#screen adaptations

(spoilers for the finale)

Baby, when something is adapted, there is a 100% chance a fandom for said media already exists. I’m so sorry but you cannot expect the people who have been sitting here waiting and talking about the story for YEARS to stop talking about it just bc there’s newbies out and about. I understand that the algorithm is brutal these days and can very quickly become out of control but if you feel so strongly about experiencing the story on your own and not having it spoiled, then unfortunately you are going to have to be the one that puts in the work to make it happen for you.

I get it, spoilers suck ass, but the argument can really only be made for something when EVERYONE is experiencing the story for the first time ever. In cases such as heated rivalry, this is not the first time everyone is experiencing the story. It’s natural for long time fans to be excited and want to make comparisons and predictions based on the information that they have, and want to openly talk about it with like minded people in the space that they created. If you find yourself in that space, but don’t want to receive that information, then you need to make the move for yourself to step away.

Now, I will admit there are some people that are going out and purposefully spoiling in someone else’s comments, notes, tweets whatever and I will agree that THAT is not fucking cool. Stop that. You’re giving the rest of us a bad name. However, if you’re in the tumblr tag or something snooping around then this is your bed babe… you gotta lie in it.

I just finished Dead Boy Detectives and I think I've finally realised what my issue has been with the on-screen adaptations of Despair. It's not the acting, or even the wardrobe that is the issue (although the costume is not necessarily my favourite).

When we think about the concept of Despair, she is a something that creeps up on you. She is powerful, all consuming. She's confident in her own ability and purpose. She's a whisper in the back of your head that grows and grows until you're full to the brim with shadows and she's leaking out into everything around you.

And I think this could be done on screen. There just needs to be a change in the way she is shot, and what music is used.

Imagine a Despair, standing in her realm, observing through the mirrors. Half her face is in shadows, and the camera drifts to focus on her hand, where her hook is digging into her skin and a trail of blood is leaking down onto the floor. (Also imagine giving her pointed teeth. We really missed out there. That would be so cool.) Shoot from lower rather than above to make her seem larger and more intimidating. Show us her eyes, and her hair tied back, and the way her body moves when she breathes. Show us the tiny movements that break the stillness.

The music should be creepy, either silence apart from a soft rasping breathing noise, OR a quiet, slightly screechy violin, just playing by itself, a slow creeping tune.

Give us a long time to take her in, and then, just before she speaks, let the noise drown out and give us a long close up of her smile, wide and sharp, as she stares into the mirror. We hear a few drops of blood splatter against the floor.

And then she speaks and everything stops. She commands silence. The shot is a close-up of her mouth as she speaks. Then it moves to see the reaction of the listener, and after that we get mid to wide shots.

I am not myself asexual, as one already knows if one has browsed this blog (it's safe for work, though), but I always have felt that screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that have him as anything else do not work, no matter how good the acting, cinematography, etcetera.

Crucial to A. Conan Doyle's original Holmes is that, for the most part, he is a reasoning machine. If something is utterly irrelevant to the science of detection, then he is utterly indifferent to it (e.g. whether the earth goes around the sun, or vice versa). He would see attraction to or an intimate relationship with any other human being to be a distraction that would prevent his impartiality and take away his energy.

As @margysmusings has pointed out to me, Gareth Thomas would have made a PERFECT Heathcliff. In fact, I realised today that he was the actor I had in my head when I first read the novel all those years ago…

So my first ever book/adaption I saw was the Hunger Games, I watched the first movie and then I read all the books before watching the rest of the movies.

What I realised was I enjoyed the books more if I’ve watched the adaption first, because it takes that expectation away (or fear that they will ruin it) and it makes the books more interesting. I am a very curious person, so obviously having the main idea and then reading the books with all the extra details is actually pretty enjoyable.

But I always saw this big debate whether books need to be adapted to the screen and I was not very sure how to feel about it, until I watched Anne with an E.

For awae they changed a lot of the story to fit with more broader/applicable themes and fleshed the characters out more etc. A lot of people were upset with this adaption, but then I read an article about how you should not compare the two but rather have to see them as complimentary or “fan fictions” of the original. They used the example of if Anne or the writer were to watch them, they would be happy with the way the character and story was interpreted, as in essence she’s still who she was in the books.

I think if the main ideas stay, especially the original meaning or purpose of the story, you can see them as different interpretations from different people. That things do need to be changed to make the books work on screen.

