Adapting stories for screen

Lanolin

Lanolin

I don't know about you but I am a big reader and it's exciting when a book you have read gets turned into a movie, because you want to see how the story looks like visually I guess if it's like how you imagined it would be.

How disappointing then is it when a well-loved classic book gets adapted to the screen and the screen adaption changes the plot so much from the original that you don't recognise it, or totally messes with a character? I can forgive poetic or dramatic licence for many things and given that screen can only fit so much plot and drama within say 2 hours.

But I groan at some clunkers. Like for example.

The Secret Garden. Wonderful charming book --but the latest screen adaption had Mary not doing much gardening whatsoever and Misselthwaite nearly burned to the ground - which did NOT happen in the book.

The Hobbit. Great fantasy book but the movie dragged out for 3 installments and added extra characters who were NOT in the book.

Anne of Green Gables. The newest adaption has Anne with an 'e' have abusive flashbacks and extra characters NOT in the book, she also saves an entire house from burning down which again was NOT in the book.

Little House on the Prairie. It's always emphasised in the book that Laura had brown hair and Mary had blonde, but in one adaption, Laura had BLONDE hair.

Noah - This movie adaption had extra characters not in the biblical story trying to kill Noah.

Is it just me or is it asking a bit too much for a screen adaption to respect and stay true to the story or characters? Then you can say this is a screen adaption of a great story instead of this is a travesty/mockery of the original!
 
I agree with you Lanolin
When I was a child my favourite book was Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. When the film came out I was very excited and I lived the film.

When a biblical film comes out I get excited, but rarely do they stick to the story as it is written in The Word of God. I get disappointed at this and even a bit angry. It is deception when they add things or twist things that belong to God.
It is not just the cinema the theatre dies but too. One of my favourite people in the Old Testament is Joseph. When the musical came out I took my friend to see it. I think it was 'Coat of Many Colours' ?
All of a sudden Elvis appears in a motor bike. It ruined it for me. I liked Elvis but it had nothing to do with the story.
 
Lanolin said:
How disappointing then is it when a well-loved classic book gets adapted to the screen and the screen adaption changes the plot so much from the original that you don't recognise it, or totally messes with a character? I can forgive poetic or dramatic licence for many things and given that screen can only fit so much plot and drama within say 2 hours.
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That’s my usual experience and has now become my usual expectation.
Lanolin said:
Anne of Green Gables. The newest adaption has Anne with an 'e' have abusive flashbacks and extra characters NOT in the book, she also saves an entire house from burning down which again was NOT in the book.
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Probably closer resembling Jane Eyre, besides, this rendition has cross dressing, hints of homosexuality, etc., I’m sure not in the original story.
 
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Cosia said:
I agree with you Lanolin
When I was a child my favourite book was Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. When the film came out I was very excited and I lived the film.

When a biblical film comes out I get excited, but rarely do they stick to the story as it is written in The Word of God. I get disappointed at this and even a bit angry. It is deception when they add things or twist things that belong to God.
It is not just the cinema the theatre dies but too. One of my favourite people in the Old Testament is Joseph. When the musical came out I took my friend to see it. I think it was 'Coat of Many Colours' ?
All of a sudden Elvis appears in a motor bike. It ruined it for me. I liked Elvis but it had nothing to do with the story.
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Oh yes I remember that part, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (though I don't suppose there was technicolour or Elvis thousands of years BC!) . I thought that part was played for laughs and obvious anachronism....(?!)
 
Thank you Lanolin for the correct title.
Yes loads of people laughed and even cheered. I have got a sense of humour but I didn't find that funny, it spoiled the true story.
 
Cosia said:
Thank you Lanolin for the correct title.
Yes loads of people laughed and even cheered. I have got a sense of humour but I didn't find that funny, it spoiled the true story.
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yea depending on how it's played, it can be a bit jarring.
It would be like having Marilyn Monroe appear in Les Miserables.

Most stories, or fiction, you kind of have to suspend your disbelief but there are limits as to what you will accept.
 
