Savage Popcorn

Orson Scott Card has published a blistering article in the Rhino Times (via) which takes apart JK Rowling’s legal claims against Steven Vander Ark and the Harry Potter Lexicon.

Card points out that authors use each others ideas all the time and, while the Lexicon may not be scholarly, it certainly falls within the realm of scholarly comment. He also hits the nail on the head in pointing out that Rowling has let herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity, one that she had actually made use of herself during its web incarnation and now.

Her case will probably fail – it certainly deserves to – and once the dust has settled Rowling is likely to discover that she has irretrievably damaged both her reputation and her career. And all for the sake of some small book that wouldn’t have had even the most minor impact on her income.

Update

JK Rowling could learn something about artistic professionalism from Sylvester Stallone who said (via) of Son of Rambow: “The fact that it was so heartwarming is the result of brilliant filmmaking by its creators.”

James Graham quotes the Evening Standard as saying:

The Harry Potter series is one of the most derivative works of fiction ever devised, from its boarding school setting (The Four Marys, Billy Bunter), magical theme (too many to mention) and even its plot (drawing from the same well as Star Wars and even The Matrix). He isn’t even the first fictional English boy wizard with spectacles and a pet owl, as fans of Neil Gaiman’s Books of Magic will testify.

None of this is to deride J.K. Rowling’s genius for taking hoary cliché and making something new out of it, but perhaps one would have thought it would have given her a more enlightened view regarding intellectual property law. The Harry Potter Lexicon is clearly a blatant cash in but one which will only promote her original books. If she wants to produce her own, more authoritative encyclopedia, no one is stopping her.

In any case, existing copyright laws mean that while the strikingly original and iconic Alice in Wonderland books became public property 50 years after Lewis Carroll’s death aged 65, Harry Potter will be owned by Rowling’s estate for 70 years after her death. The state of modern medicine and her millions mean that she is likely to survive well into her 90s. I don’t begrudge her money, but I do have an issue with her great grandchildren continuing to rake it in during the 2120s.

Neil Gaiman’s take on the whole issue is worth reading in full.

My main reaction is, having read as much as I can about it, given the copyright grey zone it seems to exist in, is a “Well, if it was me, I’d probably be flattered”, but that obviously isn’t how J.K. Rowling feels. I can’t imagine myself trying to stop any of the unauthorised books that have come out about me or about things I’ve created over the years, and where possible I’ve tried to help, and even when I haven’t liked them I’ve shrugged and let it go.

Given the messy area that “fair use” exists in in copyright law I can understand the judge not wanting to rule, and assume that whatever he says the case will head off to the court of appeal.

My heart is on the side of the people doing the unauthorised books, probably because the first two books I did were unauthorised, and one of them, Ghastly Beyond Belief, would have been incredibly vulnerable had anyone wanted to sue Kim Newman and me on the grounds that what we did, in a book of quotations that people might not have wanted to find themselves in, went beyond Fair Use.

Wagner’s Ring cycle - “The Ring of the Niebelung” - has been described as one of the most enduring of operatic spectacles. This collection has brought together writings on the Ring and includes articles by George Bernard Shaw, Georg Solti and Andrew Porter, excerpts from Wagner’s own letters and works and discourses by over 30 other writers. Covered is the tetralogy of the Ring - “Das Rheingold”, “Die Walkuere”, “Siegfried” and “Goetterdaemmerung” - in essays on Wagner’s intention, the theory behind it, its interpretation, artistic backgrounds, historical influences, literary sources, musical architecture, modern stagings, the “Ring” in English and various styles of performance. The book is designed to serve as an introduction to the “Ring” as well as a companion to fans and performers of Wagner’s operas.

Now go to Amazon.co.uk and check out the customer reviews.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

- Douglas Adams

30 years and two days ago, the first episode of the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy radio series made its début (via). The radio series led to the book, the TV series, a game and – eventually – the film.

So raise a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster to the late Douglas Adams for 30 years of some of the smartest and most timeless comedy we have seen. And then consult your Guide to locate the nearest voluntary organisation to help you rehabilitate afterwards.

