The Book Was Better
November 14, 2019 8:30 am Leave your thoughtsFilm adaptation; two words that strike fear into the hearts of bookworms.
When Hollywood is in a slump, apparently the best idea is to get a well-selling/best selling book and turn it into a movie. Am I complaining? No…I think it’s probably nearly every author’s fantasy to have their imaginary world on the big screen. BUT I’ve been an unsatisfied movie-goer many a time because of this.
Movies generally have a run-time to stick to. There are also epic 3hr movies too where the story is complicated or mind-bending, a classic piece of pop culture, or where a director feels the story can only be told if they force you to sit in a dark room with strangers for that long…This is going to be about the former.
Usually producers/screenwriters need to change narratives enough that they still follow the book but fit time constraints or age ratings. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (and the movie) is an example I think of a lot because it was one of the only ones where I understood why they changed the things they did in the translation from book to big screen.
I thought the book was excellent; pop culture and game references… but there was a part where I found myself wanting to turn the pages a little faster towards the end where Wade is trying to track down Art3mis and modify what is happening with IOI.
The movie was fast. ‘Real’ characters behind the gamer handles/aliases were introduced to Wade/Pazival quickly. There’s obviously more time to build up friendships and the meetings between Wade and the others in the book. Their reveals on the page weren’t shocking but they were more fun because the build up made the reader excited to meet them for the first time too. In the movie, they come out of nowhere individually, throw a few lines of informative dialogue around so Wade knows who they are and then they team up and get on with it.
I wasn’t disappointed but I didn’t care as much when I saw them.
Some of the book references may also have alienated younger gamers/viewers because the games and characters were from the 1980s/really early 90s. The movie, directed by Spielberg, changed some of that with the cameos by more recent game characters and themes to suit the current time.
Ratings at PG 13. Some things were changed or modified to keep with the rating.
They say “fuck” once in the movie and I can’t remember if they do in the book. I assume this is to do with the audience it was aimed at drawing to the cinema. There are dramatic car races, characters from well-loved games and a bunch of cool tech that younger people are looking forward to because that stuff is coming in the near future…(games are going to be amazingggggg.)
The other big thing that changed enough for me to be disappointed was (SPOILER COMING UP,) when Sho is murdered in the book and not the movie. I remember standing on a train platform as it pulled in, book in my hand, dangling at my side and just staring deadpan at my reflection for a few seconds.
He doesn’t die in the movie because I guess(?) there is something wrong with killing off a cute little kid in front of millions of other kids viewing. I was kind of looking forward to it, wanting to see how it would be depicted and…they never did it. : (
Dialogue is another thing I look out for. It’s so nice to fangirl out when the onscreen character says your favourite line from the book. As far as I remember, they did this a lot in Ready Player One but there was also the understandable measure that some dialogue would change or contain more hint to backstories etc. that would otherwise take half a dozen pages in a book.
“Hey Ever,”
“Yes, Mr Big Hollywood Exec?”
“We want to turn KOS and the Darkrose Novels into a movie or a series.”
Cool, I wrote the way I did so that it wouldn’t be hard to make KOS or the other books into a screenplay in the way of runtime or dialogue. I didn’t expect that to happen or to get a Hollywood deal or something but I have a background in theatre and performance, and writing those types of productions while keeping those constraints in mind, so I’m used to conveying the unseen through dialogue alone if I have to.
I also started a comic strip for Cleo Darkrose way back in the day too so when reading King of Spades, it plays like a movie (hopefully) in people’s heads. There are specific scenes in the book that I’d love to find the time to panel and draw as well as some clothes/costumes featured in the story (the Bridle and Number One’s array of expensive outfits mostly.) These are probably for a future post…
The language/swearing in the Darkrose Novels is something I would be prepared to negotiate if KOS or any Darkrose Novel made it to a screen. Why? Because military or those who have bonded with others in hardship or strange circumstances (like Cleo) seem to use FUCK like a comma…but I understand not everyone knows this.
Okay, Hollywood, I would be prepared to lose some fucks.
But I’m not losing any of the Original Truther concepts. 😛
TLDR:
*See Ready Player One if you haven’t. It’s written in a a way that its entertaining for newcomers AND (if you have read the book) also mostly satisfying.
*Rating levels, time constraints and demographics usually dictate how a book translates to a screen.
*I believe KOS is written in a way where moving it to a screen would be easier than some other books.
*My field of fucks lies barren.