Films based on Books

[john]

There is an issue here I would like to see discussed by the clever people on this board but first let me ask, has anyone here read the novel THE SECRET SCRIPTURE by Sebastian Barry. This excellent book won the Costa Prize and was nominated for the Booker prise shortlist.

The story concerns the secret writings of a 99 year old woman who has been incarcerated in a Dickensian Irish mental home for most of her life. The home is due to close and the psychiatrist in charge investigates her case to see if she can be discharged into the community. A very moving story. 

A film of the same name is due to be released next week.

[Nearly Sane]

Not read it, unlikely to do so.

[Harrowby Hall]

I read it - perhaps 5 or 6 years ago. I remember thinking that it portrayed a depth, a complexity, in the Irish republican story which was completely new to me, all underlined by the malevolence of a catholic priest.

[john]

Ok then let me ask this question;

Should films of books be made if they do not remain true to the original story?

I intend to go and see the film when it is released next week because the book made an impression on me. BUT it is clear from viewing the trailer that the film varies considerably from the book. In the book no one dies in a plane crash for instance.

I do appreciate that a novel can deal with what people are thinking and a film can only really adequately describe action.

This book is almost entirely about what goes on in peoples heads and the extent to which memory can be corrupted by the passage of time. The protagonists also see things from different points of view, for instance a nine year old girls sees and recalls somethings without realising the true significance of them. It also has some pretty unpleasant things to say about;  Irish Politics, Religions place in it and Irish society in general, all of which might be considered non PC in todays world out of desire not to upset people.

But if a film so diverges from the tale should it be made?

I do appreciate that the author may be prepared to agree because of the money to be made. But surely the piece of art (which the original is) now becomes something else?

[Nearly Sane]

I think no matter how faithful a film or any adaptation of a book or other artwork is, it is by definition something else. Even individuals playing the same piece of music is something else to whatever the composer conceived.

[jeremyp]

Should films of books be made if they do not remain true to the original story?

I don't think it matters. The film is, as Nearly Sane points out, a different thing to the book. Films should be judged on their own merits. There have been films of books that I wish hadn't been made. The 1984 Dune springs to mind but my problem with that film is not that it was not faithful to the book but that it was crap.

There have been films that have improved on the book by being "not faithful to the original". My favourite example is probably Jurassic Park. The plot of the book is much more flabby than the film. Also, Bladerunner has a much better narrative than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, in which pretty much nothing happens.

Jack Reacher is a film that is interesting in this respect. I saw it before I had read any of the books and I thought it was a perfectly fine crime thriller. All the fans whined about how Tom Cruise was nothing like the Jack Reacher they imagined in their heads but they are really just complaining that Tom Cruise isn't six foot five. Well, so what? If the defining feature of a character is his height, he's a pretty poorly drawn character.

Disclaimer: since I saw the film I have read all of the full length Jack Reacher novels.

[Nearly Sane]

Kudos to jeremyp, I am a big fan of Dick (fnarr, fnarr) but Blade runner is a piece of genius, Do Androids... is an average if clever as ever Philip K Dick story

[Harrowby Hall]

Ok then let me ask this question;

Should films of books be made if they do not remain true to the original story?

Should you stifle creativity?

The original story is a framework, a template from which a fresh interpretation of the original idea can emerge. Ideas are not formed fossilised. Film is a different medium from print, makes different demands and is collaborative - not solitary - in its making. How is it possible to transform 100,000 words of prose into two hours on the screen without making changes?