Welcome to my new Weekly post - Thursday Thoughts.
This is going to be a weekly discussion post that I hope will get all my blog readers commenting and giving their opinion. I will pick a topic and write how my thoughts and feelings about it and then hopefully all you lovely readers will leave a comment below with your own opinions.
The only rule I have is that everyone is respectful of each other's opinions, there is no real right or wrong here, this is a chance to experience a topic from someone else's perspective. Please listen to each other and be nice.
If you wish to take a more active part in this discussion and make your own blog post about the topic, I will create a Linky list below that you can link your post to. If more and more people take part - the bigger and better it will become.
Some discussions will be light and silly, others will be more serious but they will all be about books and book related things.
So come on everyone, pull up a chair and lets hear your voice.
This weeks topic is:
'Books into Films - Is it always a good thing?'
If you look at the recent and upcoming film releases you will realize that a large percentage of them are book adaptations. It seems that film producers are taking their inspiration more and more from the literary world.
If you are a fan of the book, this can be great, exciting and one of the best ways of delving further into the world. If you're not a fan of the book it can introduce you to the world which can lead you to reading the book.
But is it always a good thing? Are there some books that just shouldn't be made into a film. How do they decide which ones to make?
Obviously best sellers and prize winners are often picked up. Just think Hunger Games, Fault In Our Stars, Harry Potter - all these books swept the nation and sold thousands of copies, and had a big online presence that only got bigger and bigger with the making of the films.
I haven't seen Fault In Our Stars yet of course, but I'm hoping too, as for Hunger Games and Harry Potter - these films were expertly done, I think they did an amazing job with these films and although some details were changed the overall story retains the heart of the book. But what about the films that don't live up to expectations.
One of my all time favourite books was Eragon, I loved it, still do for the most part, so when the film came out I thought my dreams were coming true, but when I saw the film I was terribly disappointed - in my opinion it was awful! They changed so much and it just didn't really make sense. I don't think the producers/writers had even read the book before they wrote the film script, it's like they were told a quick summary, an outline of the story and they just filled in the gaps themselves. I felt so let down and it actually put me off the books for a while, it tainted my view of it.
Do you think a bad movie could also put someone off reading the book? I've seen films I didn't enjoy and would never consider reading the book afterwards.
But then again I ended up finding one of my favourite books through a film - I saw a trailer for 'Now is Good' starring Dakota Fanning, I was always a fan of Dakota so I knew I would see the film no matter what it was about, when I heard it was based on a book (Before I Die) I tracked it down and loved it. If it wasn't for that movie release I wouldn't have ever picked up that book and missed out on such an amazing book, which then led me to some other great books.
So I want to know, is it always a good thing to have a film of the book. If someone offered to turn your favourite book into a movie would you agree or decline, knowing that the film could be totally awesome or really bad. Would it change the way you see the book?
Got your own post? Link it here:
Next Weeks topic will be 'TBR piles - how long is too long to wait to read a book?'
5 comments:
Great topic! I'm always on the fence about books into films, and I guess it just depends on the kind of book and how they plan to adapt it. The Hunger Games was a huge success, I think. The first movie is at least as good as the book, and I would argue that in some ways, the second movie is better than the book.
But, then you get movies like The Golden Compass and Ender's Game that just aren't anywhere close to how the novels are, and that's disappointing. I like the idea of the stories reaching a wider audience, but it's just so sad when my favorite books are terrible movies.
If a favorite book is being turned into a movie, I try to look at them as separate stories, which is hard, but it helps me enjoy the movie!
Hi Alyssa, thanks for commenting :)
I agree that I think you have to take each movie as it comes, they all have different plans and some work and some don't.
I also agree that in some ways teh second Hunger Games film is better than the book, they did an amazingly good job on that!
Oh my goodness - what on earth were they thinking with The Golden Compass - eugh, they destroyed that book!
It is hard to separate the two but its a good way of enjoying both.
Have a fab weekend, and enjoy a few books and maybe some movies too :)
Love this topic. I really enjoy seeing a book that I loved turned into a movie, when it's done right. It's fun to see my favorite characters and their world brought to life. It's equally disappointing when the movie deviates too far from the books or when the movie cuts important details. And like you've said, I've found great books from movie trailers. Fault in Our Stars looks good, but since I cried reading the book, I think I'll wait for that one to come out on DVD. =)
Thanks for joining the discussion Cherie :)
I really want to see Fault in our Stars, I was really surprised by the fact that I didn't cry in the book, I was totally expecting to, just didn't quite catch me enough. I did have some tears in my eyes though. I'll probably wait for the DVD too though, as I bet the film probably will make me cry. :P
It is certainly a mixed bag. I think the best advice is to try to think of them as two separate entities. They are different mediums after all. Even the most faithful adaptation has to change some things - it is hard for films to show characters' thoughts in the same way a book can for example.
Film makers should be more honest though. When they change things really radically, they should say 'inspired by' rather than 'based upon'.
Take 'How to Train Your Dragon' for example. Other than the names of the characters and the location, there is little in common between the two plots. I enjoyed both, but they as different as chalk and cheese.
Though I guess in some ways that is more acceptable than a 'mostly faithful' film which then switches out some major plot development toward the end having lulled you into a false sense of familiarity.
Great topic Bex!
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