Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Welcome to Film, Fiction & Criticism Summer 2010
This is a non-chronological, discussion-based class that examines the relationship between literature and film. We’ll explore the aesthetic make-up of masterworks of literature chosen from the novel, the short story and the play, and will focus on the structure and meaning of these literary works. This blog is your place to play with the ideas discussed in class. Enjoy!
A difficult question to be sure, as an avid Jules Verne fan I've liked "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" for years and even though the film didn't follow the story entirely it left a great impression with its under water shots, magnificent set design for The Nautilus and James Mason is the only person I could ever think of playing Captain Nemo.
ReplyDeleteOther favorites include The Lord of the Rings trilogy because it's the epitome of high fantasy epic stories. An all star cast makes each character recognizable and memorable. Great special effects and use of motion capture that isn't over done (I'm looking at you Robert Zemeckis, and you too Zach Synder!). And an awe inspiring score that begins with a haunting melody continues through with music of playfulness, suspense, love, terror, triumph and and when finished leaves you in tears. So long as they keep writing stories there are going to be movies based off of them, hopefully they'll be good.
-Matt Hecker
There are very few instances where I’ve both watched a film and read the book it was based on, so there isn’t a long list for me to pick from, but I really enjoyed Fight Club. Usually it’s hard for the movie adaptation of a film to really impress me because it’s delivery wasn’t as vivid as the text or because they’ve left out important parts or changed the ending in a way that gives the movie a “Hollywood ending” because of time constraints or because it would be more suitable for the general public, but not necessarily because the story is made better. Fight Club was a great book and also a great movie. The movie did a great job of bringing Chuck Palahniuk’s words to the screen. The imagery really captured what the book was describing and the actors did a great job—I began believing that these were their real personalities. There was one point in the book where it seems as if Palahniuk wrote himself into a corner and he has the main character pass out, and awoken completely fine, but in the movie they filled in this point with something that was believable and it just moved the story along without making a fuss. It’s rare that a movie fixes something that was strange in a book, so this really made the film adaptation great.
ReplyDelete-R. Louie
For me my favorite book that I have that was turned into a film would have to be Harry Potter and the Half-Prince but I do enjoy all of the Harry Potter movies. The reason why I like this book is because I started reading these books and watching the films when I was a young. So I pretty much grew up with these books. I like it because it takes you to a different world then the one that we are in. It makes you broaden you imagination of what the adventures that they have are like. I would have to say that theses books are my all time favorite and always will be.
ReplyDeleteThis question is almost as tough to answer as the broader question we were asked in the first week. perhaps even harder for me because i too have not read very many books that became movies, and even fewer that i liked the movie it became. Despite the number of "novel turned movies" that i was disapointed with, i will agree that the Harry Potter series did a great job, especially the earlier films that were not as dark, i think those movies just magnified what my childhood imagination created and depicted things even better than i could. although i did not get that dark feel from the later books/movies.
ReplyDeleteAfter the first two Harry Potter films came out I really didn't enjoy the ones that came after it. This is probably due to the fact that the books started getting longer around book 3 and had numerous subplots that were completely left out in the films. I think that some of the pacing was poorly done in some films and the acting choices done by some the actors was poorly done (not the child actors the professional character actors).
ReplyDelete-Matt Hecker
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm consistently surprised by just how many films are based on short stories/novels; it's a bit mind blowing and equally as exciting because it makes me want to read the book form of my favorite movie and vice versa if I haven't already ;) Anyway, in quickly glancing at my DVD collection, I've got two choices: Brokeback Mountain and Atonement. I've read the novella and novel, respectively, and both films are wonderful adaptations of the written works.
ReplyDeleteBrokeback Mountain, the film, made the two leads much more attractive, naturally, but their story remained intact. The film went beyond the short story; the combo of great acting, romantic visuals and atmospheric score created a film that moved and touched viewers.
Atonement, as a film and novel, are nearly identical with the exception of how the ending was executed in the film, which was understandable. The main actors in the film are exactly how I pictured them, and they literally brought the novel to life.
