In response to the recent Pins on Pintrest and posts on Facebook about the random list of books you MUST read before they become movies, I have decided to share my thoughts on this "genre" of movies and my experience with them. A follower and someone I am also following on Pintrest seems to repeatedly pin items about how people who watch the movie before they read book have committed some crime and shame on them for even seeing the movie in the first place. Another friend of mine doesn't read, in fact when they saw my collection of books they asked if any of them had been made into movies, almost implying that if they made the movie, then that person doesn't have to read the book. I disagree with these 2 extreme views. The movie gives a wider audience the opportunity to experience this story and expose them to the book. I would know because movies have exposed me to certain books that I never would have given a chance or knew they existed.
The most memorable movie that I saw before I read the book was The Hunger Games. I went with some friends to see the movie and loved it so much and was so intrigued by the concept of the Games and the Tributes that I bought the book shortly afterwards. I remember zooming through the first book, because the movie was very close to Suzanne Collins' story. The next books I think I finished in a couple of weeks. I never would have given the series a chance if it had not been for Hollywood and their adaption of the book. I do realize, however, that Hollywood rarely gets the book to movie right.
The Percy Jackson series if the biggest offender that I can think of. In the books the kids are 11 or 12 at the most, while in the film they are easily 15 or 16. Making it to 15 or 16 as a half-blood is an amazing accomplishment, but the film completely down plays that. Also the film downplays Percy's mother's strength. She was supposed to find her our way out of the Underworld, instead Grover takes her place because he likes how Persephone looks. This is not what I get out of Percy Jackson, when I read the books. I love those books because even though I'm older that the target audience, they are very well written and introduce readers to the Greek and Roman myths. I read the myths as a kid so I think I did what the author intended in reverse, i.e. read his books and then a couple years later read the myth, because you have some background to basis the story in. This series Hollywood didn't get so right, but it seems that they are redeeming themselves with the upcoming release of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, because they may actually be including Clarisse, who was not in included in the first movie.
Yes, Hollywood can get these books to movies wrong, but in the process they are giving the books exposure to a massive audience. Best examples of this are Twilight and Harry Potter. Since Twilight was made into a movie guys actually know the story, my brother saw the last Twilight movie, but I can almost guarantee he hasn't read the book. With Harry Potter I know a couple of people who saw the movies, but never finished the series, because Hollywood made these sagas into movies a wider audience now knows about them.
Yes, I agree the book is almost always better than the movie but the movie make lead to you reading the book, and honestly who doesn't want to see their favorite literary character on the silver screen. Hollywood is in the business of making money so there are some elements that get left out of the movies, but that's where you are hopefully intrigued enough to read the book and get to experience those elements that way. So take the movies based on books with a grain of salt this year and remember it gave your favorite book a wider audience and introduced more people to it, which isn't that what you really want with your favorite book, to share it with the world?
