Movies based on books - a good thing or not?

[Kitkat3]

The part that really annoys me is that I have a certain picture in my head of what the characters look like and act like, so when I see a movie based on a book it normally isn't anything like what I pictured. Then if I try to read the book again, I'm going to see the characters and such from the film. It annoys me to no end that the little world I created while reading is ruined whenever I see the movie version.

[DATo]

You pose a very interesting psychological question regarding how we interpret the "vision" of the artwork with regard to its counterpart presentation in cinema or literature.

Regardless of the medium in which it is presented we all bring our own personal life experience to anything we interpret through our senses to art. For this reason most artists, filmmakers, and writers are reluctant to express their own interpretations and force the viewer or reader to form their own impressions, interpretations and conclusions. Personally I hate that. I would actually prefer to know what the creator of the work had in mind. But in regard to transitioning one medium to another, in my opinion when a writer or filmmaker creates a work which is intended to reflect the work of an artist in another medium and their efforts "connect" with the majority of readers or viewers then I would say they have succeeded.

Some books-to-movies which filled this criteria to my satisfaction and currently come to mind are: The Godfather, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Hunger Games. In each of these films I feel the moviemaking franchise perfectly adapted the book in all its aspects to the movie. Obviously for the sake of economy and viewing time many things must be deleted from the movie version, but in each of the examples I've given above I feel that the movie's interpretation was excellently, if not perfectly, rendered.

Now Kitkat3, here is where i might surprise you - I had actually read the books: The Godfather and To Kill A Mockingbird before I saw the movies and yet the movie characters were absolutely perfect representations of the characters I imagined in my mind when reading the books; conversely, I had seen the movie, The Hunger Games first and yet when I read the book and came to parts which had not been included in the movie I honestly thought (while reading the book) that I had seen these scenes in the movie.

So to sum up - I don't think there are any hard and fast rules regarding movie first or book first, I just think that if the people making the transition to the other medium know their business and are talented enough the transition will be seamless.

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[Katherine Smith]

I agree with the author of this post because many movies that have been based on books are often "Hollywoodized". It is rare to find a movie that stays true to the book because they need to cut it in order make it into a movie. Even when JK Rowling was on the sets of all of the Harry Potter movies, there were still parts of the book that were cut.

[Chitopogi]

Movies based on books? Even if a movie is certified to be based on a true to life story, the director has to deviate somewhat in order to have climaxes and keep the audience at the edge of their seats. No movie is as good as its book. In the book you can let your imagination run wild. Now, with CGI, movies are closing the gap between a book and its movie. However, the human imagination still wins out by a mile. And the book is the proper media for that.

[hazelk]

For me I find that it is impossible to capture all from a book to the screen, books are best and I am sure lots of readers miss out on a great read thinking they know all!!

[lilytepait]

Expectations vs. Reality
the more time we read the more our expectations grow.

[simon joseph]

it is a good thing when it comes to business as the the author makes twice the money and if unlucky his/her book hasn't sold well the movie will compensate or it can be loose loose situation but in most cases it is not
But when it comes to context delivery question it is beyond doubt that movies can not convey the context that has been covered by the book I watched Lot of such movies and non of them delivered the book context at least by 70%
I would always recommend a book over a movie when it comes to context delivery and which context delivery is the most important part when I read a book , I will strongly say movies based on novels good business idea but not a realistic way of understanding what the book and the author covered

[Meggie Lou]

I have come across books that I have loved more than the movie (more often than not), but then again I have also liked movies more than the books. It really depends on my mood.

LOTR movies are better than the books to me, but the Hobbit was so much better as a book. Harry Potter is amazing either way. One of the books that I read this year was Warm Bodies. The book was great, but the film brought something a little more interesting to the characters. The changes they made were intelligent and turned the story into a wonderfully identifiable visual adaptation.

I don't think there is a definitive answer that I can give, but I enjoyed the topic.

[Tomiwa]

i would rather some books are made into movie

[TheWriteAngel]

There are quite a few movies based on books that have done justice to the story - LOTR, The Hunger Games, etc. Then there were movies that were utter disasters such as Eragon.

[meteku4]

I think books give more details. I guess we often take description of places, for instance, in movies for granted, whereas in books, the author painstakingly gives those details. But I think both have their pros and cons

[CindyAuthor]

It highly depends on the director and his experience with the genre. It can be seen as a very daunting journey to take.

[Mely918]

I like seeing what movie producers' and writers' take is on books that I have read, but at the end of the day I'm more likely to prefer my own imagination over that of somebody else.

[Monemvasia2018]

A very long time ago in high school I had a similar question about William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and I gave them both equal credit because on the one hand, the play has passages where someone speaks to the audience of one's deep thoughts (the conscience) and on the hand the splendour of the visual scenery and costumes and the special effects to make it more realistic for the audience which can immensely be appreciated.

[Aubrey Lewis]

I don't really mind watching movies based on books just as long as the movie captures the most significant element, quality, or aspect of the book being adapted