So with the release of The Giver trailer and the movie set to come out later this year, I decided to focus my ISU for this class on book adaptations into movies. In particular, bad book adaptations because they should not exist. I’m not saying that all book adaptations are bad, but with the genre becoming more popular in today’s movies, most of then turn away potential readers away from the original book. It also deters the readers of said books away from the movie because they are so bad and completely rip off the book.
According to every high school student’s best friend, Wikipedia, a book or literary adaptation is adapting of a
literary source (e.g. a novel, short story, poem) to another genre or medium
such as film, a stage play, or even a video game. For the purposes of this
assignment, I’m going to focus on the literary part. For nearly as long as
there has been a developed language, there has been literature. The first
documented writing can date back to the earliest in the Genus Homo (which we,
as humans are also in). However, this would now be considered chicken scratch
to us as it mainly consisted of a few lines. The earliest formal writing
appears about 4100-3800 BCE with symbols. Over time, our written language has evolved
to what it is today. And yet, it continues to evolve. (Learn more here)
With the fantastic invention that is the Internet and
cell phones, language is arguably taking a turn for the worst as teens now use
cool texting lingo to communicate instead of writing out the full word. I was
guilty of this when I got my first phone in the eighth grade like the cool kid
that I was, but since then I have changed the error of my ways. While some say
that language is in a state of regression, some can argue that it is continually
evolving and this is only the next step. Personally, I think that we are slowly
slipping into a second Dark Age and by slowly, I mean really slowly! But all
things must have a beginning, and this could be it.
History rant over…
Getting back on the topic train, stories have been
around longer then any recorded text. I’m sure you can imagine an early human
huddling around the best invention ever, fire, and telling stories. Or am I the
only on…? Guess I am…
Moving right along. After the whole writing thing came
around, story tellers were like, “Hey, I’m going to take this story of our
great king and write It down using this modern technology.” And thus, written
stories were created! More and more story tellers and clergymen (when
Christianity became a thing) began writing and eventually enough people wanted
to spread their stories and messages, and BOOM, the printing press was
invented! I think we all know what happens from here.
So a little while afterwards, this hip thing called a
motion picture was invented and the people were like, “Whoa! It is a train. And
it is moving. It is coming towards me. Oh. My. God!” So this is when the two
mediums of film and literature came together. Soon, Hollywood was pumping out
more films then ever and the people were soaking it up, like the Sham Wow guy.
But as many ideas that they had, this would not suffice. The people wanted to
see outlandish stories come to life right before their eyes. So the directors
turned to books!
You could say that one of these reasons is that
Hollywood is not willing to take risks with films anymore. There are countless
movies that have had these big budgets, an all-star cast, tons of hype, but
little success in the box office. Originally, films were meant to replicate
everyday life because that is what the people knew and that is what they wanted
to see. But then as talkies became popular in the 30’s, which just so happened
to be the time of the Great Depression, films became big and extravagant and
made the viewer want to live in the lavish world that is constructed for them.
Films were meant as an escape for the poor who could not imagine a glamorous
life style. One of the best films to demonstrate this is The Wizard of Oz,
which is conveniently an adaptation of the
popular The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by
L. Frank Baum.
However, lately, it seems that we have reverted back
to the old ways of films by creating movies about everyday life that are
somehow twisted. We want to see a version of our reality, but still have that
fantasy element to it. So how does this tie back to my point of Hollywood not
taking chances and be original, you ask. Well kind reader, books create a new
reality for anyone who reads them, but like Dorothy, we always go back to our version
of reality. And due to the success that books have had recently, with authors
like John Green and my queen, J.K. Rowling, construct that precious reality for
us. Why would a production company pay someone to come up with this reality,
when there is already one written for them! Hollywood has become lazy with
story lines, whether they are original or not. And this had leaded them to not
take chances with movies that have spectacular plot lines.
What happened to those movies where you could sit and
escape your world? I think this is what film and books have in common; they
allow us that escape. Ask any author from the Romantic period and they would tell
you that they would like to live in the life of their characters, but they
don’t. Books and films allow the reader or viewer to go into the world of the
characters, if only for a little bit and live their life. They make us feel comfortable and happy. We relate
ourselves to the characters and eventually, they become us. We are the
characters. It does not matter if they are on screen or written on pages, we
will always personally relate ourselves to characters. And in doing so, we are
very protective over our characters. This can been seen in fandoms.
Fandoms are groups of people that share a deep
interest a certain medium of media, like Harry Potter or Minecraft, if that is
your thing. These groups share their passion for said medium over the Internet
and voice what characters they most identify with. Recently, fandoms have taken
on characteristics of a cult and often turn away people from joining said
fandom. But what we do, we do out of love. Fangirls/boys are incredibly
protective over their characters. Books and films share this level of intensity
of passion because so many beloved books are being adapted into movies so
people who are too lazy to read the book, still know the plot line.
The fan base of both books and films increases almost
daily as people discover books and films at there own pace. An example of on of
these fan bases is The Avengers.
Originally set in the comic book world, The
Avengers was successfully adapted into a blockbuster movie franchise.
