Most books are becoming movies now a days. It's almost becoming a trend. One thing I'd like to know is, why cant movies get it right?
When I read a book, I get this image in my head of the what the character looks like to me. The author describes him or her, and I let my imagination do the rest. Movies have a bad habit of taking all our little illusions and smashing them under their heels like a wicked stepmother would. It's not their fault. They're in it for the money. They have to get the most popular actor or actress who will bring in tons of fan base. How many Twilight fans didn't watch the movie for Taylor Lautner or Robert Pattinson? I didn't think so. These actors don't always look like the book characters. Harry Potter had green eyes, yet Daniel Radcliffe's eyes are blue.
Have you ever had a moment when you're sitting in the theater waiting for that one special part that you read in the book and wanted to see portrayed on the big screen? You got your popcorn and extra large frozen coke and are hoping the couple in front of you stops making out so you can focus. But unfortunately that part never comes. In their defense, movies can't put in every last scene. If they did, then each movie would cost way more and we'd be sitting there for about five hours. How boring.
What they do is sort of stick to the main plot while throwing in a few over exaggerated explosion, an epic gun battle while the main character runs around shirtless for a half an hour, and finally a weepy ending. Roll the credits. You can go home now. Bam. You got yourself a movie.
Not all movies do this to us though. A few of them are very good at sticking to our expectations with characters that we cant wait to see in the sequel. Those are the movies that people run out to buy the book of that came out about six years beforehand.
One book whose movie really irked me was Blood and Chocolate. If you don't remember that then read Annette Curtis-Klause's book then go rent the movie and tell me how you like it.
The movie was completely different from the book. The characters in the book that were enemies became family, characters that were important were never mentioned, and an alliance that never happened was formed. I wanted to cry. The most extremely sad part was when a friend of mine gushed at how crazy I was to think the movie was bad. Rushing to my room, I grabbed the book off my shelf and sent her home with one command: read this. She came back in a couple days with an entirely different outlook. Finally I had converted someone to the dark side.
This isn't to say that all book based movies are bad. In fact, there are a few movies of books I really enjoyed coming up this summer that I cant wait to see. I will also go see The Host (whose book came out not too long after Twilight in 2005).
I don't expect movies to have every last detail that I read about. That would be ridiculous. I do think, however, that we as readers have a way of making the characters seem a certain way in our minds. When we see people who don't necessary fit the bill, so to speak, it's a big let down and you go home thinking you could've used that ten bucks from the movie ticket to put gas in your car. Then again, I don't mind an extreme car chase or a dramatic explosion with a dash of gunfire. Action movies are awesome. I definitely will not turn down a scene where there are hot men running around shirtless. I do think that the books are far better then the movies they portray. That's just me though.
So the question I ask you is this: books or movies?
When I read a book, I get this image in my head of the what the character looks like to me. The author describes him or her, and I let my imagination do the rest. Movies have a bad habit of taking all our little illusions and smashing them under their heels like a wicked stepmother would. It's not their fault. They're in it for the money. They have to get the most popular actor or actress who will bring in tons of fan base. How many Twilight fans didn't watch the movie for Taylor Lautner or Robert Pattinson? I didn't think so. These actors don't always look like the book characters. Harry Potter had green eyes, yet Daniel Radcliffe's eyes are blue.
Have you ever had a moment when you're sitting in the theater waiting for that one special part that you read in the book and wanted to see portrayed on the big screen? You got your popcorn and extra large frozen coke and are hoping the couple in front of you stops making out so you can focus. But unfortunately that part never comes. In their defense, movies can't put in every last scene. If they did, then each movie would cost way more and we'd be sitting there for about five hours. How boring.
What they do is sort of stick to the main plot while throwing in a few over exaggerated explosion, an epic gun battle while the main character runs around shirtless for a half an hour, and finally a weepy ending. Roll the credits. You can go home now. Bam. You got yourself a movie.
Not all movies do this to us though. A few of them are very good at sticking to our expectations with characters that we cant wait to see in the sequel. Those are the movies that people run out to buy the book of that came out about six years beforehand.
One book whose movie really irked me was Blood and Chocolate. If you don't remember that then read Annette Curtis-Klause's book then go rent the movie and tell me how you like it.
The movie was completely different from the book. The characters in the book that were enemies became family, characters that were important were never mentioned, and an alliance that never happened was formed. I wanted to cry. The most extremely sad part was when a friend of mine gushed at how crazy I was to think the movie was bad. Rushing to my room, I grabbed the book off my shelf and sent her home with one command: read this. She came back in a couple days with an entirely different outlook. Finally I had converted someone to the dark side.
This isn't to say that all book based movies are bad. In fact, there are a few movies of books I really enjoyed coming up this summer that I cant wait to see. I will also go see The Host (whose book came out not too long after Twilight in 2005).
I don't expect movies to have every last detail that I read about. That would be ridiculous. I do think, however, that we as readers have a way of making the characters seem a certain way in our minds. When we see people who don't necessary fit the bill, so to speak, it's a big let down and you go home thinking you could've used that ten bucks from the movie ticket to put gas in your car. Then again, I don't mind an extreme car chase or a dramatic explosion with a dash of gunfire. Action movies are awesome. I definitely will not turn down a scene where there are hot men running around shirtless. I do think that the books are far better then the movies they portray. That's just me though.
So the question I ask you is this: books or movies?
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