Dear Hollywood, Back Off!


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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. 


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