I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I'm something of a zombie afficionado. I've seen most of the great zombie films - and quite a few of the not-so-great ones, as well. I have a bookshelf that has two full shelves of zombie literature. Without a doubt, the crown jewel - the piece de resistance, if you will - would have to be Max Brooks' sprawling epic, World War Z: The Oral History of the Zombie War. It's fantastic. More than a simple zombie book, it takes a global scope and really shines a light on the human condition - how do we react during periods of unrest? The conceit is that the novel doesn't really have a main character - the narrator (Brooks himself, ostensibly) travels the globe, interviewing various people and recording their memories of the great zombie war, some ten years after humanity had 'won'. The result is a series of vignettes that piece together a sprawling epic that is, at times chilling, believable (especially by genre standards) and utterly human. The book is as much about humanity as it is about zombies and it's written with incredibly-intelligent prose.
I've read it cover-to-cover five times and every time I read it, I love it all the more. Forget zombie novels, it's my favourite novel, period. I'm something of a Patient Zero in that I have lent my copy out to five different people now and each person who has read it has been similarly amazed (two even bought their own copies).
So, suffice it to say, I'm a bit of a zealot.
When word first came out in 2009 that Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio's production companies were engaged in a bidding war over the rights to Brooks' novel I was both excited and terrified. I was excited because the idea of a big-budget, globe-trotting zombie epic would be the be-all, end-all, 'I can die a happy man' sort of once-in-a-lifetime (or so I thought at the time) deal. Simultaneously, I was terrified, because there was the very real potential of Hollywood fucking up this perfect, beautiful little thing that I loved so dearly.
Keep in mind, this was somewhat ahead of the curve in terms of zombies in mainstream culture. The Walking Dead wouldn't premiere on AMC until the following August (at which point the genre officially exploded - now we have zombies on TV, zombies in music, zombies that fall in love, etc.).
Eventually, Brad Pitt won the bidding war and early reviews of the first-draft of the script (as written by J. Michael Straczynski) were unanimously positive.
I was excited.
Then, word came out that they brought in another writer to change the script in a bid to make it more 'filmable' (which, in my opinion, was bad news because the book as it was essentially was 'unfilmable' (at least not in one movie), so this had to mean they were "Hollywooding" it up a bit).
I was terrified.
Then, MORE re-writes - this time, from Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof (whom I loved from LOST and the Star Trek reboot - and at this point I hadn't yet experienced the disappointment that is Prometheus.)
I was excited.
Then came words of endless re-shoots, release delays and, finally, a trailer that showed ... *gasp* ... FAST zombies. ... Who are JUMPING. ... And creating a literal MOUNTAIN of writhing, CGI flesh that was trying to climb over the (extremely mild spoiler here) Israel defense perimeter. In short, the trailer made it appear that the film was everything that I feared it would become. A dumbed-down, over-simplified, Hollywood version of my favourite novel of all-time.
I was inconsolable. I ranted on Twitter. I cursed Brad Pitt's name. I even spat on my DVD copy of The Curious Life of Benjamin Button. (I don't actually own that movie)
Early reviews started sneaking out and they were, surprisingly, quite positive. I'm not going to say I was emboldened, but I began to take notice again. The reviews were quick to warn you that the connection to the source material was scant, at best, but the film was an enjoyable zombie epic. Given that I had decided to shut up and give Max Brooks my money (through residuals, anyway) the moment the movie deal was signed, my mind was set. I was *going* to see this movie.
I saw the film today and it was a perfectly serviceable - indeed, even enjoyable - zombie film. If it had been called 'Brad Pitt in "Global Zompocalypse"', I might have really loved it. But, alas, it was called World War Z, and I'm stuck here, two hours after the film, ranting on the internet about 'what might have been'.
But the purpose of this post isn't to post a ranty review on the many things they did wrong, or the numerous things they could have done differently to make the film more closely resemble the source material. What I'm trying to say here, in my own, convoluted way, is that geeks, as a general rule, are passionate people. We unabashedly *love* certain things - love talking about them, love sharing them with our friends, love debating-minutiae-until-we're-blue-in-the-face about them.
But we're also fiercely protective of these things we've come to love. I've long argued that the Hipster is an offshoot off the genus, 'Geekus Sapien'. Think about it - they love music and hideous clothes almost as much as we love zombies and sci-fi. They'll debate the merits of their favourite band with anyone who'll listen, ad nauseam. But what really connects us here is the need to brag about how long we've been 'into' things. Seriously, I know a few people who've actually said, "You think the TV show is good? I read Game of Thrones when I was in tenth grade!"
As for me? "I liked zombies before they were a thing. Now everybody's all about them. I bet they've never even read Wellington's Monster trilogy. Pfft."
Here's the thing, though - we're going to have to get used to this. Hollywood is going to stripmine our beloved franchises and turn them into bastardized, Hollywood versions of themselves as 'geek' is now bigger than ever. As ironic (see? hipster) as it sounds, all of a sudden we're cool. We run shit. We're a target market. The biggest show on TV is a drama about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. A-list stars are actually asking for roles in a new Star Wars film. Joss Whedon is the most sought-after director in Hollywood. Tyrion Lannister won an Emmy, for pete's sake (well deserved, too, I might add).
It's a brave new world, but we're going to have to get used to giving up control of these things that we hold so dear. It's scary, I know. I have a couple of friends who have the same sort of trepidation towards the new Ender's Game movie, starring Harrison Ford, that I had regarding World War Z. To them, I can only say, I feel your pain.
But the bottom line is this - even if Hollywood cocks it up, in no way should it change the way you felt in the first place. That comic book, series of novels, etc. is still just as incredible as it was the first time you read/watched/played it. Dig it out, devour it, savour it again, pass it off to a friend.
And then hit the internet and debate the hell out of how much better the book was than the movie.
What I'm Playing:The Last of Us on PS3
What I'm Reading:100 Bullets - vol. 13 (Azzarrello / Rizzo) (The end of a truly epic series. I can't wait)
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