Rebel Without a Cause:

Plato's real name is actually John Crawford, but his housekeeper/surrogate mother is the only one who calls him that.

Everyone else, including his best friend, Jim, calls him by his nickname (and Plato is also in love with Jim, for context)

Plato himself clearly prefers just Plato.

To Kill a Mockingbird:

Scout's real name, in both the book and film, is Jean Louise Finch.

But she’s literally only called it a couple of times.

(…actually, quite a few characters in To Kill a Mockingbird count. Jem, Dill, Boo, etc.)

Hey! I used to be really into true crime, when I was younger, and have been looking at a bit again, recently.

My primary form of consumption was podcasts (Casefile was always my favourite), and I particularly liked serialised ones focusing on a specific case.

Two ones that I really liked were Hillside (about the Hillside Stranglers) and Killer Tape (about David Berkowitz).

But neither one got terribly much attention, which I thought was a real shame.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has thought of compiling a full list of new releases, as they are hard to keep track of.

I know that there a few spreadsheets, including a great one linked in this sub's wiki. But the most comprehensive one hasn’t been updated in years,

Edit: apologies for the length. I would add “long” to the title, if I could.

TL; DR: I'm genuinely sorry, for my past behaviour.

But I would really appreciate it if you could read this and consider what I have to say. Please don’t just downvote me without at least hearing me out.

I LIKE the show for what it is, but, as an adaptation (or even “reimagining”, as it is officially), aspects of it seriously bother me.

And I do struggle with what Shirley Jackson would think of it, considering what I know about her life, and, in particular, her opinion on the 1963 film.

(Also: I apologise for reusing a few parts of one of my previous posts. But I thought I articulated things pretty well, in those paragraphs, and I REALLY did not want to go to all the effort of rephrasing things.)

Hey, there. It’s me…yet again. I've posted about this before, but I had to delete it.

First of all: I do want to sincerely apologise, for how I acted. I'm really trying to take what people said on board.

And this is probably the last time I will ever post here. For real, this time.

I didn’t respond well at all, I fully acknowledge.

People accused me of using my autism as an excuse, and, while I certainly didn’t mean to, I also accept that I was much too quick to bring it up.

That said: I was frustrated. I was sharing my genuine, complicated feelings on this show (as I have seen others do here) and I was expecting more compassion than I was given.

It’s more than “just a TV show”, for a lot of people, including myself. This sub, of all places, should understand that.

I'm well aware that the show is only very loosely inspired by the book, and acknowledged it myself in my initial post.

So, yes, I did lash out when people repeatedly pointed that out to me. It felt condescending, and, due to some traumatic experiences in my childhood, that’s not a feeling that I take well to.

I'm not excusing it, I'm just giving context.

I also am absolutely aware of the fact that deleting your post and reposting is against Reddit rules. This is literally the only time I’ve done it in six years on this platform (including two more seriously on this account)

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I first read The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, in May of last year. And I absolutely fell in love with it.

I watched The Haunting (1963) a few weeks later, and I enjoyed that a lot, too.

(Though, a few things annoyed me. Namely, the choice to make the famous sapphic subtext less mutual, and even give Nell a moment of thinly-veiled homophobia.)

When I found out that a series based on the book existed, I was really excited. Maybe Eleanor and Theodora could finally be explicitly gay?

Wait…Nell and Theo CRAIN? It made them sisters?! I was absolutely crestfallen, for a few days, after finding that out.

It certainly didn’t make me want to watch the show, not when their relationship is the most important one in the original book.

So, yeah, things weren’t off to a good start, in terms of my relationship with the show.

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I get why the show is so popular, and I'm sure that I would have enjoyed it a million times more had I not read the book first.

There were plenty of things that I did like. I thought the acting, cinematography, atmosphere and set designs were all top-notch.

The portrayal of Luke's addiction also hit home, for me, as I have a cousin (whose name is also Luke!) who has had his life destroyed by drug use.

I thought the use of ghosts as a metaphor for mental illness was really interesting, as was the commentary on the nature of grief. And, as someone with severe depression, Theo's speech in episode eight was really relatable to me.

I lost a loved one a couple of years ago, and I can very much see this series being up younger!me's alley.

Had I watched it back then, I'm sure my feelings would be different.

Granted: I’m not much into television as a medium (I have ADHD, and strongly prefer film and literature), but still.

My only reason for comparing them, at all, was to express my feelings on the show as a derivative work. Which it is.

Also: people on this very subreddit have told me vastly different things, when I question to what extent the show is meant to be inspired by the book.

