Apparently not.
I just read an article in the Guardian about the movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. I have not read this particular book, but as a reader, I found the article very disheartening. The author herself felt the story needed to be changed for the movie, completely scrapped the ending, and wrote a new one. Um, WHAT?! Did I read that correctly? Was I hallucinating? I really wish I was, but on the other hand I feel like I've finally gotten some insight into why I am so frequently disappointed by movie adaptations.
It seems what filmmakers (and general audiences) feel makes a *good movie* is sometimes independent of the original source material. As a reader, I have a movie playing in my head when I read a book. As a reader, I can imagine how a book would come to life on the screen. As a reader, I never think anything would need to be changed to make a great book into a *good movie.* I always hope that filmmakers will work their magic and simply express the author's vision in a different medium. As it turns out, I am a hopelessly naive bookworm when it comes to such things.
When I read in the article that the director of Gone Girl felt he "held too close to the source material" for his previous adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo citing that as a reason for low box office performance, I nearly fell out of my chair. Admittedly, I haven't read that book (or seen the movie) either, but holding close to the original source material is all I ever want in a movie adaptation, so to hear such a sentiment expressed damn near broke my heart. HOW can keeping too close to a story already loved by many make a movie worse? As a reader, that simply does not make any sense to me. I have never gone to the movies and walked out saying, "You know, it would have been so much better if they changed more stuff from how it was in the book." I mean, that's just crazy, right?
So I guess it is time to accept once and for all that movies made from books are not really for the avid book fans. Filmmakers (understandably) see them as an art-form all their own. I think it is fair to say that oftentimes they look at a book and see what it could be rather than what it already is, at least to some extent. That really does make me sad, but perhaps I can finally learn to manage my expectations. Perhaps I can just be pleasantly surprised when an adaptation does keep very closely to the story instead of setting myself up for failure every time I buy a movie ticket.
How do you feel about movies based on books? Does it bother you when things have been changed from the original story?
I love books to movies. I do agree I often ended up feeling disappointed by the movie. There is quite a few movies that I have liked, but wished for more substance. I wish you the best of luck in the book to movie challenge. I didn't join this year because I don't want to pressure myself into read books to movie this year. I believe I will be back next year. I will still continue to read books that are being turned into movies. Something Borrowed, The Host, City of Bones, Divergent, and The Fault in Our Stars would be my recommendations for books to movies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations! Divergent is definitely one I've been wanting to read -- despite a bit of burn-out on dystopias, this one looks really good! Also Fault in Our Stars is one I really should get to eventually :)
DeleteOkay, I always get really excited when one of my favorite books gets turned into a movie, simply because I feel like it is giving life to the book all over again. The only problem is that you are correct, very rarely does the book to movie adaptation ever live up to my/the book's standards. I usually am always disappointed, and yet I still get excited when I hear one of the books I love is being turned into a movie. I don't like it when they change things, especially things like the ending (ummm, that is crazy about Gone Girl!!!). Therefore I always go into a book to movie adaptation with caution, because a few times I've seen the movie before reading the book and didn't enjoy the movie all that much, so I never end up giving the book a chance. (The City of Bones and Beatiful Creatures are examples of this.) Maybe I would have liked the book since I pretty much always like the book more than the movie, but I guess I will never know. Sorry about the rambling.
ReplyDeleteI get so excited too. Every. Single. Time. Doesn't matter how many times I've been let down, I still get excited when it's a book I love-- if that's not optimistic of us, I don't know what is!
DeleteI do occasionally watch the movie before the book, but I try to not do that too often. I would be exactly like you and if the movie is meh, I might not give the book a chance when maybe I should have!
I completely agree with you. I love book to movie adaptations because I like to see a book (minimally modified!) brought to life. I can sometimes enjoy vastly different movies as good movies even though I think they're bad adaptations, but I do have to get over some disappointment first.
ReplyDeleteMinimal modification is definitely key. I wish I was better at separating my feeling about the book and about the movie adaptation, but I have a very, very hard time doing that! There are good ones for sure, but the ones I enjoy the most are ones where it's been a while since I read the book, making my memory of it slightly murky, lol.
DeleteThe movies suck compared to their books. I read Gone Girl and the ending was the best part. Now that I know that I might have to wait for the reviews before I go see it. I can't think of one book to movie I liked. Not one! I always get crazy excited to see a movie about a book I love then my hope and dreams of the movie get crushed because it is NEVER close to the book. (ie Hunger Games)
ReplyDeleteGood Luck on this challenge I am curious to see what you think about some of your reads.
Hearing that the ending was the best part makes this news even worse! I do like some adaptations, but they are almost never as good as I hope they will be. I did think Catching Fire was well done and better than the first movie. As I said in a previous comment, the longer it's been since I've read the book and the foggier my memory of it, the better the chance I might actually like it!
DeleteI wasn't crazy about Gone Girl, but if there was anything good about it then the ending was one of those things. In case the author herself is rewriting the ending for the movie, that I would call a sellout. Pity because though I don't enjoy Flynn's books that much, I kinda liked the direction she had taken in the writing world, but I guess money has to be made.
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much given up on Hollywood book-to-movie adaptions, they try to cater to some weird audience that I am not part of (people who enjoy Disney-endings and flat characters). But again, that's probably where the money lies.
There are some adaptions I have enjoyed - the first Lord of the Rings movies were pretty decent and not too far from the spirit of the books - but I'd better not begin with the new Hobbit movies, which are pretty much a bunch of incomprehensible CGI-junk...
I love this comment so much! And I have to agree with you on calling this a sell-out situation. I just can't imagine an author doing this to her own work for the sake of a film.
