Welcome
to Wednesdays. Every Wednesday I will introduce a new person who has a simular
interest to myself who I think that both myself and you guys can learn from,
understand and take things from. Each week I will post a short intro to the
person, what they have to say and their important links. Maybe even do a
response once or twice.
This weeks guest post is my American friend, Tonya
Polk:
Tonya is a fourty one year old housewife and mum, who ‘refuses
to ever grow up’. She lives in Bangor, Maine, USA. She is very proud that ‘It’s
also hometown of famous author Stephen King’. She considers herself to be ‘an
unofficial expert’ on such things as movies and books, which is what her guest
blog is about. Hope you enjoy what she has to say:
Movie vs Book.
Hey Guys,
This is something I never gave any thought to as a
teenager or young adult. I remember
sitting in a packed movie theater anxiously waiting to see my favorite Stephen
King novel brought to life in front of my eyes.
Having read just about every book he ever published, I
didn't care that the movie didn't exactly follow the book~ who would care when
your hometown author has just filmed an entire movie in OUR hometown?!?
Many years later, after I re-discovered the joy of
reading again (I have to thank Stefanie Meyer for that, and yes, I am a proud
Twihard) was when I discovered how a director and screen writer can ruin a
great love story, or any story for that matter.
Don't get me wrong, not all screen adaptations are BAD
(Harry Potter was spectacular) but for
ME, reading is an escape from reality, like a little personal vacation into a
fantasy land. Using your imagination, getting
your own personal vision of what the characters look like, visualizing the
scenery, smells, sounds...all are very different and personal to each
reader.
Do the directors and screenwriters actually READ the
book (s) ? Or do they just read the back cover and get some input from the
author? Do they understand that readers
have a very personal connection with the characters and the storyline? Do they
even know HOW WELL we know the book, every detail, every love scene, every
detail of every place the characters have been?
Do they even care? Who is to blame?
As talks are in the works and directors are being
talked about,I am very nervous about my beloved "Fifty Shades" being
made into a film. Will the actors be
good enough? Will they pay attention to
the LOVE story and not just the "other" stuff in the books? Will I even WATCH the movie? Or let MY
Christian and Ana live in my head? Seems
silly to stress over fictional characters in a book, but if you are like me,
and love to read, you will understand exactly what I mean.
So now, my thinking is, maybe it's better NOT to read
the book first, that way all expectations are gone (well, except that the movie
is at least GOOD) and you don't find yourself stressing over the screenwriter
leaving out your favorite scene or changing dialogue that make you want to get
up and walk out? Or will the
screenwriter be so amazing and blow all my expectations away? ( Hunger Games
comes to mind on that note).
So which would YOU choose? Book or Movie?
Stay safe,
Tonya
My Response:
Most, if not all, movies are based on something. Such
things as books, stories, poems or even other movies (postmodernism). So this
is a good thing to look at.
When basing a film on a book you have got a lot riding
on the end result, most of the time there is just too much in the book to
possibly fit into the movie. Other times the auther themselves says ‘look I’m
not that keen on that part, can we not place it in?’ but this does make the
fans of the books unhappy.
As Tonya said, we all have our own imagionations and
will read a book differently; we all pick out different immergry that effects
us the most. So when we are getting shown how to feel, it is much different.
A good film, based from a book, that does not get much
credit is Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory (2005) Directed by Tim Burton. Whenever I mention this film I get ‘oh
it’s not as good as the original’ but how can it not be better, when it follows
Rhoald Daul’s creation to the last T, even including the original songs that
Daul wrote?
So I do agree with Tonya, when reading a book you have
your own vision and imagionation on what is happening and directors should take
this into consideration more. They need to make sure that they try and read the
book and consult with the Author, or as close as possible.
Let
me know what you think? Do you agree with Tonya? Is there any films you can
think of that are as good, or maybe better, than the book? Is there any film
that ruined the books for you?
Check Tonya out on Twitter:
Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment