What type of future content and discussions do you want to see in the Agatha Christie forum?

Tuppence

The team at Agatha Christie Ltd are gearing up for an exciting couple of years ahead which sees the creation and release of a brand new feature film by Fox based on Murder on the Orient Express. We will also be celebrating one of Agatha Christie’s greatest creations, Hercule Poirot, with a new novel by Sophie Hannah this September.

There has recently been a reshuffle in the team at ACL and one of the aims this year is to be a better support and instigator of activity in the forum and to work with you to create content that you want to see and learn from. As part of this we are keen to understand what kind of features and content you would like to see in the forum? 

Madame_Doyle

The member who goes by the name Griselda has posted some excellent suggestions for retaining the interest and participation of fans in a very recent thread.  I'm not sure if it's possible to link the thread here, but she has already taken the time to describe her ideal experience here.  She deserves credit for speaking up, and hopefully her input which she has already given will be acknowledged.

As for myself, what I would like to see most is a place on the forum to discuss the books only.  I don't care about the films or other events.  I am a lifelong fan of Agatha Christie's books, but I have zero interest in the adaptations.  Would it be possible to provide a forum for discussions of the text only?

Tommy_A_Jones

I would like more discussion on Supt Battle who is n my view an underrated Gem of a Character and I would like the old games back.

taliavishay-arbel

I'd like more focused discussions of books - including cross-references or links. E.g. if there is a thread on a certain book, and then a discussion of that book occurs in another thread, that the two be linked. I also enjoy discussions of recurring themes and motifs - We've had some, e.g. dominating parents, slightly criminal young men, the slippery road from mild crime to murder. I enjoy these discussions. About book of the month - seems to have disappeared from the discussions lately. It might be a good idea to have it again, and to announce the book of the month a week before the beginning of the month, so that people who haven't read it or don't remember it have a chance to refresh their memories.

GKCfan

@Tommy_A_Jones, which old games do you mean?  The hangman game?  The quizzes? Word searches? Sudoku?  Crosswords? Trump the Murderer?  All of the above?

Griselda

I don't want to sound hopelessly stupid with this question, but there is something I don't understand about the organisation of the forum, and to make it clearer would make the site better, in my opinion. If you go to ' the Recent Activity' heading link and click, you get up a page which announces names of people (under their pseudonyms ) who have recently joined, or who are enjoying a second anniversary, or who have been promoted. I don't recognize these names - most of them - from 'Recent Discussions' posts. Is there a parallel Agatha Christie universe (!) forum where they post and investigate? Where is their activity happening? Is it on  Facebook? 

I only post on this forum. My instinct is to say that seeing how other forums interfere or not in their community discussions would be a instructive.

Tommy_A_Jones

I mean the Guess The Games, where people have to Guess which Character you are thinking about

Tommy_A_Jones

And the Quote Game.

shana

Hi @Tuppence, if I am not mistaken you got promoted to "administrator" since the last time I participated in this forum (months ago).  As to your question: I would like it if  the various discussions on the forum were neatly concluded with a summation. I agree with @Madame_Doyle that the original texts of AC should be the primary focus. Her written words are the most widely spread across the world. I, for instance haven't seen any of the adaptations, plays, series  etc of her work, for one. Secondly, in all these forms of AC"s work someone else's imaganation is also at work. So let's keep it original and simple. 

taliavishay-arbel

Shana, I rather like the discussion of the movies, but I agree they interfere with the enjoyment of the discussion of the original books and stories. So how about having a clear differentiation between discussions of the original material, discussions of adaptations and discussions of comparisons and influences on and by other writers? These three categories don't really overlap, so they could be separate.

Griselda

I'd like to say something which is not exclusively about the forum, but rather the website and how its content might be referenced in forum discussions. Other great authors, such as Jane Austen, Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Dickens, have biographers.  Notwithstanding the fact that Agatha Christie wrote an autobiography, does she have a living biographer-cum-reseracher? If not, the Agatha Christie Foundation should maybe appoint and sponsor one. The person would need to carry out research, and interview those who knew people who knew Christie, and then the anecdotes would need to be written up and evaluated. Arguably, for fans, the chance to read short well-informed articles would be interesting, and would promote interesting related discussions on the forum. I am sure I have read that the Agatha Christie organisation aims to promote AC's works and honour her reputation. It is conceivable that , in future, AC will come to be viewed as an altogether great writer, in terms of chronicler of the human condition, as well as a great mystery writer and popular yarn-spinner. You need to be carrying out ongoing research in order to really do justice to AC's literary reputation.

