We’ve all seen movies that are based on books, and most of them are not very good.
Usually, the movies are pretty good standing alone, but if you’ve read the book, you’ll hate it. It’s incredibly frustrating when you read a book and then get super excited to find out it’s being turned into a movie, only to be completely devastated when the movie is nothing like the book.
By this point, we should almost expect for the movies to suck, but we keep seeing them anyway in hopes that they don’t. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that the book is always better, and here’s why.
1. The movies take out important details.
Authors pour their heart and soul into writing their stories, but the movie version doesn’t have time to build complex characters or explain background information. A lot of times, crucial information is taken out of the movie for the sake of time, and it often leads the viewers to be confused or dislike the movie.
Characters are also often taken out because they don’t have time to introduce them in the movie, or don’t believe they are important enough to the storyline. This is the most frustrating thing for a person who read the book first, as they can easily spot the missing information in the movie.
Also, for those who loved the book, no scene or character is unimportant, and they don’t believe anything should be taken out, even for time sake. Personally, I’d rather have the movie be really long than for them to take out parts of the book.
2. The movies add new details.
This frustrates me more than you can even imagine. The author took an incredible amount of time to carefully write their book, and then you change it for the movie?
It baffles me.
What’s even worse is when they take out integral sections of the book, and then put in random new scenes that are completely different. I don’t understand why they change so much in movies when they’re trying to base it off of something that is already written. It makes those of us that read the books first hate the movie, and that’s not what movie producers should want.
3. They don’t pay attention to character details when casting for the movie.
Authors spend a lot of time developing their characters, and often give vivid descriptions when describing their physical traits and mannerisms. However, many movies cast actors and actresses that are nothing like what the author described.
And I understand that it’s hard to find someone who’s perfect for the part, but sometimes it’s just ridiculous. I mean, you can definitely do better than casting an actress that’s in her 20s to play a 12-year-old (I’m talking to you, Lightning Thief casting directors).
I understand that it’s difficult to produce a movie that’s exactly like the book, but in the end, changing it just disappoints the fans of the book. It’s almost better to watch the movie and then read the book if you haven’t yet already because you’re not as dissatisfied.
It also makes me feel bad for the author, because they worked extremely hard on their book, only for it to be completely changed when the directors decide what’s not important. In the end, we can only hope that one day a movie will be made that doesn’t make the ones who read the book want to cry with disappointment.
And for those of you that don't like reading the book, trust me when I say that it is always better than the movie.