I am Legend

No internet, this is not that god-awful Will Smith movie. This is the (vastly superior) novella the movie is based off of.

spoilers.

But I understand how you might confuse the two, given that I talk about both books and movies here. Also my God that title is centered horribly this is why I have no future as a graphic designer. So. Let's just move on.

Spoiler warning: So, in order to talk about books, I kind of have to talk about the plot, and in this case, the ending, given that it's really crucial to the novel. Buyer Beware.

Okay, so when I first saw the movie, I was disappointed in how badly it sucked. I think I knew it was based off a novel, but didn't pursue it, until much later in my life (actually my boyfriend has the novel and the re-awakened my interest). The obvious convention among book movies is that they are never as good as the source material. There are a myriad of reasons for this, and I try and not judge adaptations too harshly, with the exception of Eragon. That movie can rot in the fiery inferno of bad CGI.

who puts feathers ON A DRAGON SPECIFICALLY DESCRIBED AS NOT HAVING FEATHERS ASL;DFJK DID YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE BOOK LIKE EVEN ONCE

Moving on. Reading I am Legend reaffirmed for me what I already knew; the movie sucked. The book, by contrast, was excellent. Robert Neville is your typical Joe Average trying to survive a global pandemic that has turned the world's population into "vampires" (I put it in quotations because they aren't technically vampires...it's addressed in the novel). He spends his days fortifying his house and hunting the creatures, and his nights tormented by both the vampires outside his house and his own past. During his quest for survival, he encounters depression, alcoholism, a dog, and another survivor. The novel ends with Robert being captured by the vampires, who have formed their own society, and our intrepid hero realizing that, in this new world, he is the monster, the terrifying legend.

I am Legend is a dark, horrifying look at what it means to be human. This novel is actually credited with popularizing the zombie pandemic genre, and was an inspiration behind Night of the Living Dead. Huge cultural impact. The novel itself is a lesson in loneliness, and gives us a humanistic twist on the 'Last Man Alive' trope. Basically everything the movie failed to do. That being said, it had its sins. Namely, not a lot happens. In that sense, the book is almost too realistic. Robert becomes depressed and falls into an alcoholic funk often, to the point where it feels like him lying on his floor drunk dominates the novel. He is frustrated in his attempts to find answers, This makes sense, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't necessarily make for good fiction. Granted, it can be easy to point fingers when this "sole survivor" genre has been around for so long, forgetting that this was an originator of that genre. It isn't going to be perfect. Also the dog dies and that is sad because dogs shouldn't ever die ever.

seriously I don't care how bad the movie is if the dog dies I am a puddle of tears

The movie completely misses the point of the novel. For starters, Robert is not a hero, nor is he a brilliant blahblahologist. Robert's heroic Hollywood sacrifice at the end of the movie literally COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS WHAT THE BOOK WAS TRYING TO SET UP. Robert is not the hero. What is exceptionally frustrating about this is that they set the movie up like the book, even hinting that the vampires have their own society. And then they take this set up and SHIT ALL OVER IT. YOU ARE NOT LEGEND, WILL SMITH. I MEAN YOU ARE, BUT NO.
Matheson himself is a master of horror. In addition to the novella I am Legend, the book I have also includes a myriad of short stories that have a very Twilight Zone feel to them (the internet has reliably informed me that Matheson used to be a writer for the Twilight Zone). With little to no world building, he establishes complex and frightening stories where our reality and fantasy combine in plausibly but scary ways. All of his stories are surreal and terrifying. This does not mean that he is a one trick pony. While some of the short stories echo each other in terms of tone and style, for the most part he is able to switch up narrative styles to enhance the horror and give each story its own distinct flavor.
Overall, I really enjoyed the novel, and the accompanying short stories. My critique lies largely around the pacing, and to some degree the ending as well. Don't get me wrong. I love the twist at the end, that Robert isn't actually the hero he thought he was. What I didn't like was that this realization and acceptance takes him a grand total of 2 pages to achieve. Given how slowly paced the rest of the novel was, the conclusion seemed rushed. Robert has lived for four years in this hellish apocalypse, this plague has taken away everything he has ever loved, and at the end he just accepts that he was in the wrong. Just like that. For me, that was a little unrealistic, given the fighting spirit Robert displays throughout the novel. But again, I really enjoyed the novel, it was well written and, despite little happening, it keeps you reading and wanting to know more.

Next up, the movie that popped Leo's Oscar cherry.
~Sassa