Zeb White
Asst. Business Manager
As a reader who highly respects the written word, I am often captivated by the wonderful stories that are written by great authors. However, when Hollywood tries to take a story and make it into a movie, the result isn’t always pretty.
One of the best parts of reading books is imagining the characters, the locations and the worlds that are created within the story. But when the movie comes out, many of the details don’t match up with their descriptions in the books. Of course, the movie can’t be exactly like the book, but oftentimes the movies’ directors don’t even try to keep much continuity, such as in the adaptation of Eragon, which disregards major facts about key characters.
Eragon, the book by Christopher Paolini, Was a longtime favorite of mine throughout middle school. Naturally, I was thrilled when I discovered that there was a movie version that had been released in 2006; however, the film I saw was anything but thrilling. Hollywood had taken a wonderful book—full of action, mystery, and magic—and reduced it to an over-simplified love story that had little correlation to Paolini’s masterful tale.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, was a Christmas classic in my home as I grew up. However, Jim Carey’s big-budget rendering of the story in 2000 left much to be desired. It starkly contrasted the original heartfelt tale of Christmas with a darker, stranger version that didn’t appeal to many kids, including myself.
Sometimes, I wonder why movie companies produce so many book-to-movie adaptations. Often times, it’s because the story would make for a great movie, but on a whole, the motive seems to be more monetary. Some book series already have large fan bases, so movie companies may also be aiming to capitalize off of them. Eragon is a great example.
Despite several disappointing experiences, I have found that I don’t have to dismiss all adaptations. When I saw the first Harry Potter movie, I was thrilled because it looked exactly the way I had imagined – the Great Hall with its long tables and floating candles most of all. I know that the movie was criticized for its slavish following of the book, but for me, it was just what was needed; the successive movies have departed more from the sequels, but they retain the overall look and feel of the originals, and so I have enjoyed them as well.
2010 saw a number of book-to-movie adaptations. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader were some of the biggest releases, and also some of the biggest earners. There’s something about the deep stories of books that can appeal to audiences if presented correctly. 2011 will also hold a host of book-to-movie conversions, such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, One Day, and One for the Money.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a particular stand-out from 2010. It held true to its comic-book storyline while packing in awesome action and visual effects. It wasn’t just a straight book-to-movie conversion; the producers of the movie added in a little bit of side story, but it overall held true to the classic comic-book tale.
Here’s to hoping that future movies based on books will hold true to the original story.
