You’ve been there, right? The movie adaptation of your favorite book comes out. You’re all excited. And then as you watch, your heart starts to sink. You start to think, “No. No. That is wrong. That is wrong.” And it ends up being a total letdown in either character portrayal or the sequence of events or both.
Character portrayal
The problem I usually have is with characters. When we read, we visualize them acting and talking certain ways. And especially how they physically appear in our heads becomes kind of a personal thing for us. Admittedly, this is all subjective. As much as an author goes into descriptive detail about a character, readers are going to imagine them just a tad bit differently.
I love that this happens because then the characters and the story have more meaning to us. We recognize ourselves in them or maybe what we aren’t but want to be. And this becomes part of the story in our heads so much that it is mildly devastating when someone fails to capture that meaning on the big screen.
Events
Changing the events of the story is not as big of a letdown for me as long as it doesn’t affect the characters. However, it still has the power to ruin everything. I understand books really aren’t written for movies, and some changes cannot be avoided. But it’s just not the same story if you change it that drastically. The worst part is when they change the ending. You just can’t do that to me.
It’s sad because you read and you think, “Wouldn’t this be cool to see as a movie?” I don’t think that anymore. I will keep my stories to myself, thank you very much.
Thinking back, I realized three things:
1. I’m pretty sure The Hunger Games is the only movie that I ever thought lived up to the books. Harry Potter is a close second, but I still think reading the books is a better experience.
2. I think I enjoy The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Outlander more than others because I haven’t read the books and, therefore, cannot be let down by high expectations.
3. Eragon was the first movie that really let me down. I can remember being really angry at how poorly done the movie was.
I would love to hear if you have had similar experiences of emotional trauma by movie adaptations. Or if you think I’m being too harsh. I am interested in your thoughts either way.
I think the issue Hollywood has is Teenifying the adaptions. Beautiful Creatures, Fallen, The Fifth Wave, Vampire Academy… As much as I can still appreciate these films for what they are they all suffer that same problem. Hollywood really needs to learn how to make a decent YA book to film adaption. Outlander is one of my favorites because the author is highly involved in production and the episodic telling of the story is the perfect medium. It’s pretty darn faithful too so if you like the show you’ll appreciate the books. It’s just a huge commitment – 1000+ pages for each installment!
I agree with the YA issues. It comes off a bit awkward. Never really hits the mark. Vampire Academy was a perfect example. It was ok, but awkward, like they were trying to hard to make it teen.
I do appreciate the author being so involved in Outlander. I’ve thought about reading the books. I should add them to my TBR.
Didn’t it! Vampire Academy had such potential and even though when I’m in the mood for teen angst it’s enjoyable it could have been so much better. Awkward is the perfect way to describe it!
As for outlander – I haven’t read the entire series but the first three books are really good. When you have time they really sweep you away. I’m going camping next month so I’m going to take Outlander away with me for a re-read because it works so well reading it around the camp fire in nature!
I had such high hopes for Vampire Academy. It was sad.
Ohh, I love reading surrounded by nature. Sounds like the perfect trip!
I totally agree! I was that nerdy kid in school who thought the books were always better than the movies they inspired. Someone in my fourth-grade class even made fun of me for it once, but I knew I was right. :p
I do like the Harry Potter films, but I remember picking apart the first movies because they missed a lot of details from the books (at the time, I didn’t think about the fact that keeping those details in would have made the movies way too long, lol). You’re right about movies sometimes getting characterization wrong: I know I’m not the only person who thinks the moment in the Goblet of Fire movie when Dumbledore yells at Harry feels too out of character for him!
One example of a story I saw in movie form first was The Golden Compass: I actually liked the movie until I read the book and realized how much better the latter was (this was also an example of a movie that changed the ending). The funny thing was that I saw the movie with a friend who had already read the book, and that was why he hated it!
Also, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who hasn’t read The Lord of the Rings. It’s my greatest shame as a fantasy writer! :p
Glad you agree! I remember seeing The Golden Compass, but not much about it. So I probably didn’t read the book. I would remember a changed ending. And I’m the person that sits there and says, “Nope. That’s not how it went in the book.”
Ha, yes. I admit I have not read The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I’m just not a fan of such long-winded writing. But they are both fantastic stories!