Adapting stories for screen

Lanolin said:
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!
Click to expand...
Being dyslexic I envy people who can get such enjoyment in reading I struggle, have to read the words one by one to get any sense out of what I’m reading
Only to find halfway down the page I’ve read the same line twice😟
 
I watched Diana the musical (on Netflix)
Anyone that's British probably well knows her story anyway, but seeing it turned into a musical... was high drama and certainly entertaining.
And the costumes were great.

If Diana were not a Princess she could have been a Hollywood star or on a daytime soap at least!
 
Alan Heeley said:
Being dyslexic I envy people who can get such enjoyment in reading I struggle, have to read the words one by one to get any sense out of what I’m reading
Only to find halfway down the page I’ve read the same line twice😟
Click to expand...
have you tried coloured lenses or coloured overlays they might help with reading
you can also get magnifying sheets if the words are too small.
 
I can read English quite easily but am still learning Chinese.
Now Reading music is hard for me - I can sort of get the notes but I am totally lost on the chords! I can only really play music by ear I think.

If you are dyslexic probably listening along with an audiobook helps. But I read much faster than I can listen.
 
One of my favourite albums when I was in my late teens was Alanis Morrisette Jagged Little Pill. I found out it had been adapted into a musical play - all the songs now are part of a story.

I read the book of it and it was interesting how they changed some of the lyrics and parts to make a story around it. It became about a wealthy family that was falling apart - the mum was addicted to fentanyl (heroin) the dad was a workaholic, the son was a type A Harvard graduate and their adopted Black daughter was having issues and also having gender identity crisis.

I was like I did NOT picture that story when I first listened lol. For me it was about Alanis expressing her female angst/rage and other emotions. I think it was very empowering and caught the zeitgiest (sp?) when it came out. It became ok to be angry about a guy who used you and give him a piece of your mind! Or to be unsure about life. In song. lol
 
Poor Diana..well her life got turned into several movies after all. The latest one is called 'Spencer' I believe.
Apparently in real life Hollywood producers were considering having her star in a movie like Whitney Houston's the Bodyguard.

Except, while Diana could dance, and play the piano, I don't think I ever heard her sing.
 
Instead of adapting stories for the screen, sometimes I read the other way round and have screens adapted into stories.

Eg the tv show Friends, which was a hugely popular show in the 90s, I would read the scripts posted online as they were so funny. The same with the Simpsons. It would be to get the jokes that you might have missed watching.

You can get books of seasons episodes as well. I read 2 seasons of Absolutely Fabulous that way, the scripts were collected into book format.

There are now Disney films adapted into comic book format, that basically show the entire movie in storyboard with dialogue. And of course you can read graphic Bibles. Like the Action Bible. Although I have yet to read one all the way through. I guess I'm used to the KJV and think any other adaption or paraphrase will miss bits out.
 
I read Jagged Little Pill, the novel.
While I tend to read the story as one about a dysfunctional family, actually the central plot point is a high school teen (who is the girlfriend of one of the sons) that gets raped/violated at a party. Not by the son but by another school mate.

This is actually more common at parties than people think and often expected and the reason it isn't reported as a crime more is that women often don't speak up about it because of all the issues about being believed/she was asking for it/victim blaming etc.

One thing is that consent has to be given, and teens are still learning that. But females are at a huge disadvantage because often it happens under the influence, and more than one guy can jump on a girl. Guys often get rewarded for how many girls they can 'score'. Its that kind of culture that girls have to live with and often powerless to change.
 
I saw Matilda the musical on Netflix and thought it was a charming adaption of the Roald Dahl novel. It had an English cast.
A bit different from the first movie made of it, that was more American.

I have yet to see The Witches, the remake/latest adaption, this one is more American.

Roald Dahl did marry an American wife, but he lived in England. His family were originally Norwegian. I think American children love his children's books just as much as English children do.
 
I love Dahl novels. my kids loved them too.

He is for children as Shakespeare is for lovers of literature.

