The Changeling, Entry 2
Aug. 25th, 2023 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
goatgodschildGone to Earth is the most Changeling work I have been through, or at least most tied to my perception of the Changeling. I can well understand how Webb was hugely popular at the time, and how her stories (like Kingsley's political writing) dropped off the map. The reason these immediately tie together in my mind is their shared imagery of the fox-hunt, displaying it as the ultimate destructive example of how squires (and, by extension, the upper class) treat the lower classes and the land they are sworn to protect.
The film and book diverge the most with the character of Reddin. Quite frankly, the book has an approach to sexuality, and even gender, that I don't know if a mainstream film made at the time could have pulled off. Or, well, the film that the filmmakers wanted to make. I'm not going to call Gone to Earth equivalent to Some Like It Hot (not to mention, the latter came out almost a decade later), and Glen or Glenda is closer to grindhouse or outsider art than anything else. The book is allowed to be more explicit, although it's still "1917 non-porn" explicit. But it's definitely unsettling in a way that's very similar to Tess of the D'Ubervilles, where the rapists can make your skin crawl over a century later (horror lasts longer than sexy, I think -- for all its impact, Las-Bas is more of a reference than something that's actually sexually appealing).
Gone to Earth (1950) is, in my opinion, a very good film, and the alterations/direction choices fascinate rather than anger me. In 1950, the highest-grossing film in English was still Gone With The Wind, and the film often seems like an attempt to make the film into a lower-budget British version of Gone With the Wind. From the change of hair color and style to the way Reddin is played, it seems like there was an attempt at that from behind the scenes. At the same time, it was also seen as being so incredibly (rural) British that it was apparently recut for a USAian version not long after. Which also makes sense, because the accents are especially noteworthy, and may be nearly extinct in the wild. It's easy enough to locate a clipped posh accent, or standard London, but the wording and stresses in Gone to Earth are definitely region-specific (this is less significant in the book, as written accents are common throughout Isles writing).
In the book (as the narrator almost relishes in stating), Reddin is a pathetic piece of work, a forty year old manchild and almost wholly incapable of love. His family home is falling apart and he seems to take as little notice of that of anything else. Scenes with him feel like a cross between dealing with an abusive boss/creepy teacher, and that one roommate/boyfriend everyone seems to have had in their lives, who somehow got old enough to drink while not otherwise changing from who he was at 13. It is Hazel that allows him to feel something resembling love, although it is mostly based around confusion. In the movie, however, there's a very different base character concept at play, especially given that Reddin is played by David Farrar.
Now, you should always get your Clark Gable at a reliable breeder of Clark Gables. Farrar played bad boy antihero sex magnets (especially in Black Narcissus, which had only been a few years prior), and so it seems like it would make him a good Clark Gable type. In Black Narcissus, he's a mountain man tempered and tempted by the world around him, his will rubbing up against that of the sisters. In class and behavior, he comes off as an early sketch of Han Solo, the world-weary traveler drawn to the fiercely determined princess. But the essential adhesion point between the love interests in Gone With the Wind and Black Narcissus are absent in Gone to Earth. Sister Clodagh and Scarlett O'Hara are determined, ambitious, sexually engaged, and willing to be jerks to get what they want. Meanwhile, both in book and film, Hazel is most certainly not those things.
The film and book diverge the most with the character of Reddin. Quite frankly, the book has an approach to sexuality, and even gender, that I don't know if a mainstream film made at the time could have pulled off. Or, well, the film that the filmmakers wanted to make. I'm not going to call Gone to Earth equivalent to Some Like It Hot (not to mention, the latter came out almost a decade later), and Glen or Glenda is closer to grindhouse or outsider art than anything else. The book is allowed to be more explicit, although it's still "1917 non-porn" explicit. But it's definitely unsettling in a way that's very similar to Tess of the D'Ubervilles, where the rapists can make your skin crawl over a century later (horror lasts longer than sexy, I think -- for all its impact, Las-Bas is more of a reference than something that's actually sexually appealing).
Gone to Earth (1950) is, in my opinion, a very good film, and the alterations/direction choices fascinate rather than anger me. In 1950, the highest-grossing film in English was still Gone With The Wind, and the film often seems like an attempt to make the film into a lower-budget British version of Gone With the Wind. From the change of hair color and style to the way Reddin is played, it seems like there was an attempt at that from behind the scenes. At the same time, it was also seen as being so incredibly (rural) British that it was apparently recut for a USAian version not long after. Which also makes sense, because the accents are especially noteworthy, and may be nearly extinct in the wild. It's easy enough to locate a clipped posh accent, or standard London, but the wording and stresses in Gone to Earth are definitely region-specific (this is less significant in the book, as written accents are common throughout Isles writing).
In the book (as the narrator almost relishes in stating), Reddin is a pathetic piece of work, a forty year old manchild and almost wholly incapable of love. His family home is falling apart and he seems to take as little notice of that of anything else. Scenes with him feel like a cross between dealing with an abusive boss/creepy teacher, and that one roommate/boyfriend everyone seems to have had in their lives, who somehow got old enough to drink while not otherwise changing from who he was at 13. It is Hazel that allows him to feel something resembling love, although it is mostly based around confusion. In the movie, however, there's a very different base character concept at play, especially given that Reddin is played by David Farrar.
Now, you should always get your Clark Gable at a reliable breeder of Clark Gables. Farrar played bad boy antihero sex magnets (especially in Black Narcissus, which had only been a few years prior), and so it seems like it would make him a good Clark Gable type. In Black Narcissus, he's a mountain man tempered and tempted by the world around him, his will rubbing up against that of the sisters. In class and behavior, he comes off as an early sketch of Han Solo, the world-weary traveler drawn to the fiercely determined princess. But the essential adhesion point between the love interests in Gone With the Wind and Black Narcissus are absent in Gone to Earth. Sister Clodagh and Scarlett O'Hara are determined, ambitious, sexually engaged, and willing to be jerks to get what they want. Meanwhile, both in book and film, Hazel is most certainly not those things.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-28 07:09 pm (UTC)I kinda...have no idea what's going on with the accents in the film. Obvs in British cinema, the accents are very important markers of class & character, but I think Hazel's accent and behaviour is communicating rural more than a specific place. I still haven't finished the book but I remember thinking, oh wait is this Wales? *checks wikipedia*
> It is set in Shropshire around Long Mynd and Wenlock Edge.
ok then. oh wait, Shropshire is right next to Wales and Long Mynd has a Welsh name. So yeah, my guess is the actress is doing An Accent rather than caring too much about specifics. I suppose the 1950s is just before the 1960s trend of social realism/kitchen sink, plus actual working class actors and musicians breaking through.
I've not seen *Black Narcissus* for ages, but that is a good thought.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-28 10:08 pm (UTC)