I enjoyed PHM the novel maybe 10-20% more than the Martian, but I enjoyed the film version of PHM maybe 50% more than the Martian film.
The main character in both novels is pretty goofy. Hell one of my favorite parts in both books is when the guys at NASA have figured out Mark is still alive and stranded on Mars. They are all freaking the hell out (onviously) and one of the directors tells everyone to stop and think about what Mark must be thinking right now while all alone on a inhospitable planet. Cut to his inner monologue criticizing Aquaman comics because “whales aren’t fish. How does he talk to them? It makes no sense.”
I thought one of the weaker points in the Martian was that they lost some of that goofiness. In the novel he uses his humor to cope with the situation. It helps him persevere. It gives him heart to keep going. And it gets harder for him to keep his good humor towards the end as his situation gets bleaker and harder, which makes it feel all the more dramatic to the reader. They kept a bit of humor at the beginning (a few dad jokes like being the best botanist on the planet hyuk hyuk) and that humor does decline in the movie as his situation worsens. But it was not goofy enough at the start to make the absence of it as stark and apparent later.
I love that they keep the humor in PHM. Not only do I not think it’s detractive at all, I think it adds a ton to the heart and endearment of the film, particularly for the Grace-Rocky bromance. And it fits very well with Grace’s character, someone who no one has taken seriously, who is full of doubt about his own abilities, etc. Also he’s not clumsy and awkward when he’s with his class, when he’s teaching, and when he’s doing real science. It makes him seem way more competent at those things, because he is. That’s his element. He’s only awkward outside of that element.
They also did a good job with Grace coming off as awkward in a quirky but believable way. Often a similar character is either full robot or like changed into the Fonz. Here he seems fairly sociable, but can’t really perform in front of the room, and doesn’t know what to do at the party. But one-on-one he’s at ease and has no trouble bonding.
It’s not book-accurate, but it seems like a more nuanced way to depict an awkward nerd than we usually get and I appreciated that.
I enjoyed PHM the novel maybe 10-20% more than the Martian, but I enjoyed the film version of PHM maybe 50% more than the Martian film.
The main character in both novels is pretty goofy. Hell one of my favorite parts in both books is when the guys at NASA have figured out Mark is still alive and stranded on Mars. They are all freaking the hell out (onviously) and one of the directors tells everyone to stop and think about what Mark must be thinking right now while all alone on a inhospitable planet. Cut to his inner monologue criticizing Aquaman comics because “whales aren’t fish. How does he talk to them? It makes no sense.”
I thought one of the weaker points in the Martian was that they lost some of that goofiness. In the novel he uses his humor to cope with the situation. It helps him persevere. It gives him heart to keep going. And it gets harder for him to keep his good humor towards the end as his situation gets bleaker and harder, which makes it feel all the more dramatic to the reader. They kept a bit of humor at the beginning (a few dad jokes like being the best botanist on the planet hyuk hyuk) and that humor does decline in the movie as his situation worsens. But it was not goofy enough at the start to make the absence of it as stark and apparent later.
I love that they keep the humor in PHM. Not only do I not think it’s detractive at all, I think it adds a ton to the heart and endearment of the film, particularly for the Grace-Rocky bromance. And it fits very well with Grace’s character, someone who no one has taken seriously, who is full of doubt about his own abilities, etc. Also he’s not clumsy and awkward when he’s with his class, when he’s teaching, and when he’s doing real science. It makes him seem way more competent at those things, because he is. That’s his element. He’s only awkward outside of that element.
They also did a good job with Grace coming off as awkward in a quirky but believable way. Often a similar character is either full robot or like changed into the Fonz. Here he seems fairly sociable, but can’t really perform in front of the room, and doesn’t know what to do at the party. But one-on-one he’s at ease and has no trouble bonding.
It’s not book-accurate, but it seems like a more nuanced way to depict an awkward nerd than we usually get and I appreciated that.