Perhaps my most favorite adaption of a novel to a movie would be "The Princess Bride". Even though the movie was only about an hour and forty-five minutes long Rob Riener still managed to keep the main story of the book. It also helped that had the author William Goldman write the screenplay for the movie as well. This kept the some of the best action and funniest scenes in the book for the movie. The fact that the movie doesn't stray from the book and it only omits large parts of the novel it still stayed true to the story without add or changing anythg. I enjoy both the movie and novel today as much as I did when I saw and read it as a kid, and like them both I've seen my daughter have an appreciation for them both as well.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is basic instinct hands down. A film that is not been renounced throughout the times but has been able to have a following by critics for years.
ReplyDeleteThe transition to novel is seamless, and the writing is impeccable. At the end of the film, you actually understand and feel the same emotions as the character, and not following the typical set up by Joseph Campbell's Monomyth sequence and allowing a wonderful twist to emerge, with wonderful scenery that could have never been accomplished by simply the novel.
-Kyle Rasmussen
Have you ever read a book, and that book that you were reading has painted
ReplyDeletea huge imagination in your head. You daydream about action, suspense, excitement,
an imaginary world that is so cool and exciting that you constantly daydream about.
As you read the words you visualize one of the best
stories in the world. Later you go and watch the film that is based on the book.
The reality is that with books we are the director. As we read we visualize
what we read on how perfect we picture each sentence. Once a director makes a
film based on a book. The film is being created from that director’s perspective.
The director may have done a great job, but most of the time It will not
Compare to the way we imagined the film to be as we directed the book as we read it.
Books expand our imagination which is why I am not surprised that a lot of films
started off at books.
For me i would have to say one of my favorite books turned into movies was Lord of the rings. I love fantasy movies. For me to be able to see how the director made the book come to life was a blessing. I am all for films that capture the art of nature. The settings and designs within the film satisfied me to accept the film for what it was. I could appreciate the film as much as I appreciated the book. Lord of the rings i would say is a classic book, followed by a great film.
ReplyDeleteGreetings all. Andrew Medina here. My answer to this question is going to be limited by many factors. Including the number of movies I have seen that were originally books, the occurrences of me both viewing the film and reading the book, and me surely having seen movies that were once books but not being aware of their novel origins. I pondered the question throughout the day, considering "Full Metal Jacket" which was based on “The Short Timers” and "Apocalypse Now" which was loosely based on “Heart of Darkness”. But after more thought it appears that my favorite movie based off a book would probably have to be "Glory" which depicted a significant event during the civil war and was based off the book "One Gallant Rush". I've always admired those who fight, die, sacrifice, struggle or suffer for their beliefs or a cause larger than themselves. Whether it be a civil war soldier or present day political prisoner, and after watching the movie it always leaves me reflecting on how many people gave their lives to change the course of our country. Its cast supplemented my enjoyment of the film and included Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman.
ReplyDeleteOne of the only instances in which I've read a book that later had a movie adaptation made that I viewed was with "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It was very well written in my opinion and I couldn’t put the book down once I started reading it. However about 5 months later I saw the movie and thought it was mediocre at best even though it represented the text well. From now on if I read a book and a movie version later comes out I'm not seeing it.
Did you hear me Hollywood?!?!? I’M DONE WITH YOUR CHEAP THRILLS AND INHERENTLY INADEQUATE… DEFICIENT… SORRY ADAPTATIONS!!!!!
I surprisingly haven't seen any of the movies on this website. I am not a big fan of the classic older movies. I am more of a modern girl and the lack of technology in older movies with lighting and special effects distracts me from the actual movie. So my favorite book made film is the Notebook. It was a great film because it is modern and followed the book pretty closely. It was entertaining, as we learned is the main goal of a director, it also engages you emotionally which I liked. I actually read the book after I watched the movie which I do regret.
ReplyDelete-Alicia Harrell
My favorite novel turned film is probably Sense and Sensibility, but that's mostly because I love the book more than life and the movie didn't totally screw it up. It was also cast with basically my favorite British actors and the LOML Alan Rickman- that didn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteI will also second The Princess Bride as a favorite adaptation, but because I saw the movie first and loved it, as opposed to S&S, which I read about a million times before I saw the film.
As you know, I love children's books. I thought the adaptation of Road Dahl's Matilda was well done. Most adaptations of his books stray too much from the book or take away from the wonder with bad stop motion animation (James and the Giant Peach - which I did enjoy, but because of Dawn French, not the production). Matilda kept the essence of the story while modernizing it. Yeah, it was over the top and ridiculous, but it was one of the few movies for kids that actually showed the story from a kid's perspective.
