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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Bookish Discussions: Books and Their TV Show/Movie Counterparts

Today's topic is books and their TV show/ movie counterparts.  Sometimes, the movie is better than the book but sometimes, it's the book that's better than the movie.  Let's expand on this shall we?



Lately, I've been watching both The 100 and Pretty Little Liars both based on book series' (in fact Sara Shepard - author of PLL - made an appearance on the latest PLL episode!) and I've been thinking about the differences between the two and the liberties both mediums take with the stories.

So obviously, the book and the movie/TV show are going to differ a lot because the author and the producer and director just aren't the same people and haven't had the same experiences so they have different visions for the story!  That's all find and dandy with me unless they take one too many liberties (*cough* Percy Jackson *cough*).  Making some kid 16 when he's supposed to be TWELVE was kind of a big change that I don't agree with (considering the entire SERIES rested on his age).  But I digress.

For Pretty Little Liars, I'm actually happy with both the books and the TV show (although the books really should have ended at book 8 and not continued to like 14 or whatever it's on now).  I think they're both going on a bit too long.  Pretty Little Liars is on it's... 6th? season and it's really getting repetitive.  I really hope that doesn't happen with The 100 and they'll end it when the time is right.

Have you guys seen any TV shows that just went on too long?

As for movies, if you haven't been living under a rock, most people in the bookish community have a love-hate relationship with Hollywood.  They either make such a good movie that follows the book where it counts (The Fault In Our Stars) or they deviate from one or more of the founding principles which totally ruins the story for the people who read and loved the book first (Percy Jackson).  There are also those movies that something else went wrong.  For example Vampire Academy.  I've been watching that movie over and over again (there will be a review coming!) and am finally pinpointing what went wrong.  First off, the marketing.  Look at these posters people!


Are you for real right now??  This is just beyond cheesy and trivializes the whole story (totally my opinion not meaning to offend anyone).  Also, the relationship between Rose and Dimitri was extremely stiff and out of nowhere due to the actors ages and stiffly delivered lines etc. etc.

Another example of a movie I didn't like: Eragon.  The book series was absolutely stunning and I loved every minute of it.  But the transformation to the big screen was a bit too much.  Take a look:


They changed basically the entire plot and tried to condense several books into one movie.  I understand why they might have had to change the plot a bit (the books are crazy long) but this wasn't just a bit.  They also did a good job with creating Saphira but in general, I don't think this book series was cut out to be on the big screen.

What's your favorite and least favorite book-to-movie adaptation?

There are those instances though where the movie might be better than the book.  I've heard this is the case with If I Stay.  I haven't seen the movie yet but people tell me it's much better than the book and more cohesive in it's delivery.

Let me know what you guys think!

4 comments:

  1. I have heard that the 100 TV show is actually better than the book. That doesn't happen too often though. Ella Enchanted was my least favorite book to movie adaptation; everything got changed for the worst. I really love the HP adaptations--those are probably my favorites. :) I watched them before reading the books so maybe that has something to do with it? Great post!

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    1. For sure! I've heard a lot of times they butcher the story in the TV show. Wait, Ella Enchanted is a BOOK? Why have I not heard of this before?? How could I forget HP? They did such a good job with all the effects and with the story line! GASP You did WHAT?? Haha I'll forgive you but yeah that probably has something to do with it :) That's what happened to me with the Book Thief - I actually liked the movie more because I saw it first. Thanks!

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  2. I used to watch PLL...I'm not so into it now that it's going on for so long, but i loved the first couple of seasons. I thought about picking up the books but I had heard bad things about them. Same with The Vampire Diaries and The 100. Of course, I didn't actually like The 100 tv show either. I do love TVD though!

    Vicarious Caytastrophe

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    1. The first couple seasons were really good! And then it was just another A helper... then another... then another... just get on with it already! They were actually okay books up until book 8. After that, it really went downhill... I've been thinking about reading The Vampire Diaries but I've been worried they'll be so much like Vampire Academy. I don't know, I'll get around to them someday. Aww you didn't like The 100 show? They are changing a lot of things quite a bit though. Nice! I'm actually going to start watching that show soon :D

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