I think the Anne with an 'e' departed a bit more from the original than necessary in it's tone. Some characters were changed completely.
It kind of lost its gentle humour in a bid to be more 'edgy'.

While the newest Babysitters Club television series I think most people love that it's updated from it's 80s incarnation. Some characters were changed around but not so much that they aren't recongnisable as tweens dealing with tween issues, which is the essence of the series in the books.

Although I still reckon 10-12 years olds are too young to babysit.
 
Lanolin said:
yea depending on how it's played, it can be a bit jarring.
It would be like having Marilyn Monroe appear in Les Miserables.

Most stories, or fiction, you kind of have to suspend your disbelief but there are limits as to what you will accept.
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The thought of Marillyn Monroe in Les Misrables is so funny. That would sure ruin it. That is my favourite theatre show.
 
Cosia said:
I didn't know that. I think she was a very lonely person. She didn't know that millions of people loved her.
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She had a half-sister but she didn't really know her dad at all and her mother had schizophrenia. She was then shunted around various foster homes. She married 3 times and had many affairs, but no children.

I think she had a dog though.
 
Lanolin said:
She had a half-sister but she didn't really know her dad at all and her mother had schizophrenia. She was then shunted around various foster homes. She married 3 times and had many affairs, but no children.

I think she had a dog though.
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I'm glad she had a dog.
 
Haha I found the CD of the soundtrack to 'Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat' so went to play it in the library.
My DP (deputy principal) walked in and she was like OMG...what is this??

You either love or you hate musicals lol
 
I watched the latest version of Little Women.
It's been a while since I first read the book. It was well done, if a bit confusing because it was sort of told in flashback style, like it would skip to 7 years later in the movie.

At the end they make out like it was actually Jo that wrote 'Little Women' (not Louisa May Alcott) or that was what she was naming her story that got sold.
Overall I thought it was good though minor quibble the family looked far too well off with much finer clothes than it was to be as poor as they were made out to be in the book. Jo was supporting them through her writing but it did look like they lived beyond their means in the movie!
 
I watched Rebecca the latest version of Daphne Du Maurier's classic novel, starring Lily James.
Visually stunning, loved the 1920s details but I was a bit put off by it being a bit TOO attractive. Maxim was like a model, and his second wife, had very fake blonde hair which did not go with her eyebrows, and that kind of put me off because his second wife wasn't supposed to stand out in any way. Why did they make her blonde?
The movie didn't handle the suspense as well as I thought it would...(!) which was the point of the novel. When you find out your husband killed his first wife....but you have to cover up for him...
 
I thought about the 1956 movie, Cecil Blount DeMille's The 10 Commandments. We saw the movie when I was 8 years old and remember feeling sorry for Moses when he was wondering through the desert after being exiled from Egypt.

Then when I read the Book, man! Talk about leaving so much out and the movie was 3 1/2 hours with an intermission. I made popcorn and hot tea for the movie. lol!

As a boy I learned about the movie first which gave me a better understanding when I read the Exodus later as a teenager. Then as an adult I recently watched the movie again (have the blue ray dvd) and the acting gives me a better perspective of the Book.

I learned from the movie and the Book of Exodus that Moses obeyed God and listened to the advice of his father in law.

Not all adaptations of movies from books and vice versa work. But in the case of The Ten Commandments it worked for me.
 
Gone with the Wind...I watched the movie first before I read the book. The book definitely has a lot more in it the movie didn't have though the movie itself was nearly 4 hours long.

But I think it did stay true to the book where it mattered.
However, one thing it did which most Hollywood movies do is totally ignore the book's opening statement that Scarlett wasn't beautiful.
Vivien Leigh's Scarlett was stunningly beautiful. I don't think they ever cast a lead character that is ugly or unattractive even if the book says they are not so good looking. lol

Another thing is Rhett doesn't have a Southern accent in the movie. Scarlett does and Vivien Leigh, who was British, had to learn it, but Clark Gable (who was American) didn't even try!
 
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