I know this is a very subjective
topic and feel free to disagree with me. To my mind the book is always
better than the movie adaptation of it.
A lot of details are lost between the page and the screen. A book
works jointly with the mind in building an imaginary world. As for a
movie, it does all the work for you – our personal reading becomes
attached to another person's (screenwtiters', film director's,
costume designers', etc.) vision and imagination.
So I asked my friends and
colleques about their "good book, bad movie" experience
and created a list of 7 bad and flat movies based on very good,
powerful and adventurous books:
| Good book/graphic novel | Bad movie |
| Bag of Bones by Stephen King (M) |
|
| The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (M) |
|
| Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (M) |
|
| A Princess of Mars. Mars Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs (M) |
|
| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore (M) |
|
| Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (M) |
|
| The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (M) |
However, I have to admit that
great films can benefit the reading process. For example, Peter
Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie
helped me get a clear
understanding of the plot of the J.R.R.Tolkien’s
complex fantasy work. I had no problem reading the book and imagining
vivid characters as Jackson represented them.
By
the way, the HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones encouraged me to read
the book A Game of Thrones (the first book in the Songs of Ice and Fire series) by
George R.R. Martin. What an amazing epic novel! And so I return to
my initial statement: the book is always, always better than the
movie.
Posts
Opinions on John Carter appear to be somewhat mixed: some (most?) people seem to think that it is terrible, but some (including fans of the books) think that it is great. And I know a number of people who loved the Never Let Me Go film.
ReplyDeleteWhile I generally do think that the book is better than the film, I do think that The Notebook and The Princess Bride were both better films than books (though I did enjoy the books, as well).