Do you have a favorite film adaptation?
From Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” to J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, it can be difficult to choose because there are many new film adaptations being released.
“Recently, ‘Death on the Nile’ and ‘The Weekend Away’ were released,” said junior Kelli Wrinn. “I also heard that a film of the novel ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ will be coming out in the summer. That book has been on my list for years, so I think the creation of the movie will give me the motivation to read it sooner rather than later.”
“Death on the Nile,” the crime novel by Agatha Christie, was released on Feb. 11. “The Weekend Away,” by Sarah Alderson, came out on March 3.
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding “Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens, set to come out on July 15. The novel follows the story of a girl named Kya and involves mystery, romance and murder.
Ironically, there has been controversy around the film adaptation due to complications surrounding a murder. Delia Owens’ ex-husband Mark and his son Christopher were accused of being involved in the murder of a poacher in Zambia.
The film adaptation is being produced by famous actress Reese Witherspoon. Additionally, Taylor Swift revealed to her followers on Instagram that she had written a song for the movie. Alongside the filmmakers, Swift is struggling with the controversy surrounding the novel.
Controversy aside, there are many difficulties and obstacles when it comes to adapting a book into a film. People may assume it’s easy to turn a novel into a screenplay because the book is already in written format. However, the process is more complicated.
“Prose is different than screenwriting. In novels and short stories, we are often in character’s heads. In screenplays you must show rather than tell. Translating one form into another can be painstaking,” said Todd Barnes, professor in the School of Communication, Media and the Arts.
Books are being created not only into movies, but also into shows on streaming services such as Netflix and AppleTV.
“Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee was released on March 25. “Pachinko” follows the story of a Korean family, released on Apple TV.
“I’d say that my favorite adaptation would be ‘Haunting of Hill House’ on Netflix. Now, the show deviates quite a bit from the book, but that doesn’t subtract from the quality of the narrative,” said freshman Cayden Thompson. “I know a lot of book fans say, ‘The movies are never as good as the books’ and that might be the case sometimes, but I also think that it’s possible for the film adaptations to establish itself as a solid narrative even if separate from the source material.”
A recent film adaptation has been released on Netflix that also differentiates a bit from the novels. If you’re a fan of romance novels you have most likely heard of the ‘Bridgerton’ series by author Julia Quinn. On March 25, Netflix released the second season which quickly moved to Netflix’s ‘Top 10’ list.
Another anticipated film adaptation is “Bullet Train” starring Brad Pitt and Joey King. It is set to be released on July 29. “Bullet Train” by Kotaro Isaka is a thriller about five assassins.
Murder mysteries, historical fiction and heartfelt romances are some of the things you can expect to see this year. Even if you haven’t read the books you can still enjoy the movies.
Some Sacred Heart students argue that watching the movie first is better.
“If I watch the movie first and then read the book, I am never disappointed by the book because most of the time, there is so much more in the novel than in the movie,” said Wrinn.
