Vlog: Do You Like Book to Screen Adaptations?

People have mixed feelings about when books and movies collide. These are my thoughts—what are yours?

Do you like book to screen adaptations? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs her thoughts on book to screen adaptations. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Why I Don't Have Guilty Pleasures

It's Tuesday vlog day! 

So someone asked me what my guilty pleasures were in terms of reading. And this is (the more eloquent version) of what I said.

Now I want to hear from you: do you have guilty pleasures in terms of books, TV shows, movies, etc.?

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae says guilty pleasures "perpetuate this culture of shaming people for what they like." What do you think? (Click to tweet)  

Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about why she doesn't have guilty pleasures. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

Why I Loved Watching The Fault in Our Stars

Photo credit: theglobalpanorama on Flickr

NOTE: Don't forget, you have until Friday (6/13) to enter a guest post that could be featured here on Writability! Go here for details.

So the TFiOS grand opening weekend is over, and like many others, I saw the movie on opening night. And I loved it.

Movie adaptations are tough. On one hand, we want them to be as faithful to the book as possible, but on the other, movies are not books, and they shouldn’t be handled the same way as a book. Sometimes, staying perfectly faithful to the book means making a not-so-great movie, so there needs to be a balance between making a great film representation of the book and remaining faithful to what’s on the page.

To me, the TFiOS movie hit that balance beautifully.

It wasn’t just the acting (which was incredible), or the casting (which was perfect), or the cinematography and plot and set design. It was the feel of the movie, with a tone that matched Hazel’s snarky, cynical attitude in the book. It was the carefully chosen direct quotes and perfectly timed voice-overs and actors that really embodied the characters just like I’d imagined them in the book. It was respectfully handled portrayals of disability and perfectly awkward, sweet, funny and heartbreaking moments that fit the book so well.

The TFiOS movie was everything I could have hoped for in an adaptation, and it gives me hope for future YA adaptations. Because the sooner people realize YA books to screen can be truly fantastic movies and take them seriously, the sooner people may stop writing stupid articles degrading a whole category of novels and the sooner I’ll see more of my favorites in theaters.

So if you haven’t seen it yet? Do it. You’ll probably love it.

Have you seen the TFiOS movie yet? If so, what did you think? If not, do you plan to?

Twitter-sized bites: 

Why the #TFiOS movie gives one writer hope for future YA adaptations. (Click to tweet)  

Have you seen the TFiOS movie yet? What did you think? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Do You Like Book-to-Screen Adaptations?

Photo credit: *-mika-* on Flickr

Confession time: as well as being a book and word lover, I am a major movie fan. Particularly movies with stunning visual effects that transport you into a world where the impossible is possible and leave you wondering how those clearly impossible things on the screen looked so real.

As a fan of both books and movies, you would think that I would be a fan of book-to-screen adaptations, as they are the crossover of two things that I love, and you would be right. I’m one of those people that sees an awesome movie trailer and digs up the book before watching the movie because to me there’s something special about watching the book world I created in my mind while reading come alive on the big screen.

However, while I usually enjoy book-to-screen adaptations, I’m more than well aware that there are plenty out there who don’t share my enthusiasm for that particular category of movies.

Now let me take a moment to clarify something: there have certainly been some particularly horrific adaptations that completely massacred their book parent, like this disaster. Of those, I am not fan, and I complain about them just as loudly as the other horrified readers.

I think the reason, however, that I tend to enjoy book-to-screen adaptations for the most part, is that I don’t go in expecting the movie to be exactly like the book. I understand that elements are going to be cut, and that sometimes elements that I really enjoyed or thought were particularly special are going to be altered or removed altogether. That’s the way it is, and to expect anything otherwise would be setting myself up for a massive disappointment.

The difference, is that unless there are enormous, plot-altering, character-destroying changes, I don’t let it destroy the rest of the movie for me.

For example, I just recently saw Warm Bodies, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. Was it exactly like the book? Hardly—in fact, they altered the ending in a way that I can’t say I was too fond of, however, the spirit of the book was still there. R’s witty internal commentary and the zombie-love awkwardness and the dry humor was reflected in the movie, and I loved watching a book that I enjoyed unfold before my very eyes.

Had I been counting scenes that they cut and changes that they made, however, I would have walked out of that theater as a rather unhappy person. If you nitpick at a book-to-screen adaptation, chances are you’ll never be happy with the result.

Now that’s not to say that I don’t understand why some people don’t like the adaptations—I definitely get wanting to see something that maintains the integrity of the novel, which is why book-to-screen disasters don’t sit well with me. But I suppose my love of movies combined with my love of books makes me a little soft when I watch adaptations because I want to enjoy the movie. I don’t go looking for reasons to dislike it and I even let changes and cuts slide as long as I feel the book is still well reflected. But some people are pickier than me, and I get that, too.

So now I want to hear from you: do you enjoy book-to-screen adaptations, or do you tend to avoid them? Somewhere in the middle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!