He was a pilot at one point, and made up the story of the gremlins I believe.

I will check out the new adaptions of Matilda thanks.
 
Via dolarossa said:
I love Dahl novels. my kids loved them too.

He is for children as Shakespeare is for lovers of literature.

He was a pilot at one point, and made up the story of the gremlins I believe.

I will check out the new adaptions of Matilda thanks.
Click to expand...
I didn't think much of the new Witches film adaption. It got Americanised and I think lost the charm of the original movie, although it kept the ending of the original book.
 
Lanolin said:
I didn't think much of the new Witches film adaption. It got Americanised and I think lost the charm of the original movie, although it kept the ending of the original book.
Click to expand...
I’ve just watched the trailer.
I think it looks really entertaining.
I like Anne Hathaway. That will have to go on my watch list.

But I really enjoyed the first movie too, with Angelica Houston.

I notice there seems to be a message in the movie about loving who you are no matter what you look like. Seems pretty Christian to me.
 
I read 'The story of a New Zealand River' by Jane Mander

People would say 'The Piano' movie by Jane Campion was based on this book but there was no piano in this book! The only thing that was similar was a mother and daughter come from the culturally refined part of Britain to live in the bush in New Zealand and there are some very uncouth natives in it.
 
I watched The Crown and of course have read quite a few books about the royals.
My take on it is - I guess we don't really know what the Queen said to the Prime Ministers unless they actually told the scriptwriters. But fun to imagine.

But *spoiler* Diana appearing as a ghost after she died I don't think that happened! (She didn't look any worse for wear, having been in a car crash) However there are lots of ghost stories about royals that got unceremoniously beheaded in the past, so it's plausible.
 
Finished watching The Crown

I guess waiting for the next installment but I notice the actor who plays William seems like a dead ringer for a young Brad Pitt. And his girlfriend looks like Katie Holmes.

I think the later episodes weren't as nuanced as the earlier ones but I guess the royals have become more self aware by then - aware that they aren't quite normal people and actually don't live like normal people or have families the way everyone else does. Its not to say they have divine rights, but there was one epsiode where the Queen meets Billy Graham and she's shown praying by her bedside quite piously.

Though I supposed if they were trying to make the point that the Queen is the head of the church of England the crown doesn't necessarily have an overtly Christian message, though at one point the Queen was worried about her children and saying they were lost and hopeless.

I wonder if there's a movie or series about the Vatican and about how Popes live as supposed heads of Catholic Churches I mean its all a bit mysterious what they do right? Do popes advise governors? They do go round in popemobiles and wave to their subjects from balconies the same as royalty do. They make Christmas messages. They have guards and live in luxury and don't pay taxes (taxes and tithes go to them) ?
 
Lanolin said:
Finished watching The Crown

I guess waiting for the next installment but I notice the actor who plays William seems like a dead ringer for a young Brad Pitt. And his girlfriend looks like Katie Holmes.

I think the later episodes weren't as nuanced as the earlier ones but I guess the royals have become more self aware by then - aware that they aren't quite normal people and actually don't live like normal people or have families the way everyone else does. Its not to say they have divine rights, but there was one epsiode where the Queen meets Billy Graham and she's shown praying by her bedside quite piously.

Though I supposed if they were trying to make the point that the Queen is the head of the church of England the crown doesn't necessarily have an overtly Christian message, though at one point the Queen was worried about her children and saying they were lost and hopeless.

I wonder if there's a movie or series about the Vatican and about how Popes live as supposed heads of Catholic Churches I mean its all a bit mysterious what they do right? Do popes advise governors? They do go round in popemobiles and wave to their subjects from balconies the same as royalty do. They make Christmas messages. They have guards and live in luxury and don't pay taxes (taxes and tithes go to them) ?
Click to expand...

Hey Lanolin;

Ed McVey plays Prince William. Is The Crown 6 seasons and a Netflix series?

I'm sure my wife would love to watch this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top