Taking books and transforming them into screenplays is certainly not a new idea, but it's becoming more and more apparent just how many of the major motion pictures of the last two years are adapted from books, short stories and novels.
The range, is drastic. On one end you have the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a story which would take less time to read than to watch as it was adapted into 3 hours of makeup marvel on Brad Pitt's face. On the other end of the spectrum, triologies, series and epics which attempt to pack vast twisting story lines into conventional movie length parameters (although most get around this by either splitting said series into multiple movies and/or extending run times). The point is, whether it's James Bond, Jane Eyre or Harry Potter - literary films have become the norm.
Let's take a look at the Oscars shall we?
Best picture: Les Miserables - oh, what was that? A book. Sure, it is perhaps more famously known for it brilliant and successful adaptation into broadway stage musical, but it too was a book. A very early example of the print-to-screen phenomenon that seems to be taking hold with such force these days.
Other major films in the upcoming or recently released category? Silver Linings,
Life of Pi, Anna Karenina, James Bond - Skyfall (only the latest in a long loved series of films of course), One for the Money, Children's book: The Lorax, The Hunger Games (how could we forget?) - and less recently - the infamous Twilight saga, The Lucky One, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (yes, this was a book), Alex Cross/Cross, Cloud Atlas (perhaps that one should have stayed in print form, no?), The Hobbit, Jack Reacher, Safe Haven (the latest of Nicholas Sparks' to be turned into a movie), The Host, Carrie (again), Ender's Game (upcoming)... I could go on, but I think you get the point.
While adapted screenplays are clearly not a 'new' invention, it seems these past couple years have seen an insurgence of novels becoming feature films.
There are two major things that might cause this.
One is a lack of creative writing of origianl screenplays, the other, an icrease in popularity of books.
Please, please let it be the second.
Having just watched The Great Gatsby film adaptation from the iconic story by previously mentioned F. Scott Fitzgerald, I couldn't help but be reminded of the art that is print to screen transferance. Gatsby, I have to say, made the switch flawlessly. The nature and setting of the novel - being the lavish parties of Manhattan in the 1920's, lent itself especially well to visual adaptation, and the cinematographers, costume artists, set designers and visual team did an outstanding job - but it was not just the set that pulled you in, it was the characters, the storyline, the dream-like fantasy which Gatsby himself creates. He is a master inventor continually attempting to recreate himself, and thus, his past. It is the heartbeat of the novel, and so too the film.
this, if nothing else, was captured effortlessly.
But that of course was not all. the bookishness - in the best possible understanding of the word - came through with every expression and movement, from the emphasized visual ques, to the focus on the character of Nick and his writing to the lovely image of daisy herself, dreamlike in the clouds, waving away words of an ever remembered letter. The references back to the original work were many and expertly used - not overdone or overly relying on the fame of the novel previously, but simply drawing on not only the story, but that which it stands for.
Straying very little if at all from the original plot, Gatsby manages to both stay true to the original work while drawing in a new level of excitement and wonder. The perfect mix, I might suggest, and as such, a huge success.
It is debatable whether or not book adaptations are such a good thing - they have given us such wonders as the Epic Lord of the Rings, and yet vastly disappointed viewers (or at least this viewer) in the case of One Day or Cloud Atlas. I'm glad to say the latest did not do so.
It is, however, with a careful hand I praise it, lest we get carried away. Adaptations may be brilliant, but let us not forget the works from which the originate, nor forget to pay tribute not only to the writers, but the very works.
In simple terms, some movies are awesome and are so because of the books that came before - so don't ever stop reading.
-Q