(I myself didn’t think they were meant to be different iterations of the same characters, for instance, but two people here told me that they are, and I also found interviews with Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel backing that up)

(See here, for the former. I can’t currently find the latter)

So I do find it thoroughly confusing.

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I get that a normal adaptation of the book doesn’t fit the ten-episode format, at all.

And The Haunting (1963) is an outstanding film (see my profile pic), so I also totally understand that Mike didn’t want to overshadow it.

That said, I do disagree with him on something…that Hill House had been adapted so perfectly, and so many times.

In reality: it’s only been put to film twice. (And the second time, Steven Spielberg hated it so much, he had his name scrubbed from all promotional material)

Even the first adaptation, which is the only reasonably faithful one, still made some serious changes that Shirley Jackson herself disliked.

(“In private, she bemoaned the changes made to the plot…”, to quote Ruth Franklin's biography.)

So I do struggle, a great deal, with what she’d think of the series, I've got to admit. Given it’s nothing BUT changes.

That’s also in there with me not enjoying it as much as I wish I did.

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Finally: the show has far eclipsed the book, and made searching for anything about it impossible. Which is hard to live with.

Also, given its extreme popularity, it’s probably destroyed the possibility of any other (potentially more faithful) adaptation of Hill House, at least for the near future.

(I happen to know quite a few fans of the show, IRL, and most of them weren’t even aware that there was a book. And not a single one had read it.)

Ironically…The Turn of the Screw actually has a basically perfect film adaptation, yet has been adapted far more times. (The Innocents is definitely more faithful than The Haunting, just more detailed than the source material)

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The last time I posted here, I linked to a nice video that I found, that sums up my complex feelings on the show.

The woman who made it is a bigger fan than me, and has watched the show several times.

But the only acknowledgment I got, of it…was someone accusing me of being a paid shill. So that was nice! /s

(I simply was trying to give a shout-out to a tiny channel I discovered, in reality. So yes, I did find that particular accusation highly offensive, and an insult to not only me but also to the video's creator).

I'll link it in the comments, though, if anyone is interested. It just sums my complicated relationship with the series up far better than I could.

I found it exceptionally balanced and fair. It covers both the show's strengths and weaknesses.

It’s only twenty minutes, so please try checking it out.

I'll also add a video essay, which is almost entirely about the show (praising it), which did still include one criticism: that it’s less feminist than its source material.

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This post is the accumulation of over a year's worth of built-up emotions, including having to scroll past dozens of posts (on Google, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok) about the show when trying to find literally anything about my favourite book.

I made a sub for the book, but, I admit, I haven’t felt very motivated to work on it.

Partially because I don’t know where to start, but also partially because anytime I DO try and look for stuff for it, I'm constantly bombarded by stuff about the show.

So please try and consider how that must feel for me. I can’t simply ignore the series, and pretend that it doesn’t exist, when it’s in my face 24/7.

There’s a lot that I DO like about it, but I really wish I could enjoy it more unequivocally. I need some kind of closure, because it’s weighing on my mind.

One last thing: I recently finished The Haunting of Bly Manor, and I enjoyed it a lot.

I thought it had some technical flaws (the pacing and some of the fake accents, namely). But it actually felt like more of a love letter to the original work, to me.

I still do prefer The Turn of the Screw and The Innocents, but what it did with its source material bothered me a lot less. (The original book being so ambiguous doesn’t hurt, but still)

So, no, I am not “anti-Mike Flanagan”, in spite of what some people have insinuated.

To clarify: I'm not referring to specific releases of otherwise widely available films, but rather, ones where the only available 4K release is some degree of rare or expensive.

These are the ones that came to mind for me, but I'm curious whether anyone has other examples.

Hey. When I was a little kid (2011-2013, something like that), I remember these seeing little figures/dolls on store shelves.

I didn’t get any, but I thought they were adorable.

But I can’t remember their name.

The ONLY point of reference I have, for you, is this show. While not related, I distinctly remember liking this show because it reminded me of those toys.

Also: they had playsets, so you could make a whole little world.

(For context: here's a comprehensive list that I found, of everything already released or confirmed. Please check it out, before commenting, in case your suggestion is already listed.)

Personally? I really want A Streetcar Named Desire, more than anything.

And a Powell/Pressburger box set, given how visually insane all of their Technicolor movies are.

Here are some of mine.

Some notes, on a few of them:

Picnic at Hanging Rock (I've also read the book, and, while I liked it, I think I like the film even more)

Rebel Without a Cause (the film that got me into them, and also into classic cinema)

Carrie (book and film)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (book and film)

Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy (warning: I really wouldn’t recommend any of them to anyone under 18 – especially not The Doom Generation. Also, they do benefit from being watched in release order.)