People who went to see the movie and soon to be sequel, and really enjoyed it,
may turn to the comic books to ties them over until the next movie comes out.
People who enjoy the comic, then in turn go see the movie. It is a cycle of
nerdy epicenes. But the separate movie fandom is protective over the franchise
to the point were they are turning away people from seeing to movie and
enjoying it. Fandoms are supposed to be a place on the Internet where you can
find people who share your interests and relate to them. But instead of this
happy place, Fandoms can become verbally abusive towards people who are not
“true fans” or “fangirls.” One of the most notorious series for doing this is
the Harry Potter franchise. They have crossed the line of “don’t hurt my baby”
protective, to “I will kill you in your sleep if you do so much as look at my
fandom in the wrong way!” Crazy! This is not what fandoms, whether movie or
book related are meant for. Jeez people, calm down!
Despite all of the similarities between books and
their film counter parts, there are just as many differences. One of these
differences is that the books are a narrative. While this works for books, it
does not for film. Lets looks at the box office smash hit and New York Times
bestseller, The Hunger Games by
Suzanne Collins. The book is narrated by Katniss Everdeen and her adventures
while trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world (that thinks it is okay to
kill 23 children yearly). Despite popular belief, the book itself has some
depth because it talks about the dangers of certain political systems and what
happens if they gain too much control. It also sends the message that rebellion
is bad but essential if you want to make a change. The movie however, does not
tell any of this. In fact, once you get past the shaky camera, the movie makes
little sense if you are not sitting beside someone who has read the book. To
the non-book reader, your first though is “OMG Gale is soooo hot!” They do not
catch the political commentary because they are too distracted by the shaky
camera and the overly attractive actors! Without reading the book with many
popular YA novels that are adapted into movies, the viewer is utterly lost
about the plot.
And with that point, I come to the whole reason why I
am doing this project, bad book adaptations! Recently, there have been a lot of
good book adaptations, but there have also been a lot of bad ones. All of the bad
ones have been adaptations of YA or young adult novels and the plots typically
are about a love triangle with some supernatural element to this ideal world.
The book characters, especially the males, are overly attractive and
mysterious, while the females are overly sexualized and really weak. When it
comes to casting these movies, they get bad actors that are overly attractive
and any hint of a plot, is covered up by that dreamy teenage angst filled
smirk. The following movies fall victim to this tragedy.
Eragon:
The Trailer:
So Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. The book (and the film) is about a boy named Eragon and his adventures trying to survive in an extremely suppressive world all the while being the last Rider (someone who rides dragons) known to man. I know the plot is not the most complicated thing in the world, but the book itself is well over 500 pages and takes a good month of dedication to read. When I think of bad book adaptations, I automatically think of Eragon because none of the rich details that are in the book is not in the film. Plus trying to fit every detail of a 500-page book into a one and a half hour script is crazy! To me, the Inheritance Cycle is about rebellion (a common theme among YA novels) and overpowering the government. Yes, the book/movie may take place in a medevil-esk period, but the King of the country is still a dictator and mass murderer. Who doesn’t love a good genocide of a whole entire race?! The book is also about finding yourself and the struggles that come along with it. Eragon is a farm boy at the start and when he is given this massive destiny in the form of a dragons egg, he is launched into the world of adulthood and all of the lovely things that come along with it, like killing the most powerful person in the country.
I think this really reflect us teenagers as we are
making the transition from our junior years of high school to our senior years.
Maybe I’m only making these connections because I’m going though this
transition right now, but the stress is still there. When we are making this
transition, we are suddenly faced with all of these things that we didn’t have
to deal with last year, like social stress and school stress and gahh! Like
Eragon, we struggle with it. I think this is one of the biggest themes in the
first book of the series because my main man Christopher was only 15 when the
book was first published. And I’m 16 and sitting here writing about his books.
Here is a very detailed video review:
I see this happening to a lot of book adaptations and
I get that it to attract audiences and people that didn’t read the book, but
seriously, the dude can hardly act! As I said earlier, this happens to the
majority of YA adaptations. But what about the books that are considered to be
not only coming of age stories, but YA and adult.
I am of course talking about The Giver by Lois Lowry.
The Giver:
Originally published in ’93 as a children’s book, The Giver is one of those books that it
does not matter your age you will love this book. For 20 years, this book has
been taught to 12 year olds as a novel study because the book deals with
intense themes of individuality and standing up for what you believe in. Every
time I read this book, I learn something new, whether it was a rule about the
Community or a character trait. Granted, because this book is used as a novel
study and for that many hate it, but they always come back to it later on in
life.
Here are some reviews and a list of some of the trailers sins: "A Highly Scientific Analysis of THE GIVER Trailer" and "10 Things That Are Horrible About the New Trailer for 'The Giver'"
Ultimately, I wont be able to judge the movie until it
comes out and even though I will probably hate it, I will love it for the purpose
of my favourite piece of literature on screen. I don’t know. I can’t really say
too much right now and anything that I do say sound extremely book bias. Yes,
the book will always be better then the movie, but that is really up to you to
decide.
Giver Trailer:
