Dear Hollywood,
There was a time when I got excited about a book being turned into a movie. Matter of fact, one of the reasons I used to pick up a book is because there were talks of it being a motion picture. That was, however, before I got into the YA genre. That was also before I faced a steady streak of disappointment from those movies.
You see, out of all the movie adaptations I saw, very few actually impressed me. Face it, a movie will NEVER measure up to a book. Ever. There is always going to be disappointment on the reader's behalf. But I'm sure you already know this. Why I wonder is, why the (not so recent) interest in YA books? Did you know there's at least 13 books scheduled for production 2013/2014? Of course you did. That's only the movies, buddy. There's the TV shows too (does Delirium ring a bell?)
Now I won't rant for the entire post. Matter of fact, there might be a good thing or two from this explosion of movies to be released. It will get more readers into the genre. A lot of people, myself included, was lured into the YA genre because of The Hunger Games movie.
Speaking of THG, it's probably one of the few movies that didn't disappoint. Great cast, great acting, and it stayed as true to the book as a movie can be. Did this apply to all the other adaptations? Not really. You see, the thing is, IMO Hollywood is constantly looking to produce a franchise, not 120 minutes of amazeballs that the trailers always promise. They cast the ridiculously abtastic guy, and the ridiculously fit girl to make sure it'll be a hit amongst the young adult genre. Looks come first, acting later. I can't really blame the producers for wanting to make butt loads of money out of a movie. After all, that's why they do it. But can you not turn it into a cheese fest? Does is have to be a completely shallow movie that resembles nothing of the original book? It's like they're constantly trying to find the new Twilight. Oh, and don't even get me started on that one.
You know what my biggest fear is? That a movie screws up so bad, it derives people from reading the actual book. There has been talks of Daughter of Smoke and Bone turning into a movie. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the news. DoSB is one of my favourite books. If you screw this one up, Hollywood, there's going to be hell to pay.
Fear me, Hollywood!
You see, DoSaB is brilliantly written. My little mind can't quite grasp how this magnificence of words can be turned into a movie.
What if you cast the wrong people?
What if you leave out important parts?
I don't think I can take that.
Dear Hollywood, I used to love it when you made books out of movies. But that was before I realized I don't a movie to visualize the words in a book. Before I realized that every reader has a better director inside of his head than you'll ever have. Unless you make a masterpiece out of a masterpiece, don't bother.
Just.Back.Off.
Sincerely,
Book lovers like myself.
What if you cast the wrong people?
What if you leave out important parts?
I don't think I can take that.
Dear Hollywood, I used to love it when you made books out of movies. But that was before I realized I don't a movie to visualize the words in a book. Before I realized that every reader has a better director inside of his head than you'll ever have. Unless you make a masterpiece out of a masterpiece, don't bother.
Just.Back.Off.
Sincerely,
Book lovers like myself.
I don't know, I'm sort of pro the movies :) If for not other reason than it gets more people reading. My neighbour's been seeing the trailer for City of Bones and finally she couldn't take it any longer and went out to buy the book...her first book buy in over five years (age of her eldest child).
I was sort of disappointed with The Host, but I liked the set...the movies don't often get the character depth pinned down, but I'm usually impressed by the world building.For these movies I think costume designers, make up artists and special effects teams come into their own.
I totally agree with you. The thing I love about movies is that they encourage more and more people to read. Friends of mine who never so much as pick up a book, starting reading Twilight when it was a big hit. Not many people are interested in reading where I come from (Egypt) and I keep pushing them to read to no avail. It's usually the movies that get them into reading the original book.
I think it's harder, however, for people who regularly read to see the movie. Personally, I find my self to be more critical than I usually am while watching a movie. Do I love the costume designs and decor? Absolutely! Take the Harry Potter movies for an instant. However, as you said, the character depth and the scenes that get left out are usually a disappointment.
P.S: I can't wait for City of Bones either ;)
How can I not agree with this post?! I can name very few books-turned-movies that were not complete disasters. They almost always leave out important information or change things - sometimes that could be better than the original stuff, but most often it's not.
And I totally agree about the Twilight thing! It's like the second Twilight became this big thing, they started making movies out of books in hopes to find something better (The Hunger Games is a success for me, though, I absolutely loved Jennifer Lawrence). I wish they would take it easy and actually make a movie worth watching. I haven't watched Beautiful Creatures yet, because I didn't like the book but the effects (at least in the trailer) seem good... still on the fence though.
This is a great post! You pretty much put everything I thought into words.
I'm with you on this one! Probably the only good thing that came out of Twilight movies is the attention books like THG got from producers. Although I think a Hunger Games movie would have been made either way. And Jennifer Lawrence? I freakin' adore her! So down to earth, and really talented.
The thing is, with movies, it's always about the money. They disregard any artistic efforts put into the actual book, and skip to the "interesting" scenes. That's why many of our favorite scene are usually skipped in movies.
Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you liked the post, Eve :)