According to Variety (via), Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp has bought the film rights for a long-running series of graphic novels, Les Adventures Extraordinaires d’Adele Blanc-Sec and is planning a three-film adaptation of the series. They’re not hanging about either - the first film is scheduled for a 2009 release.

There are currently eight graphic novels in the series, the first five of which are also available in English. They are set in Paris in the years before and after World War I and revolve around the eponymous heroine - an investigative journalist - as she researches and encounters the mystical world of crime. That’s villains and monsters - what more could you want?

It certainly sounds like a very cinematic concept and, accoring to the Wikipedia: “Themes of the occult, corruption, official incompetence, and the dangers of patriotism suffuse the series.” Which makes it sound all the more intriguing.

The films will be worth keeping an eye out for. In the meantime, I shall attempt to hunt down the books.

I was under the impression that it was just bonkers fundamentalists that had a problem with Harry Potter, but it turns out that the Catholic Church is now trying to get in on the act. The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, has called the teenage boy wizard “the wrong kind of hero” and condemned the books for posing a danger to children by promoting witchcraft and the occult. Damian Lanigan gets it right:

Like all ideological organisations, the Catholic Church specialises in finding ideology where it doesn’t exist. It is addicted to turning works of art into politics, because it the only role it sees for art is as a means of glorifying its beliefs. It can’t seem to make the basic distinction that just because a book is about the occult and witchcraft, it doesn’t mean that the book supports the occult and witchcraft. Does any sane person think that J.K. Rowling is trying to recruit children to occultism? Or that she’s a witch? But ideology needs ideological opponents - and preferably in the guise of a conspiracy theory. What Ratzinger meant when he used the term “subtle seductions”, is that “you can’t see these seductions, but I can”. It’s the classic strategy of the conspirator, from Torquemada to David Icke.

I’ve already noted that Harry Potter has much more to say than the rather dated superstions favoured by the big religions. And it’s the fact that they are wholly irrelevant to the lives to more and more people that is the real cause of the Church’s concern - and all the ranting about “subtle seductions” won’t change that in the slightest.

Sci-Fi Wire is reporting that Peter Jackson has settled his differences with New Line Cinema and will executive-produce a two-part adaptation of The Hobbit. The two films will be shot simultaneously with New Line managing their production.

The same site is also reporting that Sam Raimi is expected to direct the film which is expected to start shooting in 2009. The first film should come out in 2010 and the sequel in 2011.

While it is nice to see Peter Jackson back in the Tolkeinesque loop, and while I do think that Sam Raimi could do a lot with this, I can’t help wondering whether The Hobbit really needs to be split into two films.

I’m a bit late with this one, but couldn’t leave it unremarked. The bad news is that Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed (via) with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The good news is that he is in no immediate danger and work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals.

According to Filmstalker, Guillermo del Toro is set to adapt David Moody’s Hater in which society panics as people become violent killers without warning or reason.

Society is rocked by a sudden increase in the number of violent assaults on individuals. Christened ‘Haters’ by the media, the attackers strike without warning. Their attacks are brutal, remorseless and extreme. There are no apparent links between the Haters or their victims and no obvious reason for their violence. In seconds rational, controlled people become vicious killers. Everyone - irrespective of race, gender, age, sexuality or any other imaginable difference - has the potential to become either a Hater or a victim. This is a terror which knows no boundaries. You can no longer trust anyone, no matter how well you think you know them. You can no longer trust yourself. By the end of today you could be a killer. By the end of today you could be dead.

With Del Toro’s involvement, this could well be one to watch out for.

A week after the the Turkish government announced plans to relax the notorious Article 301 of the country’s penal code, some prosecutor has decided that it’s never too late to try and make a name for himself by censoring something. The target this time around is Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.

Publisher Erol Karaaslan said today he will be quizzed by authorities in Istanbul on Thursday. A successful prosecution could land him a year in prison, Turkish newspaper Milliyet is reporting.

The book went on sale in June and the investigation was launched after one reader complained that it insulted his “sacred values.”

Of course, we’d all be a lot better off if this lonely indiviudual replaced his “sacred values” with rational ones.