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Bookish Rants or Raves: From Page to Screen
Filed in Bookish Rant or Raves , The Crazy Lover Posted on March 25, 2010 @ 9:29 am
6 comments
How many times have we heard the phrase: “Based on…” when referring to movies or TV shows? The tradition of transforming a novel into a movie or a TV series has been going on for the longest time and it makes complete sense, doesn’t it? There are so many books out there and tons of them just scream to be adapted to a screen, any screen.
How many time have you read a book and thought about which actor or actress would represent your favorite character better? To be honest, I don’t, ever. You might want to cast stones, but I hate movie of TV show adaptations of books I’ve read. They never match, let alone surpass whatever expectations I have for them and they always turn out to be a disappointment for me.
I have to say that I do find myself enjoying a few movie and TV adaptations, but only of books I have NOT read. For example, True Blood, I loved season one of that show, but after reading the Sookie Stackhouse series, I can’t really stand it, even though the Eric on the HBO is damn near perfect. The representation of the main characters and the differences in the plot bother me. I don’t really like the Harry Potter movies, though I do always watch them, just to see the visual representation of some things, the changes and additions they made got to be too much for me.
The opposite also does not work for me. I don’t really feel like reading a book that was the origin of a movie or show i have seen. For example “The Notebook”, I LOVE that movie and I have heard lots of great things about the novel, but I just can’t bring myself to read it.
I also avoid seeing a movie adapted from a book i want to read. For example, The Lightening Thief, I will only see it after i read the novel hehe =)
The biggest exception of all for me is The Lord of The Rings trilogy. I saw the first movie and before the next two, I read the three books. In that case, the movies actually surpassed the books with the only exception of the missing “Shire War” that really was a bad move is my opinion.
How about you? Read the book before seeing the adaptation or the other way around?
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I love movies almost as much as I love books. And if I can help it, I prefer to read the book a movie is based on first. I'm not always inspired to read the books though. I do find that if I've read the book first, I always want to see the movie or TV adaptation. If I see the movie first, I don't necessarily always want to read the book.
@Literary Feline
I totally get you! I do feel the draw to watch the adaptation, even if its just to see the visuals… but the other way around is less common =)
I’m almost always disappointed when I watch a movie or TV show based on a book but that doesn’t stop me from watching. Curiosity wins out. I’m also a big enough dork to admit I’ve watched a movie(not based on a book) and thought damn that would have been a better book.
I watched Lightning Thief first, then read the series. I think if you did it the other way around, it is gonna be a huge letdown, the books are fantastic!
And I know what you mean, sometimes a movie just can't live up to a book.
I agree with the Lord of the Rings. Liked the movies better than the books. But that is also one of the more faithful adaptations also. One other that I do enjoy both the book and the screen version(TV mini series)is Stephen King's The Stand. By making it a 10 hour mini series, they did justice to the original book.
I'm the reverse from you on Harry Potter. Have never read the books. But have only seen the first three movies. Just not as interested as I used to be.
Jurassic Park is another example of Hollywood slaughtering books. It took them three movies to finally get a lot of the elements from two books in, but with severe changes to the original plots.
One series that I would like to see on the big screen, for the special effects if nothing else, is Alyssa Day's Warriors of Poseidon. Can you imagine what the special effects groups would come up with for guys who can control water, even use it as a weapon?
@Mama
LOL curiosity wins out for me too hehe =))
@Audrey
Very true and that series is def on my wishlist =)
@Beth
I have to say, the HP books far surpass the movie and if I was in your place the movies would probably have poisoned my will to read them =(
LOTR is def one of the most faithful adaptations! I havent read or watched the others you mentioned, so i dont know =)