The script-Eli makes me cringe; he comes across as more filled with hubris rather than competent humility. The film-Eli is a more believably human character, warts and all, and IMHO is a far more appropriate messenger.
I didn't click to the post-Rapture setting from the film, it's more obvious in the script. While that does make some of the film's problems explainable, it also drags in a particularly ugly subtext: pretty much everyone we see is unshriven. Not that they have any choice - salvation is on hold, waiting on Eli walking across the country. (That's the same problem I have with The Chronicles of Narnia; all the pain and suffering while waiting centuries for the children to show up is gratuitous.)
Post-Rapture also undercuts Carnegie's character. He's not failing because he's flawed and can't overcome those flaws, he's failing because the deck is stacked against him. It doesn't matter if he's an asshole or not.
In short, the film works much better than that script does. Explicitly setting the story into Rapture mythology weakens the story, as Eli is neither martyr nor prophet.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-11-26 05:32 pm (UTC)I didn't click to the post-Rapture setting from the film, it's more obvious in the script. While that does make some of the film's problems explainable, it also drags in a particularly ugly subtext: pretty much everyone we see is unshriven. Not that they have any choice - salvation is on hold, waiting on Eli walking across the country. (That's the same problem I have with The Chronicles of Narnia; all the pain and suffering while waiting centuries for the children to show up is gratuitous.)
Post-Rapture also undercuts Carnegie's character. He's not failing because he's flawed and can't overcome those flaws, he's failing because the deck is stacked against him. It doesn't matter if he's an asshole or not.
In short, the film works much better than that script does. Explicitly setting the story into Rapture mythology weakens the story, as Eli is neither martyr nor prophet.