6 Classics Despised by the People Who Created Them
Despite their creations remaining celebrated to this day, some people live out the rest of their days hating the things they made, sort of like George Lucas and the Star Wars Christmas Special, or Leonard Nimoy and that hobbit song.
But it's not just embarrassing YouTube-fodder that makes creators wish they'd never set pen to paper. It even happens with works that are considered classics, like...
#6.
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee's 2005 film was both a commercial and critical success, going on to win three Academy Awards and its rightful place in history as the definitive movie about gay cowboys in Wyoming. Meanwhile, the collection of stories it was based on by author Annie Proulx was nominated for a Pulitzer.
We found these when we were cleaning up the office.
So it's surprising that Ms. Proulx has repeatedly told interviewers that she wishes she'd never written it.
Why She Regrets It:
The reason for her bitterness is Brokeback Mountain fanfiction.
And this. Mostly this.
According to Proulx, since the release of the movie she has been inundated with alternative scripts, sequels, sexually explicit retellings and "fixes" that change the ending of the story so that the two star-crossed cowboys end up together. And unlike most fanfiction writers, who tend to keep their habits confined to niche message boards, Star Trek web rings and other shame ridden corners of the Internet, Brokeback Mountain fans apparently like sending their work directly to the author's address.
"After the lightsaber fight, Jack and Ennis have sex on top of a Diplodocus."
Surprisingly, Proulx says most of the fanfiction is written by people claiming to be straight males. So ladies, now you know what your boyfriend is doing on the laptop late at night when he claims to not be looking at porn.
What a relief.
#5.
A Clockwork Orange
The violent dystopian film A Clockwork Orange remains one of Stanley Kubrick's best-known works. In the U.S. it was nominated for several Oscars, but in the UK A Clockwork Orange was withdrawn barely a year after its general release. It never came out on video there or aired on television, and 20 years later the ban was still strictly enforced to the point that a London cinema was sued by Warner Bros. for screening the movie.
The theater owners were then savagely beaten by Malcolm McDowell and tossed into a river. But that probably would have happened anyway.
A Clockwork Orange only became widely available in the UK after Kubrick's death in 1999, ending a stream of furtive trips to France for young British hipsters. In a bizarre twist, the man behind the ban was Kubrick himself, who used his high standing with Warner Bros. to get them to voluntarily withdraw the film.
However, Eyes Wide Shut is still readily available.
Why He Regretted It:
The film appeared at an unfortunate time in British history. Crime rates were on the rise, and several lawyers defended their clients by saying they'd been driven to rape and violence by emulating the hero of Kubrick's film.
Hundreds were killed while riding bombs under similar circumstances.
According to Kubrick's wife in an interview after his death, his family also began receiving numerous death threats. Hurt and appalled by the public reaction and concerned for his family's safety, Kubrick made a personal request to Warner Bros. that they withdraw the film and they obliged.
Now that we mention it, Anthony Burgess, the author of the book the movie was based on, didn't think much of the movie either (Kubrick chopped off the book's happy ending where the protagonist straightens up and realizes the error of his ways), and hated the additional attention that it brought to a book he wasn't crazy about himself.
"Seriously, you people are basically paying for my farts."
#4.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
In most people's minds Alec Guinness is Obi-Wan Kenobi. But despite gaining eternal nerd worship and a percentage of future Star Wars earnings for his role (thus making him rich for life), Guinness wasn't a fan of the character.
In his autobiography, he mentions a small child coming up to him and saying that he'd seen Star Wars 100 times.
And that little boy became Harry Knowles! Probably.
Guinness replied that he'd give the kid an autograph if he promised to never watch the movie again and the boy burst into tears.
The only thing he hated more than Obi-Wan was children.
Why He Regretted It:
When it came to Star Wars, Alec Guinness pretty much filled the role of a snooty British person. He called the movies "banal" and "mumbo-jumbo," and would throw out Star Wars-related fan mail unopened. Guinness also claimed that it was his idea to get Obi-Wan killed off because he wanted a smaller part.
"F#@king swing the lightsaber, Alec! Fight back! Do something! Ah, f#@k it!" - George Lucas
That's right, one of the most tragic and mentally scarring scenes from your childhood came about because Alec Guinness thought George Lucas was a talentless hack.
First off David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will go batshit insane if you approach them with hero worship for Mulder and Scully unless they are specifically doing an event (ie Comic-con for the latest crap out of a movie they are in) I am a HUGE x-files fan, it was basically my religion for 9 years, but knowing what I know about how they react to random idiots drooling over them for those roles, I wouldn't dare start a conversation with that if I got to meet them.
ReplyThat being said, if they were NOT cast in those roles, David would still be doing soft core porn and Gillian might not even have ever been on TV. What has she done that is so damn remarkable before or after? Yes she is talented and very attractive, but who would have discovered her?
