False advertising

There is a movie coming out of Bridge to Terebithia. Trailer can be viewed here. Now, like most people who read BtT as a child, I love the book. It was beautiful and tragic and perfect and unforgettable, and above all, realistic.

And I want to know why the trailer is acting like this film is the frickin’ Lord of the Rings. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a more misleading movie trailer. If I didn’t know that this was the actual, official trailer to this movie, I’d think it was one of those recut trailer jobs, like “Shining,” “Must Love Jaws,” and “Ten Things I Hate About Commandments.” (All of which, by the way, must be seen to be believed. Brilliant!)

And here’s the really weird part. The screenwriter and producer of this film is the the author of the book’s son. The son she wrote the book for. The son whose childhood friend inspired the story. So I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here. I doubt, given the connection to the son, that the movie will stray too far afield from its source material. I suspect, however, that whoever cut the trailer decided that all the fantasy shots were much more marketable and should be played up.

The downside is that a lot of people are going to be coming to the theater expecting to see The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe — but they’re going to get My Girl without the amusing undertaker comedy. Even the title treatment of the film is that swirly, fantasy, Chronicles of Narnia-esque font.

For anyone who has NOT read this book, let me enlighten you:
1) It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fantasy epic.
2) It’s about coping with senseless death and survivor’s guilt.

I don’t know if the Patersons have any control over what “marketing” decides is the best way to present the story. My guess is that they were probably handed the argument that most people already know what BtT is about, and a misleading trailer won’t make them stay away (I reserve judgment on that), but that it might bring in people who otherwise wouldn’t see the film but loved Narnia to come see it. (Yes, and then they’ll hate you, but who cares, we already have their money, woo hoo!)

I’ve heard from several BtT fans who say they plan to stay away because they suspect a chop job on the story. One’s response was, “Bitch better die.” Macabre, perhaps, but to the point.

You see this kind of thing all the time in the book industry. Historical romances with modern, cartoony covers, paranormal romances without a hint of paranormal on the covers, erotic looking covers with tame sex scenes inside. Probably the most egregious example of false advertising I’ve seen of late is the cover and back cover blurb of Monica Jackson’s “Mr. Right Now,” which is a paranormal romance but has a seventiesish cartoon cover of a chick waiting by a telephone and a back cover blurb that makes it sound like a chick lit about three friends.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that, much like most authors, young directors like Paterson probably don’t have much clout against coprorate marketing machines who are convinced that their marketing strategy will get the “best” response. Of course, the “best response” to them is, I suppose, butts in seats, not people actually enjoying the film, returning to see it again, and telling all their friends to see it as well.

If the film footage is there, the trailer makers can use it how they’d like. And, as the recut trailers prove, you can make just about anything look like any genre you want. But unlike the marketing machines, I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Expectation, and the fulfilling of it, accounts for a lot of audience enjoyment. When I went to see Deja Vu a few weeks ago, I was all, “Come on, bring on the time travel, I know you’ve got it.” If I were a parent taking my 6 year old to BtT and expecting it to be Narnia, you can bet there’d be a nasty letter on its way to Disney.

I can’t help but feel like the trailer is doing a massive disservice to the film, both for the people who are going to see it and hate it, and for the people who aren’t going to see it because it looks like they’ll hate what’s been done to it. But what do you do? What, indeed, can you do? If I go to see BtT, they’ll say, “Look, people like misleading marketing.” If I *don’t* go to see it, they’ll say, “Let’s not make any more films from classic children’s literature unless it’s about talking animals and swordfights.”

So what do you do?

PS: Congrats to all NaNoWriMo winners! I’m so proud of you!