Are film adaptations of books a good thing? - Lizzie Chan

Reliving the journey you’ve experienced when you flipped through the musty pages of books on the silver screen can be a golden opportunity for you to feast your eyes on fantasy – or just another golden opportunity to get your imagination crushed. Sounds familiar to you? Well, this ordeal is definitely common to Lizzie Chan, a geeky girl who spends her time reading through dusty books and watching movies.

With the technology we have developed today, books can be turned into movies in an instant. Some of these film adaptations are definitely worth watching but there are also some that make you want to scoop your insides out.

Take Harry Potter for instance. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter but if I have to pick between the films and the books, I would pick the latter without a single doubt. The truth is, I do enjoy watching it on screen but the films lack the oomph the book possesses. Watching Harry and his cohorts running through the Forbidden Forest was definitely not the way I pictured when I read it. Film adaptations murder our imagination skills because they deter us from thinking out of the box by providing ready-made visuals for us.

Most film adaptations can never fit the whole storyline of the book in it. If they were to do that, you would have to sit through more than five hours of Lord of the Rings, instead of their usual three hours (not that I am complaining but some people cannot sit through that). With that in hand, some of our favourite parts in the book would not make it into the film, therefore it would ruin the storyline for us personally.

However, not all film adaptations are a bad thing. Although they might rob the imagination of the creative audience, they actually provide an avenue for those creativity deprived to enjoy the story as well.  Look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for example. The vast world of candies they created from the depths of Roald Dahl’s book offers a look into Willy Wonka's factory to those who are not able to visualise it as they read.

Besides that, film adaptations also provide a wider audience because people nowadays do not read as much as they should. With that. they can enjoy the storyline like those who read the books (although not as much).

Verdict:  Personally, I never had a thing for movie adaptations of books because I think it kills the main objective of reading. Why would you want to see your favourite books in someone else’s perspective when you can perceive it your own way in the comfort of your own home?

Next Week:  Film Adaptations of Books - How Do They Do It?