I feel that most book lovers have the same dilemma; movies are completely different from their books! But, there are many things you have to keep in mind during these situations, such as: a budget, special effects, actors, imagination, and time.
A reader’s imagination is what makes books so magical for so many readers. Finding yourself in new worlds, surrounded by creatures that we wish existed, or thankful that they don’t, is priceless and irreplaceable. You put together an image of your own making that is influenced by the words on the paper. When you sit down during a movie, you are given the image, no imagination needed, which almost always, isn’t the same image you have carefully crafted in your mind.
Another big factor is that real life is not as awesome or advanced as your imagination. Mystical creatures that glow and float effortlessly through the less dense gravity of an alien planet will look a specific way in your mind. If a movie is made, they have to use CGI or props which will probably look close to the creature, but not real. There is a shimmer of fakeness that will forever influence it until we learn to bioengineer these creatures, (which admit it, would be totally awesome!).
Time is a big one too. You can’t put every single detail from the book on screen. Usually one of the biggest complaints I hear and say personally to others after a movie tends to be, “my favorite scene was cut out!” or “That did not happen that way at all!” Let me explain; the average Harry Potter movie is about 2.5 hours long. The average attention span in teens and adults is about 20 minutes. It’s a miracle as it is to keep us in our seats for 2.5 hours absorbed in a story line. Some books take me days to read, with my full attention, they have to fit all that into 2-3 hours. Obviously things have to change, whether we like it or not.
It needs to sell! If the book was a hit, be sure a movie is going to come out for it. Usually known actors and actresses are chosen for big name productions. I remember my disappointment for the actor chosen for Jace and Clary in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones film in 2013. However next year in 2016, there is a TV show on ABC family and every actor looks so much more like the character descriptions found in the books. I’m so looking forward to it.
I guess when in doubt, movie makers make a TV series! There have been many successful cross overs from books to television: The Vampire Diaries, Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars, Under the Dome, The Strain, Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock [UK] and Elementary [US]), Hemlock Grove, along with so many others that I’m sure most didn’t even know were books! Even in these “Book to TV” adaptations, things change, plot, story, characters…it is inevitable, but the changes are less obvious, but changes none the less.
Personally I like to read everything before watching anything that comes out of it. I guess that ruins the movies for me, perhaps for the next few movies, I’ll read the books after and see the difference in my appreciation for them. On that list I have: Gone Girl, The 5th Wave, Victor Frankenstein, In the Heart of the Sea, and The Martian. I shall watch and then read these books and write individual book to movie comparisons in a “Movie to Book” view, rather than the usual “Book to Movie” order.
In the end, I believe we will never be truly happy, but eventually I think we should just consider these productions as a form of fanfic. This way, at least in our hearts, the originals can be preserved and all will be well.
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