Saturday 24 October 2015

Book to Movie Adaptations

This is a controversial topic all across the book lover community. Some people love seeing their favourite books get translated onto the big screen, and others hate this and want their favourite characters to remain in their books where they belong and can be safe from the media.

I really like book to movie adaptations. I'll admit it does occasionally get under my skin when they are so completely different from the book. But I also love watching movies where some scenes are word for word from the book because it creates such an amazing personal connection between the movie and the viewer. But despite all the cons to movie or t.v. show adaptations, they do have their perks. To me, it's so cool to see some of my favourtie characters on the big screen, where their stories can be shared with those who wouldn't know who they were otherwise.

For me, I generally like to read the book before I watch the movie, but there are those rare occasions where I just want to watch the movie so bad, I end up losing patience and watch it before finishing the book. Some of my favourite book to movie adaptations are:
  1. The Hunger Games: How can I not mention the beauty that is the movie series and book series. (Everlark foreva!) The movies were so well done, even though they did exclude a few characters and scenes, they still hold the meaning and power behind the original story and that's what so many people love about them.
  2. Harry Potter: Basically every Harry Potter movie ever is a true work of art. I remember watching the first movie for the first time after reading the first book (a lot of firsts) and enjoying that I knew half of the lines of the movie because they were word for word from the book, it definitely satisfied the fangirl in me! I think my favourite movie would have to be either Deathly Hallows Part 2 or The Prisoner of Azkaban.
  3. Divergent: When the movie for this book first came out I was a little worried it wouldn't be done right. This was one of the first books I'd started to really get invested in, and one of the first books I read that made me love to read. But I  loved where they went with the movie! It sent the right message and gave off the powerful and strong feelings that make up this book, watching this inspired me to be more like Tris and try to be Dauntless (even though I wouldn't survive an hour with them). 
  4. The Book Thief: I didn't even know this was a movie until I saw a bunch of people reacting to the trailer on YouTube. I watched the trailer and was immediately inspired to pick up the book. I got the DVD for this movie because I didn't get a chance to see it in theatres and this was the only movie  experience where I read the book along with the movie. I'd read a few chapters and then watch that part of the movie, and I just kept going until I finished the book, and then I watched the movie again from start to finish. It was such a cool experience but took a lot of restraint to not go ahead with the movie! But I did love the adaptation, I loved movie Rudy! <3
  5. The Duff: Now while the movie was vastly different from the book, the movie managed to get the same important message across while still keeping the humor I adored in the book. I loved the entire cast and the plot took this really funny, yet cheesy twist that made it such an entertaining watch!

And I'm also looking forward to some adaptations that are in the works! Like the Throne of Glass and Shatter Me t.v. shows, and also the Red Queen and Selection movies!

Now for every awesome adaptation, there's always the few that even if you didn't compare them to the book they still weren't all that enjoyable *cough cough City of Bones*.

And of course there are also those adaptations that are so completely unfaithful to the book but still enjoyable as a movie or show. An example of this for me is the Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters movies. I watched both of these movies before I read the books (gasp!) and I enjoyed the movies themselves. I had a fun time watching Percy go on his adventures on screen. But after I read the books and went back to watch the movies again the book nerd in me was disappointed at how far they strayed from the plot of the book.

I think it's important that fans of the book learn to separate the book from the movie. It's ok to love them differently and in their own way. It's amazing to see fans of the books get so invested in the making of the movie. It's also amazing to see fans of the movie get invested in the book.

All in all, book to movie adaptations are a very controversial thing. It all boils down to personal preference. Personally, I would much rather get the chance to see my favourite story up on screen, even if it does flop. At least it was given a chance, and there's always going to be at least one person who enjoyed it. It's better to try and fail than to never try and always wonder why. (I know that's a quote from somewhere but I can't remember so please bare with me.)

This post ended up turning into more of a rant but I just really wanted to share my opinion on this topic. Let me know some of your favourite book adaptations!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Images taken from Google.ca*

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