I remembered an experience today while trying to consider Frankenstein in the light of remix. Y'all remember how I HATE Charles Dickens? Well, a remix (in a sense) almost persuaded me to give him another try a few years ago.
Two or three Christmases ago, a friend persuaded me to go with him to see the Jim Carrey version of A Christmas Carol. I remember not being overly excited, as the movie's trailer made it seem like just another goofy Jim Carrey movie with hijinks but not much substance. In addition, I knew the basic story (who doesn't? It's kind of like Jekyll and Hyde or Frankenstein; part of the culture even if you've never read it) and wasn't interested in learning more.
I was very pleasantly surprised. Instead of just a goofy kids movie, it was an adaptation that (I think) really tried to stay true to the spirit of the book; including the much darker parts. What delighted me most was the dialogue. I loved how things were said in this movie, and I could tell that they were using Dicken's own writing (because no one write prose that amazing). One line in particular stood out to me as being just brilliant:
""You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you[!]" (emphasis added)
The dialogue (MUCH more than the story itself) got me interested in giving Dickens another try, specifically in this book. I wanted to hear/read more of his brilliant and witty prose. So, I downloaded the free audiobook and gave it a try.
So I guess the value of this "remix" for me was rediscovering a well known story in a new (for me)
way.
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