The monster in the mirror
In this meta-media world, stories weave in and out of different mediums such as a comic book turning into a film with the greatest of ease. In the process, childhood stories are reinvented, reimagined, beefed up, and turned upside down. The result is that a story imagined by the original writer on print becomes a completely original animal when translated into a Wii video game or maybe even an online TV show. This unique experience occurs because each medium creates an avenue for the story to go along its own path and become its own beast.
This holds true for Dave Egger’s The Wild Things, the screenplay adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, about a boy with a wolf-skin costume named Max who runs away from home to become the king of Monster Island. The children’s book took a somber turn as envisioned by Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze last year. Egger’s version acts a bridge between Sendak’s cartoony illustrations and director Spike Jonze’s indie-emo grainy-film feel. And as a bridge, The Wild Things evolves into its own creature. As Sendak’s version was a cutesy homage to a child’s imagination, Eggers layers maturity into the tale by adding details about Max’s life (such as his separated parents) and grounds the characters with real-life emotion. The (very short) kid’s book isn’t nearly as emotionally charged as the visually arresting film, which lays out Max’s tantrums or the island monsters’ mood swings with a “take it or leave it” approach. In print, readers can imbibe the details and emotions as easily as something Max or any monster could digest. It becomes much harder to portray the humanity of the characters beneath all the fur. Max becomes less spoiled and a bit more likeable as you begin to see the source of all his angst.
In the company of beasts
Yet, this book isn’t all about angst. A literary classic, it’s resonated with kids and adults for 47 years. Mostly a picture book, many see Where the Wild Things Are as a tale about how people choose who they are and the company that they keep. As much as the world pushed Max into becoming a spoiled devil, the choice was always his, as he puts on the wolf costume and howls out in the streets. In choosing to be a wild creature, Max also chooses to discover an island of beasts — a place he feels he might belong. Eggers depicts and defines these gruesome creatures as hungry inside and out. These beasts hurl screeching cats at one another, try to eat each other’s limbs, kill or munch anything that gets in their way. Internally, they fester with an insatiable void that only a monster might, and are always wrought with anxiety or jealousy over Max’s attention.
Soon, Max learns that it isn’t so pleasant to be with monsters, that it’s better to be one with others. He soon wises up and leaves the island — thus engaging us with a tale on how “like attracts like.” If you are emotionally insecure or prone to tantrums, you’ll soon be on a cruise to an island similar to Max’s. So, The Wild Things teaches us that you can‘t blame life for the people that you surround yourself with. It must start with the monster in the mirror. First, choose the creature that you want to be and similar creatures will gravitate towards you.
Max’s Island
As you experience The Wild Things, whether it be Sendak’s, Eggers’ or Jonze’s version, the story takes on multiple meanings in each form as you reread or rewatch it again. The power of a literary piece such as Sendak’s story remains the way it resonates from reader to reader. On Max’s island, there is much land to explore. And if you do pick up the story in whatever form, I hope you sail back to it again and again to look for personal nuggets of wisdom, as I have.
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The Wild Things by Dave Eggers
Available at Powerbooks
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E-mail me at readnow@supreme.ph.
