- Image via Wikipedia
Think about your favorite book and visualize your favorite character or moment. Now, what if a director was making the book into a movie, but he didn’t think this person or moment was “important” enough to place it in the film. This is what happens to a lot of our favorite books when they are cut down and put on the big screen. There have to be adjustments and things have to be reduced to fit into an entertaining film, otherwise movies would have to be 10 hours long or even longer to accomodate everything. But ultimately, some things are going fall by the wayside when a book is turned into a movie. The detail and imagery that authors use to paint a scene in their writing can pass in a second when put into film and can, in no way, be conveyed with the same impact. Movies based on books do help in creating a world that is fit for an audience, but books create a personal experience that can almost never be duplicated by even the most gifted director.
The series of Harry Potter books are beloved by many people, and the movies have stayed very close to the book’s storyline, minus a few exceptions here and there. Also, the actors that were chosen for their respective parts very closely resembled the characters they were to portray. For example, Alan Rickman is simply marvelous as Professor Snape. His mannerisms, the way he carries himself on screen, and his devious sounding voice just made him embody the character.
What would have happened if these movies hadn’t stayed true to the books? They would not have been as successful as they were and they wouldn’t invest in 6-7 other movies if people don’t want to see them. Throughout the whole movie, viewers who had read the books would be thinking about what happened in the book, what was left out, and what shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. That’s no way to see your favorite stories!
