September 12, 2013

TQOTD: How do you feel about movies or shows that deviate from the story line in a book?


This week I’m going to piggyback from my last question about books that become movies. It seems every time I turn around there’s another book being turned into a movie. Maybe they’re running out of ideas… but I love that someone is taking something I read and giving it life (even if it’s not exactly how I pictured it). I start watching, already feeling like I got the jump on someone else because I know who that person is, or what will happen next. But then… uh oh!! “When did that happen in the book?” “Wait, he dies?! I don’t remember that” “Who the heck is she??” “They totally skipped a huge part of the story” Arghhhhhhh!!!!

Has ANYONE else felt the same?? This week’s question: How do you feel about movies or shows that deviate from the story line in a book?
Let me say this first… it’s OK for screenwriters/producers/directors to put their own spin on things! Sometimes you just need a fresh eye to bring the story out. Sometimes a book is entirely too long and you have to either cut it short or turn it into a “Part 1 and 2” series. But to completely change EVERYTHING?? THAT is how I feel about True Blood! The series “based on the books”. Yea sure, maybe seasons 1 and 2. Don't get me wrong... I still like the show and my mouth dropped at the ending of the last episode. But I got soooo confused having read all the books in the series as to what was going on in the book versus on screen.

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER alert… In the books, Lafayette dies, there is no Jessica, and Bill sure as heck doesn’t become King let alone Lilith. (Ok, yea Sookie still pretty much hooks up with everyone, but that’s neither here nor there).

So now you know how I feel about it, how about you?

LET ME KNOW!


4 comments:

  1. You forgot the part about book-Eric without memory being WAY cooler than TV-Eric without memory :P

    I feel the need to cry, slap someone and scream. Not necessarily in that order. I'm okay with putting little extras, adding stuff, taking stuff away that don't really need to be there and aren't terribly important for the story. But what they did with Southern Vampires/True Blood, for example, hurts my reader's soul. It was good, okay-ish and then bad bad bad. I think it's important to be true to the story and to know what the story really is about.

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  2. I'm okay with change. I'm not as excited as most people when books are optioned to become movies. I see the book and the show/movie as two very different things. Sometimes the changes make it better. The Vampire Diaries TV show has a lot of the elements from the book at its base, but it completely changed the plot in a good way. The story is much better now.

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

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  3. Honestly, if I see the movie or show before reading the books, I am okay with major changes.
    If I happen to read the book/s beforehand, the changes drive me insane! I haven't read the Sookie series, so I was okay with watching it.
    I read a few of The Vampire Diaries before the show came out and couldn't stand the fact that Elena looked completely different than what she was supposed to, not to mention that she had a brother instead of a sister and an important character that was in the book was cut from the show.
    I stopped reading them and watched the show because my family did. Lol.
    The only one I wasn't disappointed in the movie where I read the book first was The Hunger Games. :)
    Great topic though!

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  4. I hate it when this happens. If the book was good enough to turn into a movie or show then why change it? If a producer wants to change the book then they should consider doing a movie that is not related to the book.

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