Chances are I might upset some folks with this, but with a few well known adaptations generating a lot of discussion over the last…well, forever, I have some thoughts I wanted to share, and honestly, this seems like a good place for them!
Think about the last time you watched a TV show or film, based on a book, without being a fan of the book first. Now, this might be the same show/film, but what about the last adaptation you watched, without originally being a fan of the book, where you fell in love with it through that adaptation? Did you then pick up the book after? If so, congratulations – you are the ideal target audience for that adaptation!
Even writing this, I can sense an element of defensiveness already seeping through. Okay then, what about – when was the last time you watched an adaption of something you already loved, and found yourself getting wound up or annoyed at the changes made to the book? Frustrated your favourite character is missing or angered because they don’t look like how you pictured said character. Have you ever been completely and utterly, 100% happy with the adaption of a favourite book, one you know insideout?
Don’t get me wrong – we do occasionally get those adaptations where it’s clear the people behind it truly love the source material. But behind every decision is a reason, and although it may make sense for this or that scene to be cut, or those characters to be merged into one, or names to be changed, these aren’t made with the original readers in mind. They’re not made to make it more faithful to the source, they are made with an eye on the widest possible audience. More often than not, that’s the audience who haven’t read the source material.
It might feel painful to hear that. When we love a book, we champion it, we recommend it, we write reviews encouraging others to read it. And if you looked at social media, you’d think book readers were a huge part of the audience for these adaptations. But social media doesn’t contain everyone, and ultimately, the goal is to get people watching, whether they’ve read the books or not, and if they’re readers who haven’t, well, maybe the book(s) gain new fans!
The fact is, the majority of the time if a book reader loves a book, they’re going to watch an adaption. They’re a guaranteed audience, even with changes. But people who haven’t read the book need to be hooked in, need to get information that might take chapters to reveal, need to quickly understand characters readers already know and love.
With social media becoming more prominent, too, and negativity gaining more traction than positivity, we do tend to see more readers reacting badly to adaptations. But on top of that – and this isn’t limited to adaptations, either – there seems to be an increase in people taking writing choices and decisions very, very personally.
To be blunt, it’s fine for directors and screenwriters to reimagine classics (how else would we have had Bridget Jones’ Diary, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Lion King!). No, you absolutely don’t have to love or even like it, but it’s fine for some things to not be for you! Even when it’s a ‘straight’ adaptation, honestly, some reactions are…a little intense. Maybe a touch over the top. Because ultimately, why does it matter? And this is coming from someone who refuses to watch I Am Legend or World War Z, because I think both of those films change the fundamental meanings at the heart of those books, but there might be people out there who enjoy them and that’s okay! Just because I, personally, won’t watch them, literally doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t impact how I feel about the books, because they are still there, and I can revisit them at any time, and appreciate them. And that’s a beautiful thing! Maybe there are people out there who enjoyed I Am Legend and picked up the book because of it. That’s great!
And I’ve been there. I’ve picked up and read a book because I saw a film or TV show I enjoyed. Often, I’ve put the book down thinking that yes, the adaptation made good choices which I can understand. Sometimes, I’ve thought the adaptation was better than the book. Occasionally, yes, I do wonder why certain choices were made. Not to say you can’t talk about or discuss changes, or express a dislike for the way an adaptation was handled, but sometimes, it really isn’t that deep!
It’s really off-putting when people take these things a little too personally, a little too much to heart. Again, disagreement is fine, but acting like the writers, directors, actors are bad people because things don’t exactly match the version of the book you have in your head probably means you should take a step outside and go for a walk. These things also have a HUGE impact, not just directly on the adaptation, but on related ones, too! Yes, social media isn’t the whole audience, but when the social media response is overwhelmingly negative for a show or film that actually isn’t objectively bad, or even if it’s well liked but the negative voices drown out the positive ones, the chances are not only is that particular production going to suffer, but so will related ones.
And by related, I don’t just mean the same – we know the people in charge of these decisions will always take the wrong thing away from either failure or success. If something by a margenalised author with margenalised characters gets anything except praise, it’s an excuse not to commission something by an author with the same marginalisation. We see it happen over and over. Not to say there needs to be false positivity or no criticisms at all, but it’s too easy to post very quickly and put negativity out into the world.
This doesn’t just apply to book adaptations, either. We see it when anything gets adapted, whether it’s stage to screen or animated to live action. What I think is worth keeping in mind, no matter how much we love the original, is that not everything is going to be for us specifically, and that’s okay. Sometimes things are made for a different audience, and we can appreciate that, but we shouldn’t then act like people who do enjoy it are lesser for doing so or for not having read the original. Maybe, by encouraging their participation or sharing what you do love about the adaptation, or focusing on the original media and what you love about that, you might just find the people introduced via the show/film become new fans and friends.
Unwrapping Words 