Lost in adaptation

by Joanne Petty and Panruetai Chitrakorn

There’s nothing better than seeing a good book or comic adapted for our screens. Whether on television or in a movie theatre, it’s exciting to see the best bits of the book on the big screen. It’s a brilliant feeling to walk away from a film adaptation thinking that the writers, director, and cast did a good job, or in some cases, executed it even better.

Similarly, there is no other feeling like the utter disappointment of walking away from a poor reinterpretation. Sadly, that is often the case. What works well on the page could seem ridiculous when reproduced as a motion picture. So, what makes particular ones work while others fall flat on their faces? Though it has always been commonplace for books to be adapted to film, it is now happening more than ever. This is partially a result of recent developments in computer animation.

From book classics to computer animations

The possibility of turning a novel into a computer-generated blockbuster is tempting and possibly why we are seeing so many book-to-film adaptations. However, special effects do not provide justified means of watching films that are bad. Books take a few days to read, whereas films only last a couple of hours and this could be seen as damaging to the original story. In order to produce a film, it is inevitable for parts of the book to be cut out. For instance, in the film version of Lord of the Rings, the character of Tom Bombadil is removed entirely, as well as the story that goes with it. In A Clockwork Orange, the film differs from the book by Anthony Burgess as the ending is completely different. This is due to the omission of the final chapter in earlier versions of the book. If included in the film, it would have shown the main character taking a completely different turn and abandoning his wicked ways.

Straying away from the plot-line

This happens on TV too and in programmes such as Gossip Girl and Sex and the City, the producers took inspiration by using the characters from the books, but often stray from the original plot-lines. It should be questioned if the people who have seen the film but have never read the book are missing out on the original story: “I don’t like it when the original story has been severely altered,” says Tak Cheung, a Fine Art student at Central Saint Martins, who specialises in filmmaking. “Films like The Golden Compass have been changed so much; I’m not surprised it has enraged fans and confused newcomers.” The Golden Compass was adapted from Philip Pullman’s novel Northern Lights and attracted controversy when the film strayed away from the original ending and opted for a ‘feel good’ conclusion.

Hard-to-please fans

Readers know and understand that occasional deviations from the story or character are necessary but like on this occasion it can go too far. Adapted films are far more difficult to pull off than a story written for the screen. An average novel will contain too much detail for everything to be turned into screen time. However, it can be done successfully. Some films are guaranteed to prosper, as there is already an established fanbase that enables a franchise to be created. Series such as Harry Potter have been very successful and even James Bond started life from an Ian Fleming novel. As these series have such a large following to begin with, it makes the odds of a film becoming a success more favourable.

King of adaptations

Stephen King’s books are an especially popular choice for book-to-film adaptations. Pick any of his books and chances are there’s already been a film remake (and in some cases, twice). He is renowned for selling the rights to turn his short stories into films in ‘Dollar Deals’. This means that aspiring filmmakers can buy the right to make a film from his story for $1. These deals, and other subsequent more expensive deals have spurred many classic films such as The Shining, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, and Stand By Me.

Recently, there have been many successful films that have been derived from popular books; at this year’s Academy Awards, four of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture were based on books. The Blind Side, which was released in UK a few months ago, is based on a 2006 novel by Michael Lewis and novelist Nick Hornby adapted An Education, a memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber, into a film. Even two seemingly dull books like Walter Kim’s Up in the Air and Sapphire’s Push (which was changed to Precious for the adapted film) had a tremendous success rate.

New-found fame for adapted novels

Successfully adapted films can popularise the readership of a book that people may otherwise not know of, for example Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Truman Capote), No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy), Lolita(Vladimir Nabokov), and Lord of the Flies (William Golding) all regained popularity after being made for screen. When a novel gains more success because of its film adaptation, it is often republished with a new cover featuring scenes from the film.

“I can understand why it is done,” said Perrie Murphey, a BA animation student at LCC. “It’s obviously to boost sales of something that is popular in the current media, and also the image of an actor who is related to that media hype. “But I would rather see the original artwork that was envisioned by the writer of the book,” he continues. “It shows the writer’s true depiction of the story and so it feels a bit more personal and unique.”

It can be debated whether or not such changes are worthwhile, but ultimately the followers and fans of a book will spend their money on a well-made film adaptation, and they are certainly the primary audience of an adapted film. Readers are probably tougher critics than regular cinemagoers and they can (and often do) make or break careers, and send a bad remake into obscurity. As Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”