Hollywood's Most Easily Avoidable Mistake

Dear Vocal Readers,

Oh, Hollywood, one of the most unoriginal things in today's society. Not only has Hollywood failed us when it comes to creating new and exciting content, but it also screws up the easiest thing you could possibly do: copy. Anyone today has seen the plethora of new television shows and movies that are now bombarding our screens and commercials. You would think that copying a whole idea and story line would be easy, wouldn't you? Well, you would be so very wrong and just as disappointed as I am, so welcome to my life.

Excluding major successes like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games that have received critical acclaim, most book adaptations have been major flops. One of the biggest problems in these adaptations is the lack of care for the original source content. A film could simply copy and paste lines from novels and stick them right in their script to make an amazing and pleasing adaption. It would truly be that easy for filmmakers—just think about that. They are given the opportunity to make money by stealing a whole idea but they cannot even do that right. These adaptations gain fan support almost instantly when announced but end up simply as disappointments that were a waste of our time and money.

While these adaptations should be fan service, they end up taking artistic liberties that can completely change the source material. I'm talking about movies like I Am Number Four and The Maze Runner that change major storylines. There is nothing worse than loving an original story and seeing it be completely ripped apart into a mess simply because of decisions made by Hollywood. It's like your mom using your grandmother's recipe for chocolate chip cookies and having them taste nothing like the savory goodness you have grown accustomed to.

There are some adaptations that do a fairly good job sticking to their material, but even beloved movies like the Harry Potter series have their little differences. And yes, I am talking about the color of your eyes, Daniel Radcliffe. Were colored contacts not invented yet or something? When your job is as simple as copying, you should be able to get details like that correct. You aren't making a completely new story, and if you can't stick to the original story, you don't get to say you are based off of it. This isn't some horror movie, guys. You can't just say it's truthful because of one small fact.

As a book-lover, I have come to despise these horrible movie adaptations. All fans want is to see their beautiful stories being portrayed on the big screen accompanied with a gorgeous soundtrack and graphics. These are dreams for us geeks. However, instead of the stories we love, we see the new and "better" ideas the filmmakers had. Not cool, Hollywood, not cool. And don't even get me started on anime based on manga because that is a whole other mess on its own. And yeah, I'm looking at you Tokyo Ghoul!

I realize that not everyone will share my feelings when it comes to these adaptations. I'm sure there are some fans out there who love these films even if they do change their beloved stories a bit. What do you think? Is there one novel to movie transformation you ended up preferring? I would be very curious to find which film adaptation was actually the closest to its source material. I challenge you to find this closest match and to see which of the two versions you prefer. If you can find a masterful and almost identical portrayal, please let me know. Until then, I will stay in my state of annoyance toward Hollywood.

Sincerely from my extremely disappointed and bitter mind,

Kacie