I almost never see a wonderful book made into a wonderful movie.
I hesitate, then, to condemn a great book
to new life as a bad movie.
I'm afraid I have to say that
I'd rather keep my wonderful books
as wonderful books.
My short answer is none.
How about you?
Are there movies you would, bravely,
have made from your favorite books?
Re-posting, from September of 2013,
and from April of 2011,
previous blog posts with this prompt,
in its entirety. Here's the original, with comments,
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I absolutely see what you mean! I know one great book which became a great movie: Ian McEwan, Atonement. recently I read = listened to my first Harry Potter. Stephen Fry does the reading. I enjoyed it very much, then I saw number two and three as movies and I think very much got lost. Stephen Fry is now reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to me.
ReplyDeleteSo many disappointments for me.
DeleteI think it can be done well, but most of the time it is done well when they diverge from the original material enough to be seen as a separate entity. Case in point: Walking Dead (or, recently, Game of Thrones). But I see what you mean :) I am still pissed at the Neverending Story film... Gah.
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary TTT
Maybe you are right. Maybe it's expectations that cause the problem.
DeleteI can understand where you're coming from, but I also think it's important to look at books and films as two completely different mediums. Personally I love adaptations because I love finding out why the director chose to adapt a book the way they did; if something isn't how I pictured it then it can be a little disappointing, but it's also fascinating to see just how different everyone's imagination is. How boring would it be if we all thought exactly the same thing!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I love this post. And I get what you mean, although I've seen some pretty good adaptions. I just think it's hard to compare, and movies are almost never as good as the books. But I keep on hoping.. ;) Thanks for stopping by my TTT earlier!
ReplyDeleteI'm protective of the books I really love and wouldn't want to see them turned into movies. However, there are books I've enjoyed that I'd like to see in movie/TV form. As long as the spirit of the original is in the adaptation I'm normally pretty happy.
ReplyDeleteSometimes adaptations are done incredibly well, but I'm so protective about a lot of the books I love. I would love to see so any of my favourites on screen, but only if they were done beautifully.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
I get what you're saying completely and mostly agree with you. However, there have been movies that I liked better than the books. Hey, that would be a good blog post topic. May do it. Anyway, my list of those would include The Jane Austen Book Club, Practical Magic, and How To Make An American Quilt. Just to start. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your take on this topic! I completely get what your saying. I like to think of movies and books as two separate things. I don't try to compare the two, I find I can enjoy them for very separate reasons. For example How to Train Your Dragon, the book and movie are not alike in the least. But, I enjoyed them both tremendously. I always hope that it encourages children to want to pick that series up and read it.
ReplyDeleteThat is the problem of course - it so easy to go wrong with an adaptation! I have seen many good adaptations however and even a few (*gasp*) which improve on or at least offer something different from the books they are based on. I love mysteries and the BBC has adapted many into shows that I love. All that said, there is nothing like the disappointment of an adaptation gone wrong!
ReplyDeleteI will say I saw the movie first about the man who goes from poverty to become a stockbroker and then tried to read the book...the movie was sky-high-better.
DeleteI feel this way a lot, but there are books I love as movies even if they're different (such as Lord of the Rings), though that's pretty rare. However, I believe the BBC does a really good job with classics, and I agree with Brenda about How to Train Your Dragon.
ReplyDeleteSo here's my list: http://rlhendrian.blogspot.com/2015/06/top-ten-tuesday-top-10-books-id-like-to.html
Yes. You guys are making me think a little more about this. I'm honestly not a movie-hater.
DeleteI tend to like the movies that are made. Sure, they are different, but I suppose I respect them for their creative medium just as I do books. But I know a lot of people feel the same as you. :) I agree with Rebekah (above) who mentioned BBC. They usually do amazing things with their adaptations. :)
ReplyDeleteI find that bad books sometimes make great movies, while great books often make bad movies. I think it's often a question of nuance--a good book can delve deeper into characters and present more complexity in plot and theme than a bad movie can, but a good movie tends to streamline awkward or meandering plots and flesh out tepid characters of bad books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a thoughtful reply.
DeleteI've seen a ton of movies keep faithful to the books and just come out all-round excellent. XD I'd happily watch every and any adaption!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
I want all of my favorite books to become movies. I don't know why though. Every movie made from a book is lesser than the original and most are crap. :P I complain and moan the whole way through, nitpicking everything. Still, I finish a great book and I'm all "Oh, please make this into a movie". I'm dumb like that. :P
ReplyDeleteCayt @ Vicarious Caytastrophe
Of course books are usually always way better .... but sometimes even though the movie adaptations differ ... there are ones I have enjoyed. Out of Africa, Sophie's Choice, Ordinary People. And there's The Martian coming out in Nov.
ReplyDelete