Madame_Doyle

@Griselda you bring up the most interesting point of all when you say "promote" the books.  I think that is a real frustration among Agatha Christie fans who feel that she should be viewed as a "serious" or genre fiction writer rather than only as a "popular" crime fiction author.  But the people who run her Foundation or Estate (or whatever it is that is responsible for her legacy) do not seem to feel that the books are of as much importance as the films.  If her "literary reputation" is to be preserved and furthered, then I fully agree with you that someone should be visibly trying to represent her books, get them into schools, and undertake the research.  Literary criticism has come so far even since Christie passed away.  Surely something can be done, but I doubt that academics will step up when even her representatives don't even seem to have read the books.  I will make an exception for GKCfan, but the lack of interest exhibited on this official website and on the official Facebook page is disappointing.  It's no wonder her reputation as a writer is heading into oblivion.  The film and television adaptions are just gravy; the books are her legacy.

Griselda

There is, as you say, Madame Doyle, a case for serious literary research to be undertaken. In terms of who should undertake it, I understand that her genius puts Christie in an unusual position, because she would appear to straddle more than one genre. Instinctively, I feel that an historian of the twentieth century and its art might be well-placed to officially  undertake such research. But her great work defies, or at any rate, challenges attempts at categorisation. There is the serious  writer in her. Also the astute powers of  observation which would be of interest to those who study psychology. There is the entertainer - the master of the twentieth century art forms. (Some of her novels seem cinematic in their vividness and economy). There is the technician - of interest to the teacher and student of the writer's craft. There is the detective writer. Whereas if, for instance, Christina Rossetti were one's subject, you could write about her in relation to the other Romantic poets, Christie stands head and shoulders above her fellow detective  writers on the basis of her unsurpassed popularity alone - so I would hesitate to analyse her output through the lens of the detective writer. She would seem to stand for more than that. In a way, her novels chronicle the twentieth century.  

ChristieFanForLife

Madame_Doyle said:

@Griselda you bring up the most interesting point of all when you say "promote" the books.  I think that is a real frustration among Agatha Christie fans who feel that she should be viewed as a "serious" or genre fiction writer rather than only as a "popular" crime fiction author.  But the people who run her Foundation or Estate (or whatever it is that is responsible for her legacy) do not seem to feel that the books are of as much importance as the films.  If her "literary reputation" is to be preserved and furthered, then I fully agree with you that someone should be visibly trying to represent her books, get them into schools, and undertake the research.  Literary criticism has come so far even since Christie passed away.  Surely something can be done, but I doubt that academics will step up when even her representatives don't even seem to have read the books.  I will make an exception for GKCfan, but the lack of interest exhibited on this official website and on the official Facebook page is disappointing.  It's no wonder her reputation as a writer is heading into oblivion.  The film and television adaptions are just gravy; the books are her legacy.

I agree, the books ARE Agatha Christie's legacy and there is one thing that I wish to see more on this website. I like the videos that her grandson Mathew Prichard made which gave us some insight into Agatha Christie as a person, as a woman and giving us glimpses into Agatha Christie as a writer. I would like to see more videos, more emphasis on her books individually giving us stories on how the stories were conceived, the ideas behind that particular story, and giving more deep insight into the story as a whole (kind of like a literary criticism). There are some authors out there (one in particular that I can recall, P.D. James) who doesn't view Agatha Christie as a serious writer and I would like to see discussions and debates about that. I would like to see more emphasis on her books as a whole on this website. I see the film adaptations and the many unnecessary changes seem to show that they don't respect the material that A.C. presented. I know that films and books are two different mediums but when there are so many changes and detours away from the material, it appears that maybe the books weren't really read. 

GKCfan

I believe very strongly that Christie deserves a higher critical reputation.  There are several academics who are pursuing Christie's works, but most of these are very recent works– the studies have been published within the last five years.

Griselda

Perhaps excerpts from these scholarly texts should be posted on the website. Forum members could discuss. A dedicated thread for this purpose could be created.

Madame_Doyle

GKCfan said:

I believe very strongly that Christie deserves a higher critical reputation.  There are several academics who are pursuing Christie's works, but most of these are very recent works– the studies have been published within the last five years.

Who are these academics and where can the publications be found?

