Book to Movie: Right or Wrong

There are several shows and movies that are based off of books. Several are very well known and loved, such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Some aren’t as well known, such as Outlander and The Mortal Instruments. The one thing that they all have in common is that people who loved the book have a lot of complaints about the show or movie. I, for example, stopped watching the show Shadowhunters, because it strayed so far from the book that the show did nothing but aggravate me. There are some changes that make it better, but there is always something that will irk you. Personally, I prefer to read the book, simply because you get a bigger picture and more information than you would when you are watching a movie or TV show.

First, Harry Potter, since almost everyone has read those books, and/or seen the movies. There were several changes that could not be avoided, such as the change of the character playing Dumbledore, or the lack of ghosts and house elves. However, there are things that seemed to irritate me a bit about the things that they left out. For example, Petunia’s apology at the beginning of the final book. This seemed important to me, because it helped you understand a little bit of why she carried such a hatred and anger for Harry. Another thing would be the scene in the fourth movie. Everyone who has both read the book and watched the movie know what scene I am talking about. For those of you who do not, the word ‘calmly’ was used in the book, and the scene was anything but. Every time I watch that movie, I play the la la game or leave the room. My dad laughs, but he doesn’t quite understand it.

Next, Outlander, which is a series written by Diana Gabaldon. Most people don’t know about this series, unless your parent or grandparent introduced you to it. My mom introduced me to the first book before the series began, the book being published in 1991. Since the show began, my mom has had several complaints about things that don’t seem important to people who didn’t read the book. There are things like the outfits, or the actors that were chosen for certain roles, such as a character from the most recent season that is meant to be a 14 year old girl—but the actress is double that and looks it. Another big issue that she has is that there is a lot of information that helped the story make sense, that was removed to keep the season short.

Finally, The Mortal Instruments. This book series, which was written by Cassandra Clare, has been adapted into both a movie and a TV show. While the movie was not too far off of the book, and actually had most of the information from the book, the TV show took the entire series of books tried to put them all together in three seasons. I actually stopped watching the show when I realized just how far off the show was from the book. Some people try to say I was nitpicking, but there are several reasons why I fell in love with the books that were not included in the show. I did fall in love with some of the actors and actresses that were cast, even if they might not have fit the way that I thought they would.

The truth of the matter is, there will always be those things that people will be angry about when it comes to an adaptation of their favorite book.