J.C.Ballard has written two novels of note: Crash and Empire of the Sun.....the latter one is a semi autobiographical work of literature that's based on author's own experience with calamities of second world war. Sun here represents Japan and the book and subsequent film by Steven Spielberg tells the story of Japanese possession of China before their attack on Pearl Harbour. We shall talk about the films later. The books need to be discussed first.
Crash is as bizarre a book of fiction as one can ever dream of. It's so freaky a work of literature that I cannot even begin to explain what story it tries to narrate to us. And that's why I decided to watch the movie that was directed by David Cronenberg. Now David Cronenberg is an accomplished director of horror and psychological thriller genres and Crash's material wasn't really related to both of them. The movie was certainly much more explanatory than the book but it's climax again left me clueless. I then decided to consult with various critics' opinions and found out that it's a provocative and original work that won't appeal to masses but only to certain sections. Celebrated film personalities such as 'Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese' and noted film publication of France, 'Cashiers Du Cinema' regarded it as one of the best film of 90s and more particularly, 1996. Replete with numerous nude scenes and car crashes, I found it 'degenerative' at best. I deleted the movie subsequently in lack of other options. I nonetheless got it's logic.
I had to scan J.C. Ballard's literary career yet again to find if he had only worked on such challenging subjects. I then fell upon 'Empire of the Sun' and it was complete opposite of 'Crash'. Very sensible in nature and 'epic' in scale, it touches upon the emotional issues that survivors of British Colonies in Shanghai had to endure when the Japanese took them over. They were affluent just like the English societies of Surrey and Liverpool but then reduced to a pile of ruin and dust when Japanese took them under their control. It became as celebrated and perhaps even more than author's previous work and when Steven Spielberg adapted it for screen in 1988 with a very young Christian Bale as its headlining star, it exalted everyone, be it Ballard, Bale or Spielberg to new heights. Christian Bale shows the glimpses of his outstanding acting abilities in just the second starring role of his film career and John Malkovich lends him a helping hand in the film to a great effect.
These two contrasting works of literature and screen led me to believe that an author is capable of penning down every possible emotional experience and one cannot and must not judge an author on the basis of a particular creation that's out of one's grasp. That author might humble you down with his another work and then you certainly wouldn't find a suitable closure.
Crash is as bizarre a book of fiction as one can ever dream of. It's so freaky a work of literature that I cannot even begin to explain what story it tries to narrate to us. And that's why I decided to watch the movie that was directed by David Cronenberg. Now David Cronenberg is an accomplished director of horror and psychological thriller genres and Crash's material wasn't really related to both of them. The movie was certainly much more explanatory than the book but it's climax again left me clueless. I then decided to consult with various critics' opinions and found out that it's a provocative and original work that won't appeal to masses but only to certain sections. Celebrated film personalities such as 'Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese' and noted film publication of France, 'Cashiers Du Cinema' regarded it as one of the best film of 90s and more particularly, 1996. Replete with numerous nude scenes and car crashes, I found it 'degenerative' at best. I deleted the movie subsequently in lack of other options. I nonetheless got it's logic.
I had to scan J.C. Ballard's literary career yet again to find if he had only worked on such challenging subjects. I then fell upon 'Empire of the Sun' and it was complete opposite of 'Crash'. Very sensible in nature and 'epic' in scale, it touches upon the emotional issues that survivors of British Colonies in Shanghai had to endure when the Japanese took them over. They were affluent just like the English societies of Surrey and Liverpool but then reduced to a pile of ruin and dust when Japanese took them under their control. It became as celebrated and perhaps even more than author's previous work and when Steven Spielberg adapted it for screen in 1988 with a very young Christian Bale as its headlining star, it exalted everyone, be it Ballard, Bale or Spielberg to new heights. Christian Bale shows the glimpses of his outstanding acting abilities in just the second starring role of his film career and John Malkovich lends him a helping hand in the film to a great effect.
These two contrasting works of literature and screen led me to believe that an author is capable of penning down every possible emotional experience and one cannot and must not judge an author on the basis of a particular creation that's out of one's grasp. That author might humble you down with his another work and then you certainly wouldn't find a suitable closure.
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