Griselda

Hi ChristieFanForLife. I am sure we must all agree that if the stories behind the novels are to to be shared, somebody needs to get on and interview those survivors who remember somebody who knew and shared discussions with Agatha Christie. The interviewees might be offspring of secretaries; nieces of good friends of Christie; relations. However, we are running out of time to ensure that the harvested recollections will be accurate, and nuanced by sensitive cross-referencing to the events of Christie's life at that time, the prevailing attitudes of the day, and the context in which Christie's words were spoken. It's a fact that Christies' early decisions about how to present Poirot were made around one hundred years ago. Are you part of the admin team, ChristieFanForLife?

Griselda

Hi Tuppence. to improve the forum I would suggest removing the practice of awarding points for activity and likes. This is just my opinion,  but the practice seems to me to be meaningless, because  we don't know who is giving out the praise, and we don't have a relationship or interaction with these people. Because of this, we can't judge whether the accolades are designed to be a bit of fun, and tongue in cheek, or if the administrators are really saying, "People sure like your comments, so keep on with what you're doing." "Your comments are rubbish, see, nobody is 'liking' you."  " You may have joined, but, look, you don't even feature on the list." Puerile can be fun, if we are all in on the game, but, actually, we don't know what the game is, and can't put faces to who is making the rules.  

GKCfan

Madame_Doyle, John Curran is a leading scholar of Christie, and Jaime Bernthal has a new book coming soon.

Agathasmykid

What is Jamie Bernthal writing about?

Madame_Doyle

@Griselda ...  I agree with you about the points, scoring, badges, etc.  It seems kind of meaningless, and your analogy to a "game" is a good one.  We're not on here to rack up points or boost our egos.  Like anything in life that we really like, we want to talk about Agatha Christie.  It's many times better for someone to actually comment in order to agree or disagree.  That's the problem with the buttons; they let people off the hook from actually replying or otherwise participating.  However, this discussion forum is only one unsatisfactory part of this "official" Agatha Christie web site; many of us have come forward with feedback about the other features, and it's good to see that we are holding this web site to a higher standard than what is currently presented.  It doesn't seem to be too much to expect the people running this site to show some enthusiasm and knowledge about her work.  The monthly bulletin that comes out is a joke, for example.  There just seems to be no effort made anywhere except for advertising the films.  

GKCfan

@Agathasmykid, I believe Jaime Bernthal has edited an anthology of works on Christie that may be published soon.

Griselda

Hi Tuppence, I was reading your initial post again, and it struck me that, really, the 'content' reference in your post could be taken, just as well, and maybe better, to apply to the website content, rather than to the forum content. As Dr Sheppard said (I think I have referenced him correctly; hope so) the forum is where fans post comments, and their comments are based on what they are thinking about at the time. You can't really legislate for what they will say, especially as fans are free to start a new thread, and so any content at all could be freely posted - even non-Agatha Christie related content - in the 'not Agatha Christie section, of course. If you want to direct the themes of the forum, the best way might be to stimulate discussion via the website content and features. Why not have a greater number of feature articles written for the website? Personally, I think what would be good would be historical articles which through light on the attitudes, customs and event relevant to the time particular novels were written. Many of we fans are saying that AC is an important novelist, and therefore, there seems to be argument a-plenty for treating as Jane Austen would be treated. You get historians writing about the attitudes of the day towards key themes of Austen's novels - e.g., 'marriage'. Lets do the same with AC. However, I can see, as everyone can, that mysteries, puzzles and games are interesting too. My sister wouldn't care at all about the historical context and the fashions, etc. She just likes the whodunnit aspect. 
 

Griselda

Hi Tuppence,
Regarding what content might be on the website, and, by extension, discussed on the forums, I noticed that one of the Facebook posters said that it would be good to have information about the archaeological discoveries which AC made with her husband. Information about their significance, and what has happened regarding excavation and events in those areas, subsequently. If there were to be an ambitiously-schemed Agatha Christie museum, then I would like to see a room dedicated to the Mallowans' discoveries, their artefacts, and photos to show how they went about their work.