Now I respect their right to hate the drooling stalkers and fanatics, which is why, like I said, I would not bow down at their feet talking about XF no matter how much I wanted to. But a HUGE part of my thinks it's total BS to HATE the reason you are famous, the reason you get to write books, movies, plays that actually get attention, the reason why people want to care about you in the first place. I understand it sucks to be typecast (but in David's case only, what other kind of person is he really suited to play? That horrible douche). Even if you do HATE the characters that made you famous, put on a s**t eating grin, accept the praise, don't egg the fan on, and move on with your f*****g life. Or at least treat the fans with some semblence of decency. They are the reason you are held in such high regard (at least 90% of the reason) cause if none of us responded to your show the way we did, you would have been cancelled in season 2 (if you were that lucky) so STFU and deal with it.
BTW this opinion I hold applies VERY MUCH MORE to actors than to writers. And I mean PURE actors, not the talented ones who can do a lot more. Or the ones who have a genuine love for the craft and just all around hate the fame that comes with it and not just one specific character they have played (ie Hugh Laurie....that magnificently talented walking sex machine of a man)
I personally can feel for the writers where their crappiest work is their most popular. I have written some EPIC fan fiction to pass the time while I work on original stuff for publication and the ONE f*****g STORY I HATE THE MOST has the MOST people praising it and demanding more. It irritates the f**k out of me. I constantly find myself calmly thanking them for the compliments but also having to remind them that the story is over and there will be no more. I never outright BASH them or insult them, but it pissed me off to NO END!
Been telling people about #2 for years. Now maybe I can get them to believe me.
ReplyIt made my heart bleed =(
Alec Guinness foresaw Jar-Jar.
ReplyI think Obi-Wan's death was one of the best plot points in Episode IV. It's funny how in hating the project, he improved it.
And in reverse, how Lucas' dedication to the project murdered it.
Err... Can something qualify as a classic when it has only existed five years from the date the article was written?
ReplyWell, the book was published in 1997. So 15 years ago.
So, she created a holiday and was then angry that people sold holiday related stuff to make money. That's almost like making a movie and then getting mad because the theater sells over priced candy to people going to see it. Objectively it does kinda suck, but it pretty much goes with the territory. You can't swim without getting wet.
ReplySo the chick that created Mother's Day got pissed off because the country started celebrating Mother's Day? What the f**k exactly was she expecting to happen, the whole country was going to spend the day driving to Mom's house to give her a hug?
ReplyWhat a bitch.
Alec Guinness never liked watching himself on screen. Not many actors do.
ReplyThis is really misleading... Kubrick didn't despise Clockwork Orange, he just despised the violent reaction to it, and felt that he needed to pull it from circulation to prevent further violence.
ReplyI always knew Alec Guinness wasn't a nice person. You could tell even from his very early movies.
ReplySo trying to help a boy overcome an unhealthy obsession makes one an asshole? I commend you on your ability to read someone's character from roles he or she has portrayed.
what about Garfield?
ReplyThis article has taught me a valuable lesson: If I ever become talented at anything(at all), I will not ever do a job related to the lamest pocket of my profession for money, or as a gift to a small child. That might be the only thing they ever remember me for.
ReplyI found Episode 2 to be the most inferior of the series.
ReplyI knew that Guinness hated Star Wars but I never knew about him making the kid cry. That is so wrong it's hysterical!
A poster made this comment earlier: Empire Strikes Back was the best film of the entire series because of the lack of Lucas' involvement in the script and direction. Lucas is an ok idea-man/visionary I guess (considering he's surrounded by dozens of talented people) but when it comes to the *soul* of a movie, the plot, the characters, he's utterly clueless. I give you Episode One.
Replyf**k you Phantom Menace is awesome
Actually he had a great deal of involvement in the script.
I would date someone named Christopher Robin. I think it's a sweet name.
ReplyStar Wars is overrated.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesThere I said it.
Eh, in general, I feel "X is overrated" translates to "I don't like something and it's not because people have (and are allowed) different tastes, but because everybody but me is a drooling idiot". Usually. In this case, I'll have to agree.
Star Wars is still a great trilogy. However, the segment of the population that find it life-altering is ... profoundly disturbing. Otherwise smart people doing really stupid things for a movie that those involved with grew tired of. I guess we're all vulnerable to memetic behavior.
Honestly it's the music that's life altering, without the music it's just a f*****g s****y sci fi.
I Agree with DeadlyGrim too, Star Wars is a bit overrated.
Brokeback a classic....? When did the word stop having any neaning at all?
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesAround the same time you learned to spell meaning.
Oh knock a typing error, much better than arguing the point
Ditto for Star Trek as well. The what, 20 or so, TV series and movies are, for the most part, pretty good sci fi entertainment, but the unbelievable extremes which some of the fans go to are ludicrous. I don't think the whole concept could ever be considered "bad" by any reasonable objective observer but I could totally understand how the insanity of some of the fan base would turn people away from it.
