Discussion: Books to Movies: Yay or Nay?



A discussion with P.E. and Mari.

The amount of YA books becoming movies is insanity. It seems like Hollywood ran out of movie ideas or they aren't sure what works, so they go with books that already have fanbases  Why do you think there are so many books becoming movies these days?

Exactly, it's like a YA movie apocalypse  I'm on the fence with this one, I obviously love them when they are done well (i.e. Harry Potter, Hunger Games, hopefully Divergent), but a lot of the time the movie kills the book for me. For this to happen the movie doesn't have to suck, it is sometimes the never ending buzz the follows, it's almost like all anyone can think of is that movie. It happened with Twilight. I was 13 when I read the books, I enjoyed them and watched the first movie a couple times until I noticed it was nothing special and moved on but it seemed like the world was stuck in time. Every year with the next movie coming out everyone would go crazy, name their babies after characters etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the movie is good then sure, but the fan following gets to me. How about you, have you ever felt this way?

I'm a renowned not movie person, which basically means I watch about a little more than a handful of movies a year. I'm not as excited about them as most people just because I've already experienced the story and I'm not always into seeing a visual representation of what I read. For the most part, movies are the exact same story so I don't understand what makes people go crazy over them. What movies do, that I appreciate, is highlight some of the best of YA. How many people got into reading after Twilight became a huge hit? Remember when everyone at our school was reading The Hunger Games? People get to see that cool stories come from books, and then maybe it can push them into reading more. However, I still enjoy TV shows based on books much more. 

That's definitely a plus side of movies based on books but how about when the movie doesn't do justice to the book. I'm not inclined to reading a book before watching the movie, and it works out fine when the movie is good. But movies that don't do a good job portraying the book kind of kill the book. Have you had that problem? This can apply even if you read the book before. It's partly what's kept me from watching the City of Bones while it was in the cinemas. I don't want to take that chance with one of my favourite series. Somethings are just better off being left the way they are, books are a great medium of entertainment and if done well their story can be a great movie but is it really necessary to make a movie? I can't answer that fully because I'm dying for the Divergent movie but I don't think I would've minded if the theory never caught my attention. You?

It's for this reason that I won't watch The Fault in Our Stars movie. I'm more emotionally connected to books than movies and that book wrecked me. I want to keep that between me and the book, and while the movie may be excellent, I don't want to give up my mental images of all the characters. Even if a movie is excellent it changes the way I view the characters when I read and sometimes I don't want that.

I think we both agree that movies are great. They bring more attention to books we love, they present them in another light and widen their reach. But there are risks associated with them, risks that sometimes we don't want to take. So while it's fun that all of these great books are being turned into movies, I think it's only fair that some hesitation is present as well. After all, movies can be hits or misses and as book lovers it hurts to see our favourite books fail on another stage. 


What do you think?


10 comments:

  1. I think I tend to watch pretty much all movie adaptations of YA books. I mean, you've got nothing to lose. Watching the movie isn't going to "ruin" the book- they're separate works of art. I guess I can see your point in giving up mental images of characters, but that's not really an issue for me because I VERY rarely am able to actually picture characters in my mind.
    So yeah, while reading the book may affect my opinion of a movie, it's never happened that the movie has affected my opinion of a book.

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    1. That's pretty cool then. I actually wish I was more like that tbh. To each their own, I guess.

      -P.E.

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  2. I ultimately hate movie adaptions. No matter how good they do it, I just do not love them enough. Because movies are movies and books are books. Occasionally if it works I am like yeah they did good. Some of the most popular movies are books hence Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Lord of the rings, you know so they just love to get money out of all of this. I would prefer it if Hollywood would just stop with the book to movie making because some of the movies I want to read the books, i.e. TFioS, Ender's Game, The Great Gatsby. You know? I want to read the book but once the movie comes out, it just stops me from doing just that.

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    1. I understand what you mean. In all honesty though, I tend to read the book before it becomes a movie just because it tends to have lots of hype around then. Then there's the other side where I've already seen the TV show and decide not to read the books until the TV show is over (a la Game of Thrones).

      -P.E.

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  3. I have mixed feelings about adaptations. I want to see my favorite books come alive, but inevitably they rarely get it right. For all the things they got wrong in the HP movies, I still love them. I still love THG even though they took stuck out. I generally liked the newest Great Gatsby but I hated the scoring. I still would like Hollywood to try to get it right, because for every couple they get wrong, they get some right too. However, I also think the book has to have something to work with. I didn't like Twilight and City of Bones as books and I hated the movie versions.

    Aly @ My Heart Hearts Books

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    1. The problem I find is that it's pretty much impossible to get everyone on board with something visually. I'm sure the producers think every time that the movie they made is "doing it right" even when it appears completely wrong from a fan's perspective. II understand the mixed feelings though.

      -P.E.

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  4. Like Aly, we have mixed feelings. We love the *idea* of movie adaptations, but unfortunately a lot of times they don't live up to the books. Obviously it's hard to trim things down and still capture the essence of the characters and stories; but hard is not the same as impossible! And certain franchises (like Harry Potter and Hunger Games, as you point out) have proven that.

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    1. I wrote a post about this so I won't elaborate too much in my comment, but I think it depends a lot on what essence is there. There needs to be one major, universal storyline being told that can be the basis, and everything else can build off of that. Movies that don't do well seem to be cluttered and all over the place.

      -P.E.

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  5. Couldn't agree more P.E. based on what i heard (since i didn't read twilight) the movie is really different from the movie. I agree that Warner Bros gave justice to the Harry Potter novel. Thought I still haven't read the City of Bones, heard that just like twilight, its totally different Jace in the novel is really SARCASTIC!!! and one more thing he is described as very handsome..many imagine a somehow Alex Pettyfier guy (no offense meant to the guy who played Jace) Anyway, best of luck for Divergent. I hope it lives up to the expectations of the fans.

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    1. A lot of people would disagree with me, but I think Alex Pettyfer was closer to my image of Jace then the guy they casted. I do hope Divergent turns out good. I already love the actor playing Four, just based on appearance, even if he isn't the four I imagined.

      -P.E.

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What do you think?