I read that AC wrote many of her works whilst attending these isolated digs. It strikes me that the work of systematically searching for fragments of porcelain, piecing together items from different parts of the artefact, is rather like what Poirot said about the pieces of a jigsaw and solving a crime. The fragments are all there, you just need to find them, and to determine where they go in relation to each other. As Poirot said, if a piece of information is found, however, small, and however much it does not seem to fit with the other pieces of information, you cannot say it doesn't matter, let's ignore it: pretend it isn't there. All clues must be counted as pieces of the whole solution to the crime. That is like saying, that to the archaeologist, a piece of china from a later era, or a piece of cup found amongst pieces of plate must somehow fit. You have to accept that this is a cup/plate combined. Poirot had to accept that SPOILER the boots up the chimney in The Sittaford Mystery, and the bit of plastic balloon in Hercule Poirot's Christmas had some significance to solving the mystery. Perhaps AC's archaeological work gave her the idea of how Poirot should say he goes about his own investigations. I am trying to remember, was it Marple or Poirot who said that, when doing a jigsaw, you might think a bit of black jigsaw is a cat's tail, but it is really a chimney.(or something similar).

For the forum, it might be a good idea to flag up posts from Facebook on it, as contributors here might want to discuss these items too.

Madame_Doyle

I admire and share in your enthusiasm, Griselda, and you deserve for this "Tuppence" to at least acknowledge your remarks.  She is showing no interest whatsoever.  We never did find out who the alleged moderators are.  Only GK stepped forward, and from what I can tell, he is not affiliated with the Agatha Christie estate or her marketing team.  Who runs this site?

GKCfan

@Madame_Doyle, I am affiliated with Agatha Christie Ltd. (I work as a researcher and "International Goodwill Ambassador for Agatha Christie."  Agatha Christie Ltd. runs the site.  

Griselda

Thank you, Madame Doyle. It is very strange, as you say, that one's comments are not acknowledged. It suggests, putting it optimistically, that there is a team of people which is waiting to receive all the comments, and then to meet to review them. What is inconsistent is that the original request for feedback was coached in such friendly, enthusiastic and personable terms,  that one would expect a response, as if one were responding to an actual person. As we, as fans, are clearly disinterested, and only want to enjoy the novels, and register our regard for the author, there is no reason not to engage frankly with us. GKCfan is always frank and helpful. 

johnsmith2025

I'd like to see a discussion about the possibility of an Agatha Christie movie for the big screen. I think the last time a story of hers was adapted for the big screen, in English, was well over 20 years ago.

Tommy_A_Jones

We could discuss which ones we would like to see done for the Small screen and Casting.

ChristieFanForLife

johnsmith2025 said:

I'd like to see a discussion about the possibility of an Agatha Christie movie for the big screen. I think the last time a story of hers was adapted for the big screen, in English, was well over 20 years ago.

The possibility of an Agatha Christie movie adapted for the big screen these days concerns me, especially with how Agatha Christie's books are being done today whenever producers, directors and scriptwriters get hold of her work. Just look at how her books are being adapted on the small screen. They are more concerned with being modern and by this attempt they're messing with A.C.'s plots and characters, making unnecessary changes and liberties from the story (not always for the better) that makes me scratch my head and makes me ask, "Why?" I know that print and film are 2 different mediums and there are things that would make more sense on film then in print and vice-versa. For example, in the Miss Marple novel "Nemesis", one of the characters Elizabeth Temple is seriously injured by a rolling boulder while hiking up the hillside. In the film, specifically the 1987 adaptation with Joan Hickson, Elizabeth Temple is injured by a bust falling down on her head in a museum. Miss Temple's murder is different but the way the film handled it makes more sense when we see it on the screen versus her being hit on the head with a falling boulder....it could have worked that way but the film made a better decision. Another difference between the film and the book is that the film omitted some characters but you can't fill out a film with every character from the book -- it would weigh the film down, especially when you have a limited time to tell the story on the screen. Though there were changes in the 1987 film the dark tone, atmosphere, and storyline were still there and as a whole is faithful to the book and that's all I can ask for.... in other words you can still recognize Agatha Christie's story (unlike the newer adaptation of Nemesis with Geraldine McEwan which unnecessarily deviated from the material) and I don't mind if the film deviates from the book in some ways and is better for it but when the films are being too altered from their source, completely making the story unrecognizable from the book (ex: Appointment With Death with David Suchet) that is unacceptable and not paying respect to the material nor to the author. If they want to adapt their own story then so do it but don't take one of Agatha Christie's books, dramatically change the material and slap her name in the credits! I'm not asking for a scene by scene, dialogue verbatim adaptation, but like I referenced to earlier what I look for is whether the film "as a whole is faithful to the book."