Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Books turned into movies
In class we barely touched on the fact the books are more commonly being turned into motion pictures. A most recent example would be the film "The Golden Compass", which was adapted from the novel written by Philip Pullman. I read the books before watching the film and found it to be rather dissappointing. I personally felt that the film was a bit crammed. As if the director tied to put to much into the film in a short amount of time. The scenes went by too fast without ever connecting into a fluent storyline. It may be that since I read the book before watching the film that i feel a little unsatisfied, but I wanted to get the perspective of others and see how everyone else feels about it. Whether it be The Golden Compass or some other book-to-movie adaptation.
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I feel like most of the movies that were made from books are not as good as the books. I agree that they tend to to be rushed and that the scenes are not always connected, leaving the story hard to follow sometimes. I guess the reason for this is because people don't want to sit down to a movie that lasts all day or more, so directors try to fit as much of the mook into 2-3 hours as possible.
What I have noticed about myself as an adult reader, is when I go to see a movie about a book that I have read recently, I am more impressed with the cinematography. I am more interested in seeing how a director would adapt the movie than with how it would skew my impression of the story, because it is like a different story but with a similar plot.
But I also notice that when a movie comes out now that I go see and it is a children's book that I read when I was in elementary I am much more threatened and upset with the outcome of the movie. I had such vivid images in my mind about the book that have clung to me for so many years that it is disappointing to see it on screen in such short perspective.
As a kid I didn't want to see other images that others developed, only my own imagination, but now I welcome others representations of the books, but I still cherish my own pictures!
I also feel that the original books are better than the movies they are make into. I have not found a movie that was made a book that I really liked and thought was better than the book. I think when a movie is made from a book, it takes away all of the images that we have created in our head. We can no longer imagine the characters they way we want to because they now have a definite image. I just saw P.S I Love You which is a movie made from a book. I loved this movie but have not read the book yet. I will have to see how it compares.
There's a great article on evaluating film adaptations of books that you might enjoy! It is from the Horn Book (the same journal that published "Graphic Novels 101").
I'll post it on our Angel site under "Additional Resources".
I agree with Emily, that the books are usually better than the movies made. When we did the library/bookstore assignment I noticed that in Barnes and Noble there was an entire section just for the books that movies were made into (The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, Narnia etc) I think that the movies defiantly bring a higher demand to these types of books. On one hand, it is a great way to get more people to read, but on the other, I feel that it takes away from using your imagination. If you have already seen the movie, then you are going to vision the book as the director did. I guess you have to take one with the other...
One of my favourite books, A Clockwork Orange, was one of the few movies that was almost as good as the book. It's always really disappointing when the second thing (either the book or the movie) isn't as good as the first one you engaged in. I'm reading The Kite Runner now and I heard that there is a movie version that is currently out. Has anyone heard which is better? I definitely would like to read the book before I see the movie though.
Im a huge fan of Harry Potter, but not a huge fan of the movies.
Yeah, I love HP, and when it comes time for the big movie premiere, I get myself all hyped up in anticipation waiting for those certain scenes from the book to come alive on the big screen. By the end of the movie I am always disappointed.
There is no way that a movie can put every detail of a book into a 2 1/2 movie.
Books are an object where you can use your imagination and create your own fantasy world.
For me, when watching the HP movies, there is always a huge chunk of the book left out.
Books are meant to let yourself be creative and live out your imagination and thats what the Harry potter books have done for me.
As a child, I was a huge fan of the the Chronicles of Narnia. My mom read us the books, and we watched our fair share of BBC movie versions. I agree that some films tend to ruin the image that the book intended, but I am a big fan of the newly released "the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" movie, and I am anxiously awaiting the release of "Prince Caspian". I believe that one should read the novel before watching the film. This allows one the experience of using their imagination. Then while watching the films, you can get the experience of how other people imagined the books as well.
I agree that reading the book before watching the movie is the way to go every time. Not only do you get to picture the whole story for yourself while reading it, but when the movie actually does come out you get to see how the director had seen it in his own perspective and it could be very different from you had seen in your mind. I also feel that books are usually better than the movie, because there is so much more detail in the books that most movies are limited to. There is only so much you can do with movies, but with books, it's a whole new way of expressing yourselves.
Has anyone read the book "Shrek"? It is an example of a book that was made into a movie that certainly worked for me!
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