Rehearsal Room Reading – They don’t look like that in the book!

 

Over the past decade, there has been a trend for films and TV shows that are based on novels and comic books. It’s perhaps no coincidence, that this trend has occurred in the years following the global financial crisis of 2008. Films and TV programmes that have an already captive audience, represent less of a commercial risk. There is also huge potential for merchandise with adaptations.

However, working with such popular material has a downside. The audience will already have certain expectations, and that creates pressure. How many people have watched an adaptation and said, “They don’t look like that”?

Books can mean a lot to us. Part of their appeal is the escapism they offer. When reading, we can use our imaginations and picture what the characters and places look like. If a character on screen doesn’t match what we visualised, it’s natural that we may feel let down. 

While it’s natural to feel that, it probably isn’t right. For a start, it’s not realistic to expect film and TV crews to find actors or sets that look exactly how we imagined. As much as we may feel an emotional attachment to certain books, we have to concede that we didn’t create the characters or develop the storyline. Our expectations are generally no more correct than those of the film makers. An adaptation is just someone else’s take on that book.   

I understand that sometimes, characters on screen may deviate too much from the author’s descriptions, for many readers’ liking. Certainly, in the case of comic books, there are pictures to give an idea of what a character looks like. Still, the artwork for comic books and graphic novels hasn’t always provided realistic body shapes. There may not be an actor who looks exactly like them. 

Another factor to consider, is how vital a character’s appearance actually is to the whole story. It could be argued that Tom Cruise isn’t tall enough to play Jack Reacher, and the reverse is true for Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. Although the characters’ heights might have some impact, particularly in action scenes, they don’t affect the whole story. The role should go to the actor who best portrays the character, and that is based on more than appearance.

Of more concern, perhaps, is the plot. Many readers will want the storyline to remain unchanged. Nevertheless, we didn’t write the material, so do we have a right to be angry when the adaptation doesn’t follow the book entirely? 

Coincidently, the most recent film I watched was Allegiant, an adaptation of the final book in the Divergent trilogy. I’d heard negative reviews but I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was tense, well-acted and unexpectedly funny in places. Sadly, the film wasn’t successful at the Box Office and didn’t do as well as the previous two (Divergent and Insurgent). 

What might not have helped, is that many Divergent fans were unhappy with certain events in the Allegiant book. It’s not that Allegiant isn’t good or well-written, but some people didn’t like a number of plot decisions. This may have caused fans to stay away. In the end, the final film, Ascendant (Allegiant Part 2) was never made. Ironically, this may have been one instance, where making changes to the story would have been welcomed by some fans.

Throughout this post, we have come back to the same point, that we didn’t create the characters or think up the plot. The author did. Therefore, if we can’t complain about the adaptation, we can’t complain about the source material. As readers, we can enjoy the book, but we can’t control what happens.