Ursula Le Guin Not Happy With SciFi's Earthsea

Posted on December 16, 2004

Novelist Ursula K. Le Guin saw the SciFi Channels' adaptation of her bestselling Earthsea series and she was not pleased. In a stinging article for Slate, Le Guin says that the mini-series was not the Earthsea she envisioned.

She says, "A far cry from the Earthsea I envisioned. When I looked over the script, I realized the producers had no understanding of what the books are about and no interest in finding out. All they intended was to use the name Earthsea, and some of the scenes from the books, in a generic McMagic movie with a meaningless plot based on sex and violence."

Ms. Le Guin was most distressed that the producers removed the concept of race from the story, which was a crucial element of the books. The author writes, "I have heard, not often, but very memorably, from readers of color who told me that the Earthsea books were the only books in the genre that they felt included in-and how much this meant to them, particularly as adolescents, when they'd found nothing to read in fantasy and science fiction except the adventures of white people in white worlds. Those letters have been a tremendous reward and true joy to me."

So, there you have it. Now stop writing her snarky emails demanding to know why she changed everything for the film.