Read the ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde finally. Partly because I’m not sure if I’m going to wind up going to see the new film of it. But also because I’m trying to develop a project linked to Gothic literature, so felt I should try it.
I realise that may go down as heresy, but I wasn’t that impressed. Firstly the character of Lord Henry Wotton may be very quotable as a stand-in for Oscar Wilde. But such a ‘Mary-Sue’ character does rather weaken the dramatic weight of the story. The best sections are Dorian’s thoughts before sliding into decadence and debauchery. But it does feel a weakness that there is so little comment on the lack of his aging after 18 years. It also does feel like a cop-out that one of the characters threatening Dorian gets shot by accident in a hunting trip. As a companion piece to ‘The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, it’s interesting, but of itself, it has less weight then it has been given.
I also saw in the news that Disney is to buy Marvel comics. On one hand this looks like a good deal. Disney gets the characters it can apply major marketing force to. Marvel gets some security.
On the other hand, the rights to all the films, are with different studios, so the legal paperwork could take a while. Even if this does get sorted out, there is no guarantee that there will be a flood of films. Warner studios own all the DC heroes, but Batman seems to be the only they can make work on screen. Superman and Wonder Woman are stuck in development hell.
Also this may wind up being like Touchstone pictures and Miramax for Disney. Part of the studio, but kept separate so they don’t all have to be family entertainment. Let’s face it, the majority of the Marvel superheroes have backgrounds or personal problems that don’t seem in keeping with Disney.
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