Books to Movies

This is a fairly hot topic right now, I'm sure, considering the fact that one of the biggest sensations since Twilight just hit the movie theaters this past weekend. Yes, I'm talking about Hunger Games again.

Interestingly enough, having just finished reading Mansfield Park (and watching this movie rendition of it), coupled with seeing Hunger Games right on the 23rd, the topic of books-to-movies is on my mind, and I have lots to say about it.

I'll begin with this bit of information about me: I love movies.

I'd like to modify that and say I love good movies, and only some genres of good movies, but just in general, from a creative standpoint, a well-done, beautifully photographed movie never fails to captivate me. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if I didn't want to dance, write, or be a mommy, I'd direct movies happily for the rest of my life.

That being said, you can imagine how I anticipate/dread/feel about books-to-movies.

First off, I think there's not enough knowledge among people about what it takes to make a good movie. The pacing, the acting, the music, the photography-- all of it, so important! In the case of taking a (well known, or not) novel, and putting it on the screen, many people expect to see it done with perfect faithfulness to the book. And it isn't. Once they've been disappointed, they will not have it happen again. After all, movies should match the book perfectly. Every detail should be immaculate. IT SHOULD WATCH LIKE IT READS.

Right?

Wrong.

Fact is, it just doesn't work like that. Hunger Games, as a novel, reads a specific way. It's gripping, it's fast, it's in-your-face... all that jazz. If you tried to take that and put it on the screen exactly as its written, dialogue, descriptions and all, you'd have a long, poorly paced, fairly boring movie. Just think about it. Read a couple pages out loud to yourself, and imagine you see a movie panning out.

At the end of the day, it'd be nothing like your favorite, well-done movies.

This is the point I see so many people missing.

Sure, Peeta's eyes are blue, not brown. (I do confess to bellyaching about that. I mean, in this day and age of technology, couldn't someone have fixed that!?) Prim doesn't have anything to do with Katniss's Mockingjay pin. The muttations are supposed to have dead-tribute-colored eyes. The Avox girl has a role... in the book. But pacing-wise? Importance-wise? These things are details. In a movie, they would slow and clutter. And as we all know, we're an entertainment-obsessed culture, and if it's not fast enough or gripping enough or attention-grabbing enough, we lose interest.

Books are one thing, movies are another.

Movie-makers supply what's in demand.

Anyway, all that to say, before you complain about all the flaws of a director's vision for a book-inspired movie, step back, and view it from their more experienced eyes. Try to look at them as two separate works of art: the book, and the movie. I'm not saying there's an excuse for the sheer awfulness of the Eragon movie, nor am I defending actor-Harry Potter's blue eyes, or the fact that this version of Mansfield Park is so unlike the novel, it shouldn't even have the same title. (In its defense, it only says it's inspired by the book. And it IS fabulous, all this-isn't-true-to-Jane-Austen issues aside.)

All I'm saying is that we need some more perspective. An awareness that novels and movies are two very different things. They're each paced differently, created differently, and often made for a different market and audience. If we can keep these things in mind, we won't be so disappointed when we leave the theater. (Or the TV room, if you're a Netflix junkie, like me.)

That's about all I've got for today. Have a marvelous Saturday!

Best Part of Today: Knocking off ALL my chem homework, thus freeing myself for SPRING BREAK WEEK!
Currently Craving: French Vanilla ice cream.
Music Pick: "Mozart Symphony 29 (2nd movement)" by Mozart (duh!)

I'm Reading: Haven't decided... just finished "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

WIP: Blink re-writes (?? words) ON HOLD!