IJBM: the notion that the "creator's vision" is something sacred to be respected by adaptations

glennmagusharvey

This is something that's often used to justify dissatisfaction with dubs, voice language changes, "censored" and/or otherwise cut content, and sometimes even patches and ports of videogames.

Well, no.  There's no such thing as a "creator's vision", in most cases, because:
1. Most entertainment products are developed by teams of people, each of whose individual "visions" of a project change and develop over time based on the ideas of their peers and their management.
2. These ideas are also often subjected to change based on audience receptivity, technical limitations, budgetary constraints, time deadlines, and various external factors.  Sometimes this even means adding content (e.g. adding ero scenes to a visual novel) just to help it sell.

The only time you really have a single creator's input all through a work is if the work was developed by one person alone -- such as an indie game in a long development cycle made solo by a hobbyist.  And even then, there's content left behind on the cutting room floor.  Same goes with pretty much any story written by one author -- it rarely comes out right the first time.  So the "creator's vision" still changes over time.

For a more detailed discussion of what a real creative media project goes through in the course of its development: http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/08/metroid-prime-gc-beta/

TL;DR there is no such thing as one true "creator's vision" that is the One True Way to appreciate a work.

Noimporta

I think you're being a bit pedantic, while media isn't a usually a one man endeavour, most of the time there is an individual that has stronger creative control and does, in fact, impose their vision on the project. Videogames are quite probably the worst example, but even then, just because Hideo Kojima (for example) didn't write every single line of code in Metal Gear Solid, it doesn't mean it isn't ostensibly his vision that went into the development of the game, even if, yes, sometimes there's meddling and input by others.

But still, when it comes to adaptations, I agree with you. It's all well and good to respect the creator's vision, but more often than not, it's just a thinly veiled way of saying "it's different, so it sucks".

fourteenwings

There's a reason people liked the first thing. If you change for any reason, of course there'll be complaints.

"censored" and/or otherwise cut content

That's an actual problem though. A good (ie not super NSFW) example is when Lady Gaga's physical The Fame Monster Deluxe CD set bleeped out all the swear words and whilst I'm not a fan they were part of the original material's viewpoint.

There's no such thing as a "creator's vision"

What about creators' vision? I mean, vision isn't "literally everything that went into it", it's the overall product's feel and message. Of course compromise is a thing but if what the product was meant to be has changed, then you have completely messed up something that is sacred and should be respected.

adding ero scenes to a visual novel just to help it sell

I'd really rather have shotapettanko (or anybody else really) make this point, but sometimes (probably most times) this isn't true unless the VN is produced by a really tiny company with absolutely no choice.

Also darn it GMH Video Game adaptations aren't localizations, in fact I'm pretty sure video game "adaptations" are called remakes if they are in video game form.

lrdgck

So is this thread about video games or what?

fourteenwings

I am not sure.