The Bookish Dilemma: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations

We all have our opinions on book-to-cinema adaptions. (I say "cinema" rather than "movie" because some books have adaptations as TV shows, miniseries, musicals, and so on.) This is a very heated discussion, and the general consensus is that the book is always better. Here's my plan for posts over the past few days:

1. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Good Ones (3 April 2022)
2. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Decent Ones (4 April 2022)
3. Controversial Bookish Topic: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (5 April 2022)
4. The Bookish Dilemma: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (6 April 2022)

Did I plan for this week (4 days, including today) to be focused on book-to-cinema adaptations? Sort of. I knew this was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I finally decided to just make a post about it. And then it just happened that 5 days were dedicated to the topic.

Please remember that all of the posts titled "Book-to-Cinema Adaptations" include opinions that I hold about any cinematic adaptations of books. You don't have to agree with me, but you also don't have to be rude about your disagreement.

With all of that out of the way, here's the Bookish Dilemma post on the subject!

Most readers tend to be excited about these, but they do cause quite a bit of controversy and dilemma for readers. Yesterday, I discussed why cinema adaptations are a bit of a controversial topic. Today's focus, as you can see, is focused on the dilemma aspect of cinematic adaptations.

So why are cinematic adaptations a bookworm's dilemma? It's mainly because so much could go wrong in the adaptation. As mentioned in the previous days' posts, there are times when cinematic adaptations are better than the book. But, more often than not, the adaptation isn't able to get every detail from the book onto the screen. And this makes readers nervous because there are details that are necessary to the plot but don't always make it to the screen.

Controversial Bookish Topic: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations

We all have our opinions on book-to-cinema adaptions. (I say "cinema" rather than "movie" because some books have adaptations as TV shows, miniseries, musicals, and so on.) This is a very heated discussion, and the general consensus is that the book is always better. Here's my plan for posts over the past few days:

1. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Good Ones (3 April 2022)
2. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Decent Ones (4 April 2022)
3. Controversial Bookish Topic: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (5 April 2022)
4. The Bookish Dilemma: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (6 April 2022)

Did I plan for this week (4 days, including today) to be focused on book-to-cinema adaptations? Sort of. I knew this was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I finally decided to just make a post about it. And then it just happened that 5 days were dedicated to the topic.

Please remember that all of the posts titled "Book-to-Cinema Adaptations" include opinions that I hold about any cinematic adaptations of books. You don't have to agree with me, but you also don't have to be rude about your disagreement.

With all of that out of the way, here's the Controversial Bookish Topic post on the subject!

So what's so "controversial" about cinema adaptations of books? I personally think the "controversy" is related more to readers' fears. Here are what some of those fears can look like:

1. Who are they casting? This doesn't always line up with the author's (or reader's) take on how the characters look.
2. Will they get the story and world right? Sometimes they do, but when they don't, it often doesn't go very well.
3. Name pronunciation. This is a lesser fear, but sometimes readers don't pronounce names right, and all of a sudden, the "correct pronunciation" comes out in the movie. (This isn't necessarily dependent on an author's involvement in the production.)
4. How much involvement an author has in production. This fear is a double-edged sword.
1. Firstly, readers want the adaptation to fully respect the source material.
2. However, there may be scenes or dialogues in the book that don't translate well onto a screen for whatever reason.
3. There may also be characters, places, or situations that don't happen or appear for long enough to make a screen appearance worth it.

So this is why book-to-cinema adaptations have garnered a controversial veneer as of late. Additionally, there is also the hard-held belief that the book was, and will always be, better. However, this is a belief that I want to argue against. It's not that I want to change it - in many cases, the book is better than the cinematic adaptation. However, there are many cases where the cinematic adaptation meets the book in how good it is. Sometimes, the cinematic adaptation is better than the book.

Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Decent Ones

We all have our opinions on book-to-cinema adaptions. (I say "cinema" rather than "movie" because some books have adaptations as TV shows, miniseries, musicals, and so on.) This is a very heated discussion, and the general consensus is that the book is always better. Here's my plan for posts over the next few days:

1. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Good Ones (3 April 2022)
2. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Decent Ones (4 April 2022)
3. Controversial Bookish Topic: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (5 April 2022)
4. The Bookish Dilemma: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (6 April 2022)

Did I plan for this week (4 days, including today) to be focused on book-to-cinema adaptations? Sort of. I knew this was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I finally decided to just make a post about it. And then it just happened that 5 days were dedicated to the topic.

Please remember that all of the posts titled "Book-to-Cinema Adaptations" include opinions that I hold about any cinematic adaptations of books. You don't have to agree with me, but you also don't have to be rude about your disagreement. Additionally, these are not comprehensive lists - just the titles I could think of and have seen.

With all of that out of the way, here are the book-to-cinema adaptations that I think are the decent ones.

Peter Pan (1953)

The Mummy (1999)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawntreader (2010)

Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Good Ones

We all have our opinions on book-to-cinema adaptions. (I say "cinema" rather than "movie" because some books have adaptations as TV shows, miniseries, musicals, and so on.) This is a very heated discussion, and the general consensus is that the book is always better. Here's my plan for posts over the next few days:

1. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Good Ones (3 April 2022)
2. Book-to-Cinema Adaptations: The Decent Ones (4 April 2022)
3. Controversial Bookish Topic: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (5 April 2022)
4. The Bookish Dilemma: Book-to-Cinema Adaptations (6 April 2022)

Did I plan for this week (4 days, including today) to be focused on book-to-cinema adaptations? Sort of. I knew this was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I finally decided to just make a post about it. And then it just happened that 5 days were dedicated to the topic.

Please remember that all of the posts titled "Book-to-Cinema Adaptations" include opinions that I hold about any cinematic adaptations of books. You don't have to agree with me, but you also don't have to be rude about your disagreement. Additionally, these are not comprehensive lists - just the titles I could think of and have seen.

With all of that out of the way, here are the book-to-cinema adaptations that I think are the good ones.

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

The Last Unicorn (1982)

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003)

Harry Potter series (2001-2011)

Bride and Prejudice (2004)

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Lincoln (2012)

The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014)

The Book Thief (2013)

Turn: Washington's Spies (2014-2017)

Little Women (2019)

It's Been A While

I ended up taking another long break from posting here. I feel really bad about that. So I'm here to give a bit of a life update.

*Disclaimer: I try not to do too much personal/private stuff here on my blog. However, I want to be as open as possible despite not delving into too much detail.*

So, what's been going on?

Well, here's the basics:

1. My internship is taking a lot out of my time (in a good way).
2. I have classes and assignments to attend on top of my internship.
3. While I've been in DC since January, I'm still figuring out the whole "being in a new city" feeling (although this isn't as prevalent now).

On top of all that, I haven't been in much of a reading mood. To be more specific, I haven't been in the mood to pick up physical books. I have been listening to plenty of audiobooks - and they are the main reason why I've managed to stay on top of my Goodreads 2022 Reading Challenge. 10 of the 19 books (soon to be 11 of 20) I've read have been audiobooks. I do have 8 physical books with me, 4 of which I've read and 2 of which I'm currently reading.

The first of which, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, is a family read over Zoom every two weeks. We started it in late November, and we're still in The Fellowship of the Ring, so we definitely won't finish this while I'm in DC. (I am counting LoTR as one read because that's how Tolkien intended it, and that's the copy I have.) The second book is Tolkien's The Silmarillion. This one may also take some time, but I will hopefully finish it by the end of March. (I'm writing this in early March.)