DeleteI wish I could just give up on them completely, but I always think this will be the one where they get it right. Doing this over and over again is pretty much the definition of insanity though, LOL. Will definitely be working on that.
The books are the real gems here (obviously) -- I think they typically choose excellent books to make into movies, so will certainly keep on reading them. It is rare that I watch the movie first, but as we've spoken about, the Game of Thrones show really did spark my interest in the books which I had previously overlooked. But watching it, I can just tell that the books will just be so much more. I think that feeling is something only readers can really understand -- how words on a page can be more expressive and expansive than a movie.
I never really got into the Tolkien books, but glad to hear they kept the spirit of the books -- another case of a truly epic story to try to put into a movie!
I might have been a bit harsh, but I think it's because of being disappointed so many times. I feel like in books there are more often "real life" and more serious/diverse/touchy subjects discussed a lot more freely, which makes you think why is there such a difference between book-readers and movie-goers? One of the things is probably the age requirements set for movies, but this situation is especially ironic because books don't have the age restrictions on them at all, so in case a kid wants he/she can have access to American Psycho with no problems at all. Then again the amounts of money that circulate in book business and in movie business are probably not comparable at all :)
DeleteBut this is an interesting topic to discuss in any case.
All excellent points & definitely a subject open to much debate!
DeleteThere are very few book to movie adaptations that I actually enjoy having read the book first. Then there are the films that I love that I know are based of books that I point blank refuse to read because I don't want the film to be ruined - in my personal experience, the book is always better than the film.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that they have changed the ending for Gone Girl in film version, it wasn't the BEST book I'd ever read but I did like the twists and turns of the book. I can see why the director is dubious of staying close to the writing after his past experience with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (in my opinion, it was just a pretty disturbing film, I would have much rather read the book but the film but me off), however, I would have thought as an author you'd fight for your story to be told as YOU wrote it. I know I would!
I think there is a fine line between a book and a film and when it comes to the adapting perhaps money is more of a focus than the art form in it's original state... That's just my two pence anyway.
:-)
Bits & Bobs
Like you, the adaptations I actually do like are usually because I have not read the book and have nothing to compare it to. I don't do this often, but "light & fluffy" books like Nicholas Sparks are definitely an example. I don't necessarily want to read these books (though I have read 1 or 2), but I think they make good chick flicks regardless -- no award-winning cinema here, but an entertaining hour or two nonetheless.
DeleteI would have thought every author would fight for the book as they wrote it -- I know they only have so much say once the rights have been sold, but to do so much of the changing yourself seems to be taking that even a step further. Maybe if it had to be changed, she'd rather do it herself than someone else? Still can't really wrap my head around it though!
What?? She wrote a new ending for the film? I've not read the book but that just seems ridiculous! I always go see movie adaptations of books I like but I'm always extremely nervous and usually end up angry or at least disappointed. I realise they need to change things slightly but changes as big as changing an ending?? I don't think so! The only reason the movie is getting made is because people liked the story so why would they change it??
ReplyDeleteI know, it's just crazy, right? Disappointment is a very common feeling when I watch these movies. I am so rarely NOT disappointed which has really made me think about this topic.
DeleteI just bought this book for my Kindle because I wanted to read it and see the movie. The next day, I heard this news. Now I feel conflicted. Do I read the book, knowing the author didn't feel her work was good enough in some way? Do I not read the book, see the movie and see if I like that ending, then read the book to see which I like better?
ReplyDeleteI understand when there are changes that need to be made due to length & timing. However, this kind of change? It just breaks my heart.
I would say definitely still read the book. And if you do decide to eventually watch the movie, it's at least good to know ahead of time that such a major change was made. I couldn't imagine going to see a movie like this having read the book and not knowing that such a huge departure was made.
DeleteIt is a love/hate thing. I think you're right though, in that the movies are not made for the die hard readers. The movies are made to bring a great story to people who prefer movies to books (no judgement there... in fact there are certain genres in which I'm much more likely to enjoy a movie than a book) and I try my very best to view them as separate. Still, changing the ending isn't on my "let it slide" list.
ReplyDeleteI think you definitely have the right idea Charleen -- and I guess the whole idea of movie-goers being a different audience than book readers seems extra odd to me because I know so many people, including myself, who are both. Even if they don't all read a lot, I know very few people that don't at least occasionally enjoy reading a book, and we all like movies too!
DeleteI tend to want things close to the source material too, although I don't mind the pace being sped up or relatively minor events being left out.
ReplyDeleteThe original film of Dragon Tattoo is very good (and faithful), haven't seen the Hollywood version though.
I've heard the original film is quite good, but have not seen either. And I agree that minor adjustments do sometimes need to be made, but I would hope they draw a line somewhere (preferably before completely changing the ending!)
DeleteI'm totally with you. I want a movie adaption to hold closely to the original storyline. If it's a good story on paper, it will translate well to film, in my opinion. I was floored when I read Gillian Flynn was going to re-write the ending of Gone Girl for the screenplay. Granted the original ending is totally creepy, but it just underscores the creepiness of the whole book. I don't know; maybe it's exciting for an author to get to reimagine her characters and rewrite her story, like J. K. Rowling's big announcement about Harry/Hermione and Hermione/Ron, but I feel like it undermines the story. It's kind of like saying well I don't like that, so let's pretend like it didn't happen. But it did. I know it's fiction but still. If authors keep changing the endings, how do readers know which one's right or true to the story?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with your last point -- if film-makers really feel the need to tweak & change, I don't like it, but I can somewhat understand. Authors tinkering with their own work is a big no-no in my book -- I understand the desire to do so, but don't mess with original!
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