Anyone else loves adaptations of books?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Books
Brommabo — 9 years ago(October 03, 2016 11:10 PM)
I really enjoy watching adaptation of books that I like. There's just something of seeing someone elses interpretation of something I've read.
It doesn't have to be a "faithful" adaptation. Actually the most interesting thing is often comparing the two and reflecting over why the changes were made and if it makes the new story fundamentally different or not. I like to think about the difference between the book and film/tv medium and what the strength each one is. Also what constraints that exists for the visual medium which doesn't for a book.
I've never really understood when people get upset by adaptations changing things. The books are still there and the same, the interpretation does not take that away. Of course if the movie is genuinely bad I can feel upset for wasting time and money on it, but I don't feel like it has let down the source material or anything.
What do you feel?
There is no such thing as too much time -
SunnyBea — 9 years ago(October 04, 2016 02:59 AM)
I'm usually willing to give them a shot. Sometimes, for me, I know the movie will never work and don't bother (and since I don't watch a lot of movies I don't feel obligated to give it a chance - life is short). Or maybe it's just that what I liked about the book won't be adaptable.
As a long time comics/sci-fi fan, I try to view adaptations as AU's. It's a lot easier to swallow anything that is changed too much. As long as it's still good I don't usually mind. Sometimes it even comes out better - not better than the book really, but a really good story that's just different (if that makes sense). -
Brommabo — 9 years ago(October 05, 2016 01:07 AM)
Sometimes it even comes out better - not better than the book really, but a really good story that's just different (if that makes sense)
It does I think. Different mediums have different strenghts so a story can be really good as a book and then a different version of it can be good as a movie.
Do you have any particular books you thought made good, but different movies?
Personally I find books to be the superior medium in terms of telling a story. But viusual medium can have it's perk in just the artistic stuff like beautiful images or music. Or some great emotion in the acting. So I just expect different things from adaptations than the original.
There is no such thing as too much time -
Henry_Framus_Valentine — 9 years ago(October 05, 2016 08:21 PM)
I generally do not like film adaptations of books that I love and tend to avoid them.
My favorite films that are adaptations are based on generally inferior works of fiction. The few exceptions would include
The Loved One
(Evelyn Waugh),
The Man Who Would Be King
(Rudyard Kipling),
David Copperfield
(Charles Dickens),
The Red Badge of Courage
(Stephen Crane), and
A Scanner Darkly
(Philip K Dick).
Liberty E Pluribus Unum In God We Trust -
Cult_of_Kibner — 9 years ago(October 06, 2016 09:23 AM)
I'm of the same mentality as you. I feel like a lot of people judge adaptations as though they're TRANSLations, and the point of a translation is of course to accurately reproduce the original source. It's ADAPTation though, which means to CHANGE to optimally fit the new medium.
The Shining is an obvious example. I always hear how Kubrick failed to reproduce this or failed to correctly interpret that, but how can you say he's failing to do something he's not even attempting in the first place? It's not like he was trying to reproduce the book and just completely f#cked it up at every stage. No, he was adapting the material to fit HIS vision for the movie. William Shakespeare did the exact same thing with his plays. -
scharnbergmaxse — 9 years ago(October 12, 2016 12:25 AM)
I have for at least 15 years opposed the superstition that the book is always better than the movie. It may be better. It may be worse. But in general very few people will be inspired to read a book when he or she has seen the movie.
It is very infrequent that I want a book to be adapted for the screen. The adaption may be better, or worse. Nobody can guess it.
The greatest Danish poet Adam hlenschläger wrote a play with the title meaning "A Midsummer Night's Play". In Denmark this date is still called "St. John's Day". The play has nothing to do with Shakespeare. Instead it was inspired by Goethe's "Eastern Promenade". The play is now and then performed in a live theatre, but it is not really suitable for the live theatre. Many people think that it should primarily be written.
Either way is unsatisfactory. But this is a work that could really become an extraordinarily good movie. The movie form can really master the difficulties.
Must the director have grown up in Denmark for feeling the right mood? I do not know. I have thought about some "foreigners" - Visconti, Fellini.
While I am sure that I would like to see the Danish play on the screen, I cannot say that I would strongly want to see "Museum of Innocence" (by Orhan Pamuk) on the screen. It would be extremely difficult to adapt this movie, but I take for granted that someone will sooner or later take this task on him.