So. Are you excited to see Mockingjay Part 2 in November? There’s been a lot of buzz since the second trailer was released on social media last week. Personally, I cannot get enough of the new poster featuring Katniss’s red-on-red bodysuit of power.
I am a huge Hunger Games fan. (There was a time when I had a hardcover set in the back of my car just in case I ran into someone who hadn’t read it -- true story.) But I haven’t seen any of the movies. I don’t have a hard-and-fast rule about not seeing movies that are based on books -- I would have included it in my recent “reading rules” post – but when I truly love the visual imagery of a story, I don’t want to see someone else’s conception of it.
One of the great pleasures I found in reading The Hunger Games was the opportunity to imagine Katniss’s costumes and the landscape in which the Games took place. Suzanne Collins gave me just enough to picture all the vivid wildness, but she also left room for interpretation, for the reader’s imagination. For me, The Hunger Games is about space: the vastness of the space in which the Games were played, but also the space it took up in my mind, filling it all in.
People have always been impassioned about the relationship between books and movies. How many times have you heard someone say, Oh, I loved that book but the movie was so awful!? On the other hand, one of the nation’s most beloved novels – To Kill a Mockingbird – became one of the nation’s most beloved movies. (I think for many people, there was no distinction between Gregory Peck and Atticus Finch!)
I surveyed the team here about their thoughts on movie adaptations, and the responses were varied and fascinating. Here are some of the questions I asked, and the responses:
Is there a movie based on a book that you think was really well done?
The winner here, hands-down, was Gone Girl. A few folks mentioned that the suspense was overwhelming in the movie even though they had already read the book.
Morgan and Suzanne raised an interesting variation on my question: movies that were better than the book! For Suzanne, the winner in that category is The Godfather, and for Morgan it’s Practical Magic (“don’t laugh.”). Intern Shea read the play August: Osage County, and loved it so much she was nervous about the movie adaptation, but thought Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts were outstanding in it.
Also mentioned: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Lord of the Rings.
Is there a movie based on a book that you wish would be made but hasn’t been yet?
Brittany is very excited to see the upcoming adaptations of The Stand (Stephen King) and American Gods (Neil Gaiman). Gina would like to see a horror series based on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and so would I. In addition, several folks are pining for the movie version of the super-popular The Girl on the Train.
For me, casting the movie version of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is a favorite daydream pastime. I would see this movie in a heartbeat. In addition, I reject the film adaptation of Valley of the Dolls and would love to see a serious, powerful, dark movie version.
Also mentioned: Roz Chast's Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Bettyville (George Hodgman), Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Joan Didion), and The Quick (Lauren Owen).
Finally, intern Megan made a point that almost (almost) changed my mind about watching The Hunger Games. She writes: “If I read a book that I like and it then becomes a movie I always see it. It’s a way to relive the joy in a different way!”
OK, point taken. What is your take on book-to-movie adaptations?
