I have often written in the past about how I don't like dramatisations of books, as the
dramas tend to leave out many things, primarily the motivations for various
events happening. One of the most egregious examples of this was the film
version of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'; the novel was hard enough to understand (at first) whereas the film left out
so much that it was almost impossible to understand.
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This is not the case with the television version of Nick Hornby's novel 'Funny Girl', renamed as 'Funny woman' that was recently shown on one of Israel's television channels. There is a great deal left out of the book - the television series covers
only the first quarter of the book - but it doesn't matter too much, as the
series reinvents itself and creates a new story in some places. This is
possible because the book itself doesn't have much of a plot, and so an
alternative version of the story is possible.
The book is about a working class young woman from Blackpool in the early
1960s, a time when prejudice was rife. It was enough to be working class
or a young woman or from Blackpool to be derided but having all
three was a real handicap. This young woman, the eponymous funny girl whose
name is Barbara, wants to become a comedic actress and is actually very good
at it, but standing against her are all the above prejudices (and probably more).
Whilst the first episode of the tv series is not far from the original, from
hereon we enter a parallel universe. The obvious advantage of a tv series is
that it is visual, as opposed to a book where one can only imagine how
the scenes play out. Thus we see several episodes of Barbara (now known as
Sophie, playing the part of a woman called Barbara) acting in her television
series - these are mainly invented. The various questions about the sexuality
of the (fictional) series writers are barely posed. Barbara's agent appears
much more in the tv series than in the book, probably because he is played by
an unrecognisable (but superb) Rupert Everett, and the agent's wife is played by Morwena
Banks, who wrote several of the episodes. Social commentary about the swinging
60s is translated into having Barbara's room-mate (whom she leaves quite
quickly in the book) becoming a member of a womans' group who are early women
libbers.
On the other hand, two musical jokes - one about having Jimmy Page recording
the theme tune for the series and one about meeting Keith Relf (both of these
people were in the Yardbirds, although in the book's timeline, Page has yet to
join) - are missing in action, and probably rightly so.
If one considers the tv series to be inspired by the book and not a
dramatisation, then it is very successful.
The
wiki page
on the novel quotes The Independent criticising the change of focus in the novel, stating "it's a shame that Hornby
abandons his funny girl halfway through for more of his hapless
men".
I think that this shows a lack of understanding: the book is about changes
that occurred in the swinging 60s. Just as the fictional room-mate becomes a
women's libber, in the book one of the series' authors becomes an outspoken and militant
homosexual writer, and one reads about his trials and tribulations.
Final note: once again I am amazed at how many of Nick Hornby's books have
been dramatised. The only major work that has not yet appeared on the screen
is 'How to be good'; this is not surprising as this is a very atypical work by
Hornby. I remember remarking to a friend after having read this book that I
was surprised at the depth of the book and that Hornby took the trouble to write it (there are also some connected jokes in the book - a sly reference to a character in Hornby's "High Fidelity").
This day in history:
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 383 | Lucerne log (2) | Holiday, Switzerland | |
| 1050 | Room hiring service design | Programming | |
| 1327 | Swimming pool reopened | Swimming, Covid-19 | |
| 1409 | Bish-a-lu-la | Kibbutz |
Current weight: 80.4 kg!
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