Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Books versus Movies In General

NOTE: Since I've said in multiple blog posts on here that I actually do enjoy some movies more than the books, let me just explain this is because most of the time I read the books second for those instances. But I will get to this.

So, since Hollywood seems to have an issue with developing some original ideas, people are seeing more and more book-to-movie adaptations in theaters. Especially with the success of such franchises like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight (say what you will about the series, it still did really well in both book sales and at the box office).

And there are some pros to this! More and more people can discover the book after seeing the movie trailers and all that kind of buzz. And, if you're an avid reader like me, you have this hope that the

Unfortunately, the movie is almost never as good as the book.

But that's not necessarily the movie's fault.

HOW DARE I SAY SUCH A THING?
Let me explain.

I mean,  typically, when I hear people complain about books' movies they say stuff like "Well it's not how I imagined it..." "When I envisioned this scene..." "If I directed the movie..."

I mean, in the end it's how someone else interprets the words and puts them on screen. It's not like they can enter everyone's imaginations and then see how the book should be done with all of those preferences. That would be tiresome and unlikely.

So, that's why the movies are never better than the books: because it's someone else's imagination projected onto yours and it will always disappoint you.

On the other hand, it could also be the movie's fault.

Sometimes, books aren't meant to be adapted for screen: they don't have that kind of caliber, they're better in the imagination, etc. Which is okay, but it's kind of annoying that the big-wig movie producers out there in Hollywood-land want to squeeze EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR out of the franchise. Which is not okay.

Or they're just adapted poorly. The person who directed it was terrible at it, the person who wrote the adaptation didn't know what they were doing or one of the lead actors had never read the books and are doing it for the money. And that kind of stuff makes me sad because when you are graced with the opportunity to adapt a book into film form THEN YOU SHOULD DO A GOOD JOB BECAUSE A GOOD BOOK DESERVES TO BE A GOOD MOVIE.

Especially since it seems the movies are geared towards those who have not read the book because they want to get a wider audience. You shouldn't do it for the audience you don't have, you should do it for the audience you do.

Those are my thoughts. You can comment down below with yours!

Hasta la vista!

Owyn the Intern