This may be a good discussion. The topic is popular books that have been made into movies. By and large, my personal opinion is that movie renditions of good books fall far short for a few reasons. First, I think due to the media of print, books allow for a much more thorough immersion of the reader in a story than a movie. True, a picture is worth a thousand words. But with a (good) book, the reader's imagination is actively engaged, enhancing the entire storytelling experience. After you have these ideas in your head of the way the story would look and happen, it is sort of spoiled when you see the story again in a movie. In some ways I cringe a bit when a book I like is released as a movie.
This is not to necessarily imply that books are in general better than movies, as most everyone knows around here I LOVE movies, and don't think that some movies would really do well as books. Ask yourself if Terminator 2 or the Matrix would have been good books. Maybe yes... maybe not.
One of my favorite authors has been for a long time Michael Crichton. I read much of his stuff, including Jurassic Park, long before many of them made it to film. He has a level of detail in his books that just can not be matched by a movie, even 2-3 hours long, yet he does it in a way that makes me MORE interested as a reader, not bored. He must research his subjects for books hard-core before writing. Several of his books have been made into movies, starting I think with the Andromeda Strain years and years ago, and most recently Timeline has been announced as a movie. Some of the movies are excellent, such as the original Jurassic Park, in my opinion. (who can forget the first scene where you fully see the dinosaurs over Sam Neil's head, with John William's score soaring?) Others were horribly made, like the excellent book Rising Sun that was botched as a movie, even with Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery. But even the best movies just couldn't match Chrichton's writing.
Even movies that I think are very well made, I enjoy, and even own, I believe don't and CAN'T compare to the original book. Examples in my mind are Chrichton, Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October, Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, various Stephen King works, Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline, any of Nelson Demille or David Morrell's work (authors of stuff like First Blood/Rambo and The General's Daughter, books that are excellent but were botched in the theater) and even most of Shakespere's works.
However, I'm on the fence with J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings as maybe the only exception. These movies IMHO are so very well done, that although I don't think they can surpass the books, they are certainly doing the stories justice and may be on par. The Return of the King certainly has the possibility to set an entire new standard for movie storytelling. (as does Episode III, but I'm not quite as hopeful for that the more time goes on)
Another point I believe is that some authors that have had their works made into movies have begun to adapt their writing, as though they're planning on having it made into a movie, writing scenes that would make impressive visual movie shots, instead of their usual excellent descriptive writing. I really felt this way right away when starting to read Crichton's Timeline, and I knew it was only a short time before the movie was picked up by Hollywood as a Crichton cash cow. Tom Clancy may be guilty of this as well.
I have never really gotten into books that have been written after movies, such as Star Wars books.
Okay, I'm sure this subject gets some peoples' blood boiling. (uh... David?)
Let's hear it!
CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
This is not to necessarily imply that books are in general better than movies, as most everyone knows around here I LOVE movies, and don't think that some movies would really do well as books. Ask yourself if Terminator 2 or the Matrix would have been good books. Maybe yes... maybe not.
One of my favorite authors has been for a long time Michael Crichton. I read much of his stuff, including Jurassic Park, long before many of them made it to film. He has a level of detail in his books that just can not be matched by a movie, even 2-3 hours long, yet he does it in a way that makes me MORE interested as a reader, not bored. He must research his subjects for books hard-core before writing. Several of his books have been made into movies, starting I think with the Andromeda Strain years and years ago, and most recently Timeline has been announced as a movie. Some of the movies are excellent, such as the original Jurassic Park, in my opinion. (who can forget the first scene where you fully see the dinosaurs over Sam Neil's head, with John William's score soaring?) Others were horribly made, like the excellent book Rising Sun that was botched as a movie, even with Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery. But even the best movies just couldn't match Chrichton's writing.
Even movies that I think are very well made, I enjoy, and even own, I believe don't and CAN'T compare to the original book. Examples in my mind are Chrichton, Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October, Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, various Stephen King works, Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline, any of Nelson Demille or David Morrell's work (authors of stuff like First Blood/Rambo and The General's Daughter, books that are excellent but were botched in the theater) and even most of Shakespere's works.
However, I'm on the fence with J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings as maybe the only exception. These movies IMHO are so very well done, that although I don't think they can surpass the books, they are certainly doing the stories justice and may be on par. The Return of the King certainly has the possibility to set an entire new standard for movie storytelling. (as does Episode III, but I'm not quite as hopeful for that the more time goes on)
Another point I believe is that some authors that have had their works made into movies have begun to adapt their writing, as though they're planning on having it made into a movie, writing scenes that would make impressive visual movie shots, instead of their usual excellent descriptive writing. I really felt this way right away when starting to read Crichton's Timeline, and I knew it was only a short time before the movie was picked up by Hollywood as a Crichton cash cow. Tom Clancy may be guilty of this as well.
I have never really gotten into books that have been written after movies, such as Star Wars books.
Okay, I'm sure this subject gets some peoples' blood boiling. (uh... David?)
Let's hear it! CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"
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