I used to be neutral toward Brokeback Mountain, but now I absolutely despise it because of the author's attitude. Being a writer myself, I think a writer that hates his/her own work is revolting to me. She should count herself lucky she even got published instead of whining about the bad fan fiction she gets in her mail. And she pretty much dug her own grave when she let her book become a movie. Was she genuinely surprised when Hollywood destroyed it? Well that makes her bitter AND stupid. You made your bed, Ms. Proulx, now sleep in it.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesAs for Guinness, um, you accepted the role, you prat, and it made you financially secure for the remainder of your miserable life. You were the one who decided money was more important than your self-righteous pride. The same goes for Milne. He could have let those Winnie-the-Pooh books crumble into dust with the rest of his son’s childhood but once again, the money was just too enticing.
Adams’ mistake was based more on stupidity than greed. Photographers should always assume that their pictures can and will be taken out of context. Heck, there’s a whole genre of magazines that take every picture they print out of context. (cough, tabloids cough, cough)
And mother’s day might have become commercialized, but what isn’t? NOTHING. People who genuinely care about their dear mothers will still treat them with love on this day and every other day of the year, even if they buy a mass-produced card. It’s still the thought that counts.
That's everything I have to say. Hope you enjoyed my rant.
Is it windy on that tower top?
Damn, you're pessimistic. Your entire rant basically boils down to "If you create something successful, you shouldn't be surprised when it gets s**t all over and you should be happy and like it because at least you're not in the shithole everybody else is in".
So, how about this? I hope you create a work of some sort that gets popular. Really popular. Brings you money, too. And then you start getting fan letters from people who loved absolutely the wrong part of your work. They loved the sadistic, serial killer villian and want to marry him (and go into absurd detail about it). The completely replace the moral with one that's completely stupid and write manifests about their idiotic interpretation. Hundreds - thousands - of letters each day. Your friends stop hanging out with you because they don't want to be seen with you. Well, except the friends who now want to loan you money for unspecified reasons. You try to get away from it all, moving away, out of the limelight, only to find the fans looking through your garbage and trying to break into your house to wear your clothes. Your wife can't deal with the stress and divorces you, taking the children with her. You try writing a different story, but nobody will publish it because they want you to keep writing that super popular story that made you famous. In the end, the stress gets to you, and you commit suicide by downing a bottle of painkillers and alcohol. As the life slips away from you, you know that the only thing you will ever be remembered for is the thing that you hate the most about your life.
Enjoy.
They don't make glasses to correct foresight. In each of the above cases, the peoples' creations took on a life of their own; they can't be blamed for what happened.
@deadlygrim....did you seriously just come up with that whole hypothetical scenario where the guys life falls apart because he gets too much fan mail?! Holy crap! Hed be so rich he could just hire someone to burn it all daily! THERE. CRISIS AVERTED. Thank me later.
I gotta agree with cerulee....people that are making millions from their work and are complaining about getting too much fan mail that they dislike...well thats just ridiculous.
I agree about the "Brokeback Mountain" author. Unlike Alec Guiness, who probably got "WHOO! OBI-WAN!" shouted at him every time he left his house, Ms. Proulx doesn't HAVE to read the fanfiction or look at the fanart that gets sent to her. And if she didn't want other people to ponder over her work (albeit in stupid ways, like writing fanfiction), she shouldn't have published it!
"Proulx says most of the fanfiction is written by people claiming to be straight males."
ReplyTHAT is why the fanfics are so bad. Don't get me wrong, just as there are straight ("straight"?) women that can write good lesbian fanfiction, I'm sure, somewhere, there's at least one straight(?) guy that can write awesome gay fanfiction.
But most straight male slash fanfiction (that is, gay fanfiction) writers only do that because their girlfriends (or at least the girls they like) are into fanfiction and tell them how awesome it would be if they wrote something. Like, from the male perspective and everything. Somehow, guys interpret this as "I'm offering sexual favors" and not as "I know that you're not that straight and want to read about your sexual fantasies with other men" which is a more accurate explanation.
I've always wanted to see a Live Dinosaur - but if there were two guys screwing on one, that would pretty much Kill the illusion.
ReplyThough "Jurassic Park" might've been a little more interesting with that..........
Not surprised Obi-Wan hated the movies. He was the only half-decent actor in them, and the writing was just awful.
Reply Hide All See All 5 Repliesi liked the originals. but then i like the new ones and i like the transformers films, which suggests i have terrible taste in films :D
and i like matrix revolutions, and don't understand why everyone hates it.
Those are similar, the first ones being so great and the sequels just relying on technical wizardry and ignoring the heart, to anyone whore enjoyed the prequels and anything after the first matrix I salute you, a better man than I
"To anyone whore enjoyed the prequels"? a*****e, YOU CALLING ME A WHORE?!
Peter Cushing might take issue with that.