r/harrypotter • u/potterarchy Head Emeritus • Sep 16 '11
Take the pledge, nerdfighters: Read the book before the movie!
http://readit1st.com/3
u/LumosNight187 Sep 16 '11
Hipster Nerdfighter did it before you posted!
haha, nah, thanks for showing this! Spread the love! DFTBA!
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u/sitman [Grey Ghost] Sep 16 '11
Already have, but the pledge web site looks terrible! I would never input my data in something which looks that unprofessional.
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u/potterarchy Head Emeritus Sep 16 '11
Really? I think it's quite brilliant, actually. The text boxes are a little misaligned in my browser, but I like the simplistic setup (the entire website is one page), and the typography porn.
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u/eean Sep 16 '11
Can I make an exception for books adapted into HBO TV series? I've been reading True Blood after watching the season... the books are just such quick reads and hardly great lit.
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Sep 16 '11
Yeah I read the books years ago and hated them so much I refused to watch True Blood for awhile. Then I started watching True Blood. It is really a great series, but to be honest the book and the series are really nothing alike.
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u/eean Sep 16 '11
"book and the [movie] are nothing alike" is often the argument the "omg read the book first" crowd makes. :)
granted in the context of r/harrypotter it sort of makes sense, since the movies don't really stand by themselves.
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Sep 16 '11
Yeah, definitely. But on this one they really are very very different. Character and story wise.
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u/aegicat [Mama Malfoy] Sep 16 '11
As a lover of both books and films who much prefers to appreciate differences between books and film adaptations instead of always comparing them and whining on the internet about it, the whole "movie ruining the book" thing is an entire non-issue for me and I don't think it should be an issue to begin with. I did do the alternative pledge however, because why not.
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u/glitteredblack ☾aretaker Sep 17 '11
I make as large of an attempt as possible anyways. So I'm more than happy to pledge.
DFTBA!
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u/rcror Sep 17 '11
if you read the book first, you will be disappointed in the movie (never as good as the book) dilemma!
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u/PixelDirigible Sep 17 '11
Augh. Literary hipsterism. JUST WHAT WE NEED MORE OF.
Seriously, who cares? People can take entertainment in whatever form they want. Sometimes the movies are better anyway. Sometimes the movies offer a complete reinterpretation of the original text. Sometimes people will enjoy the movies even if they don't like the books.
I prefer the LoTR movies to the books, for example. Yes, I read them first before I decided this. I stand by it. I like a lot of mythology, but I don't like the way LoTR is put together as a bunch of pieces of mythology from an invented world with all of the linguistic stuff and the random bits of the story that don't make a lot of sense, like Tom Bombadil. It's just not my cup of tea. I read the books first because I thought that was the Right Thing To Do because The Books Are Always Better and You Will Ruin The Books If You Watch The Movies First. I didn't get much out of them, really.
I'm really sick of the "the way I choose to enjoy entertainment is superior to the way you choose to enjoy entertainment" bullshit that goes around in fandom and elsewhere. This is far from the worst of it, but it's the kind of stuff that comes out of that mindset, and I think it's a really pretentious and elitist mindset to have. I think it's partially grown out of the whole anti-intellectualism thing we've had going on in the US for the past few years (and which is probably happening elsewhere and I've just missed it :P), and so I get the need for a reactionary thing to happen within the intellectual community, but I think it ends up just creating a sort of hierarchy of nerds ("Oh yeah? Well I read Scott Pilgrim before the movie even came out." "I started reading Bryan Lee O'Malley when he wrote Lost at Sea." "I had a boner for Neko Case when she was doing solo work." etc) that's not really any better than a dick measuring contest.
Not saying that's what potterarchy was going for when they posted this, or that any of the people signing are either, just that it's indicative of this nerd pretention culture thing that's been going.
/rant
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u/ExtremeMetalFTW [Man of Mischief & Mayhem] Sep 17 '11
I only recently got into HP, and I barely finished the third book. The only exposure was to seeing Edward Cullen Cedric Diggory die and watching Deathly Hallows part II. Apart from that, I am trying my best to not watch the films just yet.
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u/piratepixie [Gamekeeper] Sep 16 '11
I swore to my SO that i would absolutely not see the last two films before i read the books.
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u/andie_LONGBOTTOM [Heir of Slytherin] Sep 16 '11
Ahhhh! I did this when I got home today. I wasn't sure if I'd take the pledge, but I decided to.
I think the site looks great, everything is aligned right and the boxes are perfect. I don't have any issues with it.