Okay, let me preface by saying I know I do this to myself and I should probably just learn from past mistakes and stop getting on reddit to discuss things I love but..
I think there are a lot of fans of fantasy that don’t deserve tv/film adaptations of their favorite works. We’ve all heard it so many times: “The book was better.” And that can be and is often true, in a way. But fantasy fans, especially on reddit, take it way too far and it kinda puts a damper on my excitement.
I am starting to think that there’s no pleasing some fans and *because they cannot be pleased*, they want everyone to hate the show/movie as much as they do. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone feels differently about the way they relate to books. That goes both ways.
I don’t want to accuse anyone of not understanding things, but I genuinely think that a lot of displeasure from film and tv adaptations stems from a lack of understanding of fantasy writing and screen writing and the differences between the two. I don’t know why but I am predisposed forgive differences in story if the changes still result in a fun, engaging, and interesting piece of film/tv. Even if the changes don’t make sense to me. Maybe I just have lower standards than everyone else. I just don’t get why fans get so vitriolic over the adaptation not being exactly like the book. At the end of the day, the adaptation can and *should* be a stand alone work.
I know this is my problem, but I just get so disappointed when I am really excited to talk about something and I get on here and see so much negativity surrounding the work. It’s fine if people don’t like things, but I really get the impression that some people just want to live in negativity.
How do you all feel about book adaptations?
by five-potatoes-high
3 Comments
I think this good point about people not understanding adaptations butts up against the reality of a decline in the quality of tv/movie production.
The streaming bubble, seeing art as “content”, and the general anti-intellectual attitude in the US where most popular tv and film are produced means most stuff is actually quite bad.
Depends on the work being adapted to be honest. Sometimes works can change things so harshly that it straight up turns into character assassination. Ron Weasley and Tyrion Lannister come to mind.
They changed a few things in the first film, namely the ending dungeon run. A good character moment for Ron as the one that has lived in the wizarding world was taken from him. He has to remind Hermoine to use her friggen wand, because she’s thinking like a muggle. That moment gets taken from him, and several movies down the line, turns into Ron being just sort of a coward that is Harry and Hermoine’s mutual friend.
Tyrion’s adaptation problem is that the adaptation leans too strongly into his fan adoration. They strip away his ugly side to make him more heroic. Book Tyrion is a vengeful, spiteful little nugget. He wants to get back at his family, at westeros, for how he was treated. In the adaptation, Tyrion just turns into a self loathing drunk that occasionally has something “witty” to say.
I’m very wary of changes that don’t keep the spirit of an adaptation now. Especially after netflixe’s The Witcher. I huffed so much godamn copium that it would be good because I wanted it to be, but little changes here and there compounded into whatever it is that we got. I can’t even really say how it’s possible they fucked up so badly. The story is already portrayed in episodic short stories that should have been easy to adapt.
If I really, really enjoy a book series and they come out with a live action adaptation… I’m very likely not going to watch it.
1) I’m not big on movies or tv shows, but I think TV shows are a better format for most fantasy/sci- fi just so they don’t have to flatten the characters so hard.
2) There is not a single one I’ve seen that I’ve walked away from feeling happy. Even the newest Dune movie that I saw in theaters back when it came out. It’s the best Dune adaptation so far and it just didn’t hit for me.
I think it’s because so much gets lost in translation and if I go in expecting the story I liked, I’m going to be disappointed.
However! I love adaptations from books if I haven’t read the book yet.
Like the Wheel of Time. I thoroughly enjoyed watching season 1 on Amazon and I know I’m not going to read the series so I hope they keep going.
Annihilation, loved the movie and then I read the book and I am so glad I did it in that order. If I had read the book first I would have been disappointed because it’s definitely, loosely, based on the book and cosmic horror almost never translates well to screen so all the changes are understandable.
Game of Thrones. Saw the show before I read the books. I actually read them waiting for the final season because I somehow missed that this show existed until season 7 was being aired. Thoroughly enjoyed my watching experience until season 8 happened.
The Expanse is another one that I saw before I read, never finished either series because there was too much space politics and not enough cosmic-alien horror. But I largely enjoyed both in the beginning.
Sorry for the list, but I am a firm believer in watching the show before reading the books for my own maximum enjoyment. Otherwise I do get disappointed.
ALSO, there should be more animated adaptations. You can do things in drawings that are a lot harder to pull off in live action without looking weird/cheesy/bad.