Regarding Harry Potter, (as all things must return to HP) I didn't grow up with the books, I read them because I was previewing them for my kid, making sure they weren't too scary and what not. They became a phenomenon in our house and now we have the movies, the Wii games, the audiobooks, etc. As a result, I am an expert in all things HP and love it from the perspective of an old lady who loves kid stuff, but also as a mom who loves that her kid will read above grade level to stay ahead of the movie releases. And I think that they have been really well adapted to film. With the exception, perhaps, of Goblet of Fire, which I would say skips too much of the plot. This may be for time, as GoF was the first really long book - almost twice as many tapes as the one before it. Wish I had known that before I started reading it aloud!
Oh hey, doi, that was Lauren Smith up there above this ^
ReplyDeleteI agree with several of the other postings that while it may not be my favorite movie of all time, I really liked the film adaptation of Interview with a Vampire. Although I enjoyed reading the book, Anne Rice’s writing style was challenging at times; but I did find the premise of a vampire despising his decision to become one of the undead very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs with the play Zoot Suit, Rice also wrote the screenplay for the movie, so it closely emulated her novel. She took some heat over her choice of Tom Cruise to play Lestat, but I thought he did a great job in the role. And with hunks like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt cast for the leading vampire roles, it is easy to see why we still view the vampire as a romantic figure, epitomized by the latest vampire craze in the Twilight saga.
Sam Clark
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to see how many films have been made that are based on novels. I was just looking through a list of movies and had no idea they all stemmed from movies. One of my favorite films of all time which happens to be based from a non-fiction novel would have to be The Casino. Scorsese is one of my favorite directors and I love Pesci/De Niro as a one-two punch. The legacy of Sam Rothstein has always interested me as well. Crime drama sparks my interest the most when it comes to films and novels. Between how well the movie was made and the storyline, this would have to be my favorite novel turned film of all time.
I don't like to read books, thus i have no genuine answer for this blog question. It pains me to say this, but the last book i actually read start to finish was the 3rd book from the Harry Potter series. pathetic i know, but i did enjoy it, and i also thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Call my movie taste dull or immature, but i was entertained. I felt the books transformation onto the screen was done extremely well and enriched the audiences overall Harry Potter experience by giving them a strong visual representation of J.K. Rowling true vision for the book. I also felt the overall production of the film was top notch, solid acting, perfect set/costume design and high quality special effects. If you can get past the fact that its a children's movie and allow yourself to watch it with open mind, you might find it to be a good movie as well.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Clouse-
This might seem childish, but I enjoyed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They did a really good job turning a 10pg, somewhat, picture book into a full movie. I guess that they could have made it anything that had to do with food falling from the sky, but they did it well.
ReplyDeleteKevin Pujol
This may be backwards but after seeing the movie "Blow" I had to find out who wrote the original script for it. Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All is almost identical to the film and similar to Zoot Suit, the author, Bruce Porter had a lot to do with the script and has almost identically replicated the events in the book.
ReplyDeleteNow to the question to why I think so fondly of this book/film. For beginners, I think it is a true American story involving long odds, innovation, greed, glory and of course demise and remorse. I am not much fan of the acting and frankly think almost anyone could have pulled off the performance but the story is so perfectly written that it completely captivated me. It highlights every American's challenge with the temptation of instant gratification and how it can blind a person and eventually ruin it. This story perhaps is too dear to me as few of my college acquaintances are doing 25 to life in FCC Beaumont, Texas because they too wanted to smell the money. They weren't exactly smuggling cocaine or marijuana but they sure were running before they mastered walking. Regardless what one thinks of the brilliance of George Jung (the person the story is about), it is important to know that he failed at the end is because he had the wrong dream. Those are his exact words as he laid on the hard bed in his cell and cried over his daughter's denial of his existence.
Questions like "what is your favorite novel turned film?" always leave me grasping, with the answer always being so definitive and self-defining. In picking my favorite novel-turned-film for this blogpost, I know I'll inevitably leave out some good ones. What comes to mind at the moment however, is Sin City as directed by Robert Rodriguez et. al. I chose this film for its novel visual style that does a great job of capturing the feel of a graphic novel. The casting wasn't too bad either. It wouldnt be a stretch watching the movie to think that a lot of people had fun while making it this film.
