Did I hear Richard say in the interview sound clip currently playing in this blog's sidebar that it would make him happy if someone wrote a sequel to North & South? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDhm4AwCx8
I think he said he wouldn't be surprised if someone wrote a sequel. (Probably a fanfic) The interviewer extrapolated that he would be happy for the extra work. It took me awhile to figure out how to use the player as it is a bit small, so difficult to see the proper buttons to click. But it works fine! Interesting interview! Thanks for that.
phylly3, do you agree that the writer who wrote the screenplay for N&S and added the most memorable scene(the train station) could most likely write a wonderful sequel?...seems to me Elizabeth Gaskell would feel proud and happy if that excellent female writer did pursue John, Margaret & Hannah into part II of their fascinating lives. So many questions to be answered...who attended the wedding? did Hannah live with them? how many children/grdchildren? Did the mill thrive and expand in order to provide financial sustenance for the next generation of Thorntons? Which child had the drive to fill John's shoes?...possibly their oldest daughter? who, if tradition was followed, would've been called Hannah as well. etc etc etc
From what I've seen of Sandy Welch's work, she might be able to do it. However, I hate to see RA in a sequel. As a rule, I hate sequels. They are almost never equal to the original much less surpass it because expectations are usually unrealistic. But more importantly, there is a synergistic magic to great pieces that should preclude them being, er, shall we say jacked with, i.e., if a little is good a lot is not better.
Frankly, I can only think of maybe two sequels off the top of my head that are better than the original: Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back. There may be some others, but that's all I can think of. Everything else seems to be not quite as good or very inferior.
All that aside, I don't think he would do a sequel because he seems to understand that it's better to leave audiences wanting more, and it's unlikely that would be the case if a sequel were done. Better to leave it alone so that it always remains a topic of fascination and discussion, which is exactly what I think he was participating in with the interviewer and nothing more.
3 comments:
I think he said he wouldn't be surprised if someone wrote a sequel. (Probably a fanfic) The interviewer extrapolated that he would be happy for the extra work.
It took me awhile to figure out how to use the player as it is a bit small, so difficult to see the proper buttons to click.
But it works fine! Interesting interview! Thanks for that.
phylly3, do you agree that the writer who wrote the screenplay for N&S and added the most memorable scene(the train station) could most likely write a wonderful sequel?...seems to me Elizabeth Gaskell would feel proud and happy if that excellent female writer did pursue John, Margaret & Hannah into part II of their fascinating lives. So many questions to be answered...who attended the wedding? did Hannah live with them? how many children/grdchildren? Did the mill thrive and expand in order to provide financial sustenance for the next generation of Thorntons? Which child had the drive to fill John's shoes?...possibly their oldest daughter? who, if tradition was followed, would've been called Hannah as well. etc etc etc
From what I've seen of Sandy Welch's work, she might be able to do it. However, I hate to see RA in a sequel. As a rule, I hate sequels. They are almost never equal to the original much less surpass it because expectations are usually unrealistic. But more importantly, there is a synergistic magic to great pieces that should preclude them being, er, shall we say jacked with, i.e., if a little is good a lot is not better.
Frankly, I can only think of maybe two sequels off the top of my head that are better than the original: Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back. There may be some others, but that's all I can think of. Everything else seems to be not quite as good or very inferior.
All that aside, I don't think he would do a sequel because he seems to understand that it's better to leave audiences wanting more, and it's unlikely that would be the case if a sequel were done. Better to leave it alone so that it always remains a topic of fascination and discussion, which is exactly what I think he was participating in with the interviewer and nothing more.
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