acquaintances, and the rest are just people I know from a distance. Last week another one of my friend died due to unanticipated reason. We were not that close, but I know him well enough. He's a truly kind and generous soul. I was kinda surprised how affected I was by his death. I guess it really bothers me. How people you love can be easily taken away from you in a heartbeat. I really don't like losing anyone. Especially if I cared about them deeply.

L'amour
After my breakup last year, a lot of people are advising me to not be traumatised about relationship. How I should not be afraid to fall in love again. Well, they are wrong about two things. First, I was never in love with my ex. Of course I loved him, but it was merely a bond formed due to comfort. Although sounded very much bitter, I realised this when I truly examine my relationship in retrospect. Second, I was never traumatised. I just don't post every single encounters I have in facebook. All I can say is that currently, I'm truly happy. And if you don't know why, that just mean I don't like you that much to share my story with you.

Expectations
Sometimes I wonder, when people you care about said that they are worried about you, is it really you they care about? Or is it just their reputation and how people perceive them when they see you? I hate that these expectation put a strain on my relationship with my loved ones. I hate the fact that they don't even bother to ask whether I'm happy before stating their concerns about how I should live my life. I hate the fact that I don't know how to make them understand my feelings and choices.

Karma
Karma has been especially blunt with me this year. I've seen people who hurt me received payback (instantly, without me even wanting it to happen). And on the other hand, it has taught me several lessons. The hard way. I guess I realise now that I should never be so quick to judge what people do. No matter how despicable. I understand now that everyone's story is different. And most of the times, they are incomprehensible to others. At least I try to.

Friendhip
I love my friends. Now more than ever. No further explanation required. 

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Enough rambling. All in all, it has been a good year. I can only hope the next will be better and better.