Movies and series have completely different dynamics and “rules” and direct adaptions of books might not work well on screen. That’s why a lot of the time they have to add things to make the story better for tv, such as adding more action, adding more characters, adding more to characters, etc. So, going into these movies/series with the mindset of everything is a “loose interpretation” has really helped me to separate the two and see them as separate entities and not compare them endlessly or be as disappointed by the outcome.

Hm I might not have made sense at all. Anyway, very interesting question! I had to sit and think a bit.

This is a really interesting pov that I hadn't thought about before! Also don't worry you made sense! I do wish they would make it more clear in the credits or something whether it's an interpretation or a direct adaptation of the book cause sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's not. As an example, Journey to the Center of the Earth is definitely just an interpretation of the book & it's super obvious (I read the book for summer reading for biology in hs & was so surprised I liked it) I love young Josh Hutcherson in the movie, it was a fun movie and I'm sure the author would be happy about it but it was clearly not supposed to be an exact adaptation.

It seems like every time a book gets made into a show or movie, they try really hard to market to fans of the book to make them feel like they're getting the motion picture they've dreamed of...it's fine if you're just creating your own interpretation/version but at least tell me that instead of building my hopes up. I feel like it also really depends on what type of adaptation it is- if the author is heavily involved in production/writing or if they just sold the rights and some random director/producer is making it.

I feel like I'm the type of person that gets a little disappointed at screen adaptations, especially if it's a book I really loved, but I can usually get past it and enjoy both mediums for what they are. To me making books into shows and movies just makes sense and I don't have a problem with it. I love that books can be brought to life like that and seeing them come to life will never lose its charm.

I agree that reading the book after watching the movie is just such an enjoyable experience. Just recognizing scenes and characters and moments and getting all the extra things that were left out of the movie, and the way you feel like you're learning more about the story and characters and understanding it better. It's so cool. Especially bc one thing I've noticed watching movies/shows based on books is that they don't always do a great job of explaining things (at least not the way you can in a book) and I always feel like if you didn't read the book you're probably sooo confused so reading the book afterwards just helps me understand what was happening better.

I think there's also something special about reading the book first, and spending time imagining it in your head, picturing how it would look on screen or in real life and imagining the characters and taking in the story in its original format. I always love knowing what's going to happen next in the movie/show especially when watching with someone who didn't read the book and I get to sit there like "oh they have no idea the plot twist they're in for" (it was SOOO much fun watching Mockingjay Part 1 with my brother who had not read any of the Hunger Games bc he had no idea Peeta was gonna become a human weapon at the end. he was screaming and i was all smug). Idk I just love watching books be brought to life. Also that feeling when you find out your favorite book is being adapted. There's always certain scenes that I'm super excited to see on screen and I feel like there's always at least one that gets left out. and it's probably just some small-ish moment but I was looking forward to seeing it so it's always a little bittersweet. And then when you reread the book to prepare for the show and pick out moments you want to see. I swear the little moments end up being the ones I wanted to see that get left out. Not to get too deep but. Sometimes you look back at the book and realize the little moments were the big moments.

So I sat here thinking long and hard about what my first book-to-screen adaptation was. At first I thought that, like you, it was the Hunger Games, which I read after the movie trailer came out (I still remember my sister showing it to me all excited and telling me to read the book. cause prior to that I had been really unsure about it. it sounded so weird lol. and then I remember being SO EXCITED for the Mockingjay movie after finishing the series- I didn't know if I could wait that long to see some of those scenes), but after a lot of contemplation I actually believe it was Twilight (I read it right before anyone knew it was going to be a movie). It also may have been A Little Princess, but my memory is so fuzzy lol and I know I watched that movie years before ever deciding to read the book (they made a HUGE change for the movie ending which I wasn't really mad about bc it made it a little happier). Another one I will add, Ella Enchanted. I loved that movie, loved Anne Hathaway, loved the prince, loved the fairies, loved the magic book. I didn't even know it was based on a book until years later (and I've watched that movie so many times!), and I'm so glad I figured it out bc that book is so good. there was so much I missed out on of the story by not reading the book and I hadn't even realized. I think that was probably the first time I read the book after watching the movie and I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Netflix did an adaptation of one of my all time favorite books which is finished filming as far as I know so I guess it's coming out soon? And I'm more scared about how it's going to be than I've ever been about a book adaptation. I've just had so long to love it and imagine how it would look as a movie and I know if done well it could be an absolutely fantastic movie. but I don't trust Netflix with adaptations tbh so we will see how it turns out.