It seems that today that every other film is an adaptation of a graphic novel, actual novel or stage play. It is common for people to look at the film and scoff that "its not as good as the book." These comments are correct 100% of the time if the person making them is judging the film as if it were a book. There are stark and obvious differences between a film and the written word. The written word draws more on the imagination of their audience and asks more from them in general. A film presents everything for its viewers, carefully escorting them through the world of the story. The way a story is told in a book and how it is shown on screen is vastly different. There are time constraints as well. The two are apples and oranges.

If you had a beautiful sculpture and an artist took an equally impressive picture of the sculpture, would you complain the picture was someone less of a piece of art because its not like the original work? When watching an adaptation, it helps to try to watch it as its own work. While the source material is always important to keep in mind, clinging to it too tightly will ruin more films than necessary.

Labels: movie watching tip