I went to see The Hours yesterday before coming home to not watch the Super Bowl. I have not read much, if any, Viriginia Woof. I have certainly not read Mrs. Dalloway or the source for The Hours, but I find myself wanting to do so. A suggestible response perhaps, but there have been recent adapted movies I have seen, which did not prompt me to explore their inspirations. The last two have done so, however…
My other recent movie outing would have been Adaptation. That one too has provoked a desire for me to seek out and read The Orchid Thief. Both of these movies gripped me from the first frame and held me through the musically enhanced credits. Their power to grip me might have something to do with this urge.
Mostly, though, I am fairly sure the provocation stems from how neither of these movies held my hand. Neither of them were spoon feeding me the ideas from their inspiration, but rather, they invited me inside their way of view the source works. I was hoodwinked (in a good way, of course) into forgetting that I had not read either of the books in question. I was allowed to glimpse the feelings I might have were I to read either of them. I was given a small gift.
Now, whether I will end up reading either of these texts is an unknown at the moment. I feel coaxed into doing so, but in such a wonderfully particapitory way that I would not feel cheated. I usually feel foolish when the urge strikes me to cater to the whims of Hollywood, but perhaps not this time.
