It's true, in film we're often distracted by pretty period costumes. But in literature it's more a matter of the different writing style of the period, which I don't find distracting because I've read so damn much that the only time the language distracts me is when it's either really bad or I'm having to translate it into English. Or when plot points are so obviously lifted from other works. The fact that the love triangle in Water for Elephants (which isn't a very good novel to begin with) is lifted from Styron's Sophie's Choice (crazed Jew + lapsed Catholic + naive bumpkin) really ruined it altogether. Which is why I have to write a novel. If a book that bad can make money, I'm sure I can, too, especially when it's so much easier and more lucrative now with on-line publishing.
I don't mind Hugh Laurie's accent, either, because it really is good. If it weren't, I would mind it a great deal. You make an excellent point, that had he kept his British accent his crankiness might very well have been attributed to his origins rather than to any peculiar quirks within the man himself (who is so, so quirk-filled that he makes the series worth watching). Under those circumstances, his British accent would have very much been a distraction from his characterization.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 07:12 am (UTC)Bitch. ;-D Now stop teasing.
It's true, in film we're often distracted by pretty period costumes. But in literature it's more a matter of the different writing style of the period, which I don't find distracting because I've read so damn much that the only time the language distracts me is when it's either really bad or I'm having to translate it into English. Or when plot points are so obviously lifted from other works. The fact that the love triangle in Water for Elephants (which isn't a very good novel to begin with) is lifted from Styron's Sophie's Choice (crazed Jew + lapsed Catholic + naive bumpkin) really ruined it altogether. Which is why I have to write a novel. If a book that bad can make money, I'm sure I can, too, especially when it's so much easier and more lucrative now with on-line publishing.
I don't mind Hugh Laurie's accent, either, because it really is good. If it weren't, I would mind it a great deal. You make an excellent point, that had he kept his British accent his crankiness might very well have been attributed to his origins rather than to any peculiar quirks within the man himself (who is so, so quirk-filled that he makes the series worth watching). Under those circumstances, his British accent would have very much been a distraction from his characterization.