ReplyDeleteSo, that's my pick. Lots of good ideas here so far, though!
-Josh Alandy
There aren't too many novel to film adaptions that i like. When i watch them I usually end up being disappointed because the film version just lacked the same unique characteristic that the book had. Admittedly this is because of time constraints and the audience becoming thoroughly confused (watchmen's real ending involved a squid.) I will point out that those who don't know the source material are often inspired to find out about it thereby potentially boosting sales and reconginition to the original material.
ReplyDeletePatrick Kim
Basing a film from literature is the best way to go, for the book serves as the source material, foundation and basis of the movie> Books are extremely detailed and serve as the instruction manual for the creation of the set, characters etc. In contrast, many books turned into films are quite different from the book, they deviate into an alternate endings, and are not a well adaptation of the book.
ReplyDeleteMy current favorite book turned movie is Harry Potter. I guess it's true when you say that everything goes back to Harry Potter isn't it Mrs.E? Reading the book allowed me to create a fantasy world to the extent that, I myself, thought I could be Harry Potter. (LOL) I read the first book when I was 10, so I would think to myself "man what if this really isn't my family and I really belong to a secret community of witches and wizards!" But then again we have to take into consideration that I had a big imagination. The books were awesome, the movies did well in implementing the main scenes that were crucial to the understanding of the films, but I also feel that there were scenes that were pivotable to incorporate, but were not included in the film. Nonetheless, the movie allowed me to see the physical characteristics of the characters which I compared to the characters I had envisioned in my head. A book that I would love to see turned into a film would be "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008.
I think the thing that makes the Harry Potter adaptations so successful, is that they come off as having respect for the experience of the kids who view them. If they can't include a sub-plot, they find a way to pay homage to it. If they can't get into who a certain character is, they give their lines to another one. I've noticed my favorite adaptations rely heavily on the written dialogue, even if there are lots of omissions and even plot changes, and the HP films do not tend to make up a ton of dialogue.
ReplyDeleteI think film makers have started to realize that kids really internalize the books they read, especially the series, and that they need to do a better job making them enjoyable for the book nerds as well as a wider audience.
My favoirte novel turned into a moive is Their Eyes were Watching God. I enjoyed this movie because I loved the casting choice. I felt that the actors played the part well. Also, I liked seeing the intensity in the book acted out and brought to life.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely have to say Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned. Anne Rice is a brilliant author, and Lestat is obviously her favorite character to write about. Though neither of the actors playing Lestat in the movies truly portray him correctly (Cruise is too snobby, Townsend is too egotistical and wild)both of the movies are amazing. Interview with a Vampire is actually my favorite movie, so this was really a perfect blog to end the class with. I think I'll go watch it now.
ReplyDeleteBrenan L. Peterman
ReplyDeleteFirst off You have to be the best teacher ever you read Cracked? But my books into movies that I love are anything written by Thomas Harris so Silence of the Lambs,Hannibal,Hannibal Rising and Red Dragon. I actually end up liking most movies turned into books. Which I guess is a little weird because a lot of people seem turned off of movies that come from books. But probably in the end Silence of the Lambs would be my ultimate favorite, because not only is the book amazingly well written the movie is amazingly well done and Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal incredibly well.
There are so many movies that I've read throughout the years that have been turned into books that I, but I can't remember many. In my opinion, once I read a book I prefer it to remain in my imagination. Once it's been made into a movie I totally forget how to it was that I initially imagined the characters and setting. The book-to-movie of White Oleander wasn't too shabby, but by far I would have to say the Harry Potter series. I'm sure its just because it's recent and popular, but there were very few characters that weren't cast as I had imagined them. The director and writers seemed to stay preety true to the original book, cutting out few important events. I loved the books and I love the movies just as much, in fact I've been craving to watch them and now I think I might just have to...
ReplyDelete--Paige M.
I definitely liked "planet of the apes." This film can be analyzed from an ideological perspective for it's social issues. It points out how silly prejudice is, yet humans still are even after admitting how wrong we've been in our history. If we can agree the Indians were the first group we stomped, then European the wrong shade of white, then Mexicans, and blacks, yet gays are still fighting for their rights in society. Other then the social issues I thought the action, plot and okay acting made the movie a great film. The pace is fast moving and there's plenty of memorable moments.
ReplyDelete_Scott Pearson+_