From Book to Screen

My love for fantasy started when I was a kid, watching cartoons and movies in the genre. I didn’t get into fantasy books until I was a teenager, and I can definitely say that it was due to those cartoons and movies that I was drawn into reading fantasy fiction. Today, cartoons are nowhere near what they were in the 70’s and 80’s, back when they were saturated with entertaining fantasy settings; and the same goes for movies. However, the successful adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter to the big screen have given fantasy fiction a good face, and may be helping the genre like never before. Even the Game of Thrones adaptation on HBO is giving the “adult” side of fantasy a boost in sales (probably more so for Mr. Martin).

Fantasy stories have been adapted to film since the early days of cinema, but Disney’s adaptation of the Brothers Grimm’s, Sneewittchen, better known as Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, was the first to break ground—becoming the first of it’s kind. Not too long afterwards, MGM released the Wizard of Oz, based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Disney is keeping the Oz legacy going with their latest release of Oz the Great Powerful, with sequels to follow. I personally enjoyed the new Oz movie, and hope that the follow-ups are just as good, if not better, even with Sam Raimi showing no interest in directing the sequels.

In the early days, fantasy books could only be effectively made for the screen via animation, hence Disney’s success with movies like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, and the Sword in the Stone. It was the animated features of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the Return of the King that drew me in as a kid, topped off with The Last Unicorn.

Finally, when the 80’s came, probably the first time I ever really saw a live-action fantasy flick (apart from The Dark Crystal, which was not adapted from a book) was the first time I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger. He played Conan in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, based on Robert E. Howard’s character. I watched those movies every time they came on TV. The Neverending Story was another movie I had watched over and over. I never read the book, but the author, Michael Ende, felt that the movie was so far different from his book that he wanted the movie to stop being made, or else change the title of the film. The makers of the movie continued with the production anyway. Ende was an advisor for the script, but he claimed that the director/screenwriter, Wolfgang Petersen, secretly rewrote the script. However, Petersen insisted that the movie was very faithful to the novel.

The Princess Bride movie was a well received adaptation by audiences, and fans of the book seemed to love it as well. The author, William Goldman, did the screenplay for the film, which is probably why it was conveyed to screen so effectively. The screenwriter for the Stardust film tried to bring a Princess Bride kind of feel to that adaptation. Neil Gaiman, the author of the novel, seemed okay with the changes and adjustments in the movie, which were different from the book.

Eragon and The Golden Compass, are probably the most failed adaptations. These films were supposed to spark a new series of movies based on the novels, but failed to project strong stories on screen. In my opinion, Eragon was not very good, but The Golden Compass wasn’t too bad. But, from those who read the book, The Golden Compass movie was said to have been too close to the book (cramming in a lot), and failing to include a vital part at the end.

It’s always said that the movie is never as good as the book, because the movie cannot offer the depth of characters and world-building like the book can. However, many people cannot suffer through Tolkien’s long descriptions, but they’ll eat the movies up. We should give thanks to Tolkien’s detail, because it gave Peter Jackson and his crew everything they needed to create a visual Middle-earth. We have to understand that literary fiction and cinema convey stories in extremely different ways. One deals with capturing the mind and imagination, while the other deals with capturing our eyes and ears, as well as our minds. The problem with a lot of fantasy movies is that the makers work hard to dazzle us with sights and sounds, but fail to capture our hearts with solid storytelling and good acting. In literature, the writer has to pull us into their world and convince us to take the characters’ journey.

When a fantasy book is adapted to the screen, it's probably most assuring that changes would have to be made to make the story effective for viewers; but it’s important for the screenwriters and directors to render the spirit of the book to the fullest. I am glad to see fantasy books transferred to the screen effectively, and it’s keeping the fantasy genre strong. Not only that, but we get to see the stories that we enjoyed in our heads for so long displayed with the best visuals that the industry can dish out.

I’m not going to lie, as an aspiring writer, I dream of seeing my book on the big screen some day, with hundreds of millions of dollars funding the production, and everyone falling in love with it. Like I said, it’s a dream. But, I know that I am not the only one. Lots of authors dream of their stories becoming movies, but there is the fear that their baby (their book) would not be given due justice, and the whole thing could turn into a disappointment, like Michael Ende, mentioned above.

I am optimistic that more good fantasy novels will continue to be produced well for the screen, and we will enjoy them for years to come. But I hope that filmmakers learn from past failures, and aim to stay true to the heart of the stories. 

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