Books to Films: A lost in Translation case

Books to Films: Where words do the tango, but the plot insists on breakdancing💃📚

Alt Text: Image of the process of making a film based on a book

Image Source: IU Libraries 

I have had this conversation with so many people about how some books should just stay that way: as in it should continue to be in a format where it is read and not seen. 

I’ve often wondered why this is and came to the conclusion that these people must be voracious readers and so they would always prefer books over films. I then understood that I was making a sweeping generalization and it is too myopic to reduce it to just one factor, one that I did not even bother to ask. 

However, during my final year while finishing my undergraduate, I took a course called Introduction to Film Studies, where we discussed this very concept and the reasons behind the prejudices. It broke my understanding and shed some light on the topic, giving me another perspective. 

Alt Text: Image of how books are translated to movies

Image Source: LocationsHub 

Adaptations from the text

Alt Text: Image of a tv where most of the films are based on books.

Image Source: Literary Hub 

We have heard this term so often because of the amount of media that we consume on a daily basis and also how many of the films being released are based on books. To define it in simple terms, adaptation means that it is an idea or a story that is borrowed from another. There is a web of intertextual transformation that happens when it goes from one format to another -  from words to visuals. 

Are you loyal to me??

Alt Text: Image of some of the most successful films that were based on movies

Image Source: Tell Tales 

The main focus of an adaptation would be whether the film is loyal to the book or not. It is a question of whether there is a high level of fidelity towards the original source. This becomes very, very problematic, as everyone has their own ideas and perceptions about how the story should be visuals and storyboarded. 

Reductionist process

Alt Text: Image of the history of books to films 

Image Source: Gale Blog 

It is a very reductionist process, when it goes from a book to a film. If there is going to be a change in the form, there is going to be change in the content and that is inevitable and unavoidable. So then, is it risky to even use fidelity as a factor to verify how good an adaptation is? That is for you to decide. The key point to take away from this is that the moment it goes from writing to an audio-visual text, there is a change of ideologies and new perspectives being brought in, so the new form cannot remain faithful to the original. 

Problematic terms 

Alt Text: Image of the impact of adapting books into films.

Image Source: Legends of Windemere. 

Adaptations have received much acclaim and praise from audiences and critics alike, for its raw, honest and sincere adaptation of the text it was based on. The terms on the other hand, have not been received very well. 

The text that the film is based on is called the Original text and the Audio-visual adaptation is called the Copy. These terms definitely didn’t sit well with people as they felt and I agree that they believed that the original or the written text had no inspiration. They believed that using the term original for the books meant that there was no source of inspiration for the books, which cannot be true. 

The terms have now changed, with 

the Original being called the Source Text and 

The Copy being called the Adapted Text. 

Conclusion 

Alt Text: Image of the film Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief 

Image Source: D23

In the end, everyone still has their opinion and they are absolutely entitled to have it. I find that I am contradicting myself when I think about a film like Pride and Prejudice or Godfather, which have been incredible adaptations and a great movie that can stand on its own without being compared to the book. But each adaptation brings its own twist to a literary text.