Not for the Purists

I found Isherwood's article to be pretty compelling, specifically towards the end, where he states, "It’s not for purists, to be sure, but it is showing people a very good time, and maybe, just maybe, inspiring some of them to pick up the play and see what inspired all that spooky, interactive fun."

While I do consider myself to be a "purist" when it comes to some stories and texts, I do believe that "updates" really could potentially create more buzz around original works. What Isherwood touches on in the final words of his text is the fact that a story that has been reworked is certainly not for those who practically worship the original.

That doesn't necessarily mean that an updated version is bad though, and I do believe that it could be beneficial for the same reason that Isherwood states here: it gives more attention to the original, and maybe, intrigues the audience enough to pick up a copy of the original text.

My question is, however, what about those audience members who are affected in the opposite way? Meaning, what about those people who watch something like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and just think, "absolutely not, this is terrible. I'm never picking up a Shakespeare play because of this." Could this possibly be an indication as to how the updates sometimes "may not work?"

Update GIF from giphy.com