Books have paved the way for our imaginations to picture events in a unique way. In my many years of being a fan of reading, most of my favorite books have been turned into movies. I have to say that I am impressed with the work directors put to make those main characters come to life and on top of that, seeing your favorite actors! But sometimes the films aren’t satisfying or do justice to the books. Sometimes the actors don’t develop their character as well as they should. Nevertheless, books being turned into movies is an amazing thing and I hope we can continue to see more of our favorites books on screen.
Have you ever read a book that leaves you craving more of it? And when they turn it into a movie, you get that feeling all over again when watching it…or maybe not. It is very disappointing when directors change that one part from the book that you were waiting for in the movie. I’m going to take you through a few book-to-film adaptations with interviews and the opinions of my peers and myself.
Let’s take a look at the book series “The Maze Runner,” which is about a group of young adults (called gladers) that are stuck in a maze, surrounded by deadly creatures (Grievers) that are controlled by the creators of the maze. Every few weeks, someone new would join, but they would have no memory other than their names until Thomas joins and everything changes. One of the major details that was missing from the movie was when the two main characters did not communicate telepathically in the film. Another major one is that while in the book the characters died one by one every night, in the film most characters died in one night.
In spite of these differences, it doesn’t change the fact that to me the movies (in case you don’t know there are two more movies) were outstanding. I interviewed my online friend and asked her one question, “Which one did you like better, the book or the film?” She responded, “You know I’m a huge fan of books and it is my opinion so don’t get offended.” I replied with a laughing emoji and said “I won’t.” She continued and said, “To be really honest with you, I hated the first movie. They changed so many things from the book and that made me super disappointed. I will stick to the book for the first one, but the last two movies were awesome!” Everyone has their own taste and she was one of the people that preferred the book over the film.
Now let’s move on to a horror book, “1922” by Stephen King. It was a very short story, but very thrilling and intense. I wasn’t a fan of horror until my brother told me to read “1922” from his collection “Full Dark, No Stars.” The novella tells the story of a farmer who kills his wife so he can keep his ranch and convinces his son to assist in the killing. Shortly after the killing, supernatural things begin to occur. The book is a slow burn story, while the film is the total opposite. It moves too fast and sometimes it leaves you with unanswered questions that the book does answer. Since my brother has read and seen the movie, I decided to interview him. I asked him, “What would you like to change from the movie, if anything?” He said, “I won’t lie, the movie was incredible. All of Stephen’s work is beyond this world, but the book gives you that anticipation and thrill that most people like feeling when they read. The film was moving too fast and it is reasonable since it wasn’t a long movie, but in my opinion I would have loved it if they added more suspense to the film.”
I agree with him and I think many horror fans would agree with him, too. My second question to him was “Would you recommend the book or the movie?” to which he responded, “My recommendation is to read the book first. Many of the scenes in the film have small changes and it could make you a bit confused. That doesn’t mean the movie is bad. It is an awesome movie so people should definitely watch it.” I would also take this into consideration because I am the type of person that if I’m confused with the film I’m watching, then I lose interest. So if you folks are like me, read the book first!
All that said, there are so many books out there that deserve to be turned into films! I am a big fan of the fiction genre and one of the book series that I fell in love with is “The Lunar Chronicles” by Marissa Meyer. This book series is about a part cyborg part human young girl trying to save the world from her lunatic aunt, who is literally a lunatic because she lives on the moon. Another book that would be an amazing addition to films is “The Colossus Rises,” about a normal kid who passes out and when he wakes up he’s in a place with weird kids and people and not to mention mythical creatures. The final book that would make an amazing adaptation is “Lying In Wait,” a book where psychological fiction and thriller are the perfect combination. This book is about a judge who kills Annie, a ‘junkie’, and he and his wife think that nobody will notice she’s gone because she’s from the streets. Little do they know Annie has a sister, Karen, and she’s determined to find out where she is.
I hope that during this overview of book-to-film adaptations you got some recommendations that you are definitely going to check out. If you’re not a reading fan, then I urge you to watch the movies. They’re worth it!
Untold Uptown 