The Power of Words. John Martin: Getting a new perspective on a familiar theme

7/1/98
John Martin: Getting a new perspective on a familiar theme

       First, a confession: I did not read Brave New World in high school. I read it on a beach at a Club Med in the Dominican Republic the first week of April. I was amazed by Aldous Huxley's vision of an authoritarian culture based on genetic engineering and mind control.
       I was prepared to be disappointed, assuming it was unlikely that the book's long, talky and very philosophical ending would make it to television. But I was shocked by NBC's TV-movie adaptation. To contemporize the story, the network made laughable changes: shifting locales, melding characters and inventing a murderous subplot to heighten the drama. Worse, the producers tacked on an ending that turned Huxley's bleak and cautionary story into one of hope and triumph.
       I knew I could write a savage review about the bastardization of a great novel. But the greater challenge was to approach Brave New World as an example of the television industry's condescending and self-serving mentality.
       I wrote way too much, succumbing to the temptation to list every variation from the book and force the theme that, because of television, we're living in our own Brave New World.
       An editor asked me to consider shortening it. I started shortening word by word and line by line, hoping to get 10 inches out without really losing anything. It was impossible, of course. But it forced me to focus and prioritize. Still, I added new lines for flow and clarification. I probably ended up cutting the column by only about four inches.
       I could have written this column so many times about inconsequential movies. Indeed, some of my complaints are familiar. It just seemed right, considering book/movie's subject matter. There's probably a lesson here: Even though you think you've made a point before, a fresh context is an opportunity to make a point perhaps better than before.
       Here's the irony: I didn't run out and buy the book. I only read it because NBC sent it to me. I guess the network assumes people don't read anymore.

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