If a movie has been inspired by a written novel do you think it should be faithful to the story?

[thegreenyogi]

[HawkPerception]

Absolutely. If I write a novel (which I plan on doing at some point in my life), I'd want the characters I take the time to describe to be accurately depicted physically. I'd also want the plot to be as I envisioned it. It's an insult to the author to change their work based on how you want it. I would never personally sign off on someone who wanted to change my story, even if it's fictional. If someone wants to make their own story, then they can go for it, but don't use someone else's work and change it however you like.

It's why all this wokeness in movies recently is pissing me off. If Aladdin was depicted by a Chinese guy, or Mulan was depicted by an Indian girl, people would lose their minds. But nowadays, we have black Zeus, black Ariel for the Little Mermaid, Black Astrid for How to Train Your Dragon, black Nick Fury in Avengers, black Heimdall (a literal Norse god) in Avengers, tan-skinned Snow White (does that even make any sense?), Zendaya playing Mary Jane, and so much more that I can't even come close to naming all.

I'm not saying the actors or actresses were bad or untalented. They played the roles well. I enjoyed some of the movies that I did watch of them, like Avengers. But I'd much rather have the actors/actresses fit the physical description of the originals.

[OneViewpoint]

Should be faithful to the book? Yes, in concept. But... a book and a film are 2 very different formats.

• A book can be 1,200 pages no problem while a film is sort of limited to 90 min to 3 hours by the attention span of customers and the economics of filmmaking.
• A book doesn't have a sound track. A film does.
• A book relies heavily on the reader's imagination to fill in a lot of the background information. So a book can be a very different experience for each reader. A film needs to make those details freeze in place for the viewers. There's no freestyling in each viewer's mind about what the characters look like or how treacherous the storm is.
• It's really hard to turn a book written mostly in the 3rd person into a screenplay that is all 1st person dialogue with maybe a part time narrator.

Because of all that I go into a movie derived from a book I've read with low expectations and try to view the film on it's own merits. That kinda sorta works but I can't completely erase all of my personal bias or tendency to compare the film to the book.

My case (s) in point. I've enjoyed some Stephen King books but every movie derived from a Stephen King book has been a flaming disaster.

[FreyaRed]

Not necessarily and in 99% of novels no one will care, but insulting someone's other culture isn't okay. Imagine the shitstorm after a movie with Ryan Gosling as MLK or Nelson Mandela. While unattractive black woman as Helena of Troy seems to be okay because insulting Greek culture seems to be acceptable.

[lilBigPotato]

Yes. If you don't want to honour the original source material, just do something else entirely 🤷‍♀️

[AI Opinion]

I don’t think it has to be completely faithful, but it should respect the soul of the book 😊

A novel and a film are different art forms. Some changes are necessary for pacing, visuals, and time. As long as the core themes, characters’ essence, and emotional impact stay true, creative adaptation can be amazing. When they change those too much, it just feels like a betrayal to readers. 📚🎬

[bear34]

The film absolutely must stay true to the story. Minor changes are acceptable, but the story and characters must be preserved. They need to be even more careful, especially if they're adapting a novel that's already been adapted into a film as a TV series! If they're going to change the development of the characters, they should find an original screenplay and make a film or series from that. But they're definitely trying to attract attention and promote themselves by making these kinds of changes. That's why I don't watch series or films that are altered in such ridiculous ways.

[NathanDavis]

faithful to it's essence, yes...

because when it starts to be like "interpretation" or "modern take" then that's just hijacking works that already had a life of their own

adaptations and re-interpretations should go by their own name... and not take the original one

[Tarifa]

Most great novels have such an intricate storyline - or several plots into one - that it is almost impossible to condense it all in 1 1/2 hour or 2 hours, which seems to be the maximum time span people want to dedicate to a movie in a movie teather.

The best adaptations I've seen have been broadcast as series for televisionm spanning multiple episodes.

[BCRanger10]

Yes, otherwise it's just using the novel as a platform to tell a completely different story. Sure, you can and sometimes should take some creative liberties (combine, remove, or add events or characters, change the order of things, etc.). But to the greatest extent possible, a movie should follow the source material.

[Friendlybro79]

I do think it should be faithful to the story. I think it's ok to have some things be slightly different if it doesn't actually mess with the overall story. When big things in the book that made the story great are omitted or really changed in the movie adaptation, I get annoyed.

[Zack-Bann]

If it’s a book adaptation then yes, every change is always felt and is always weak.


But if it’s only an inspiration but the movie is telling an original story nonetheless then it’s ok to take creative liberties all the way through

[exitseven]

It does not have to be. Sometimes books cannot be faithfully adapted to another medium. It could be technological issues or a limited budget or maybe the book is just too long to make a movie out of.

[Staximus]

If the name of the movie is going to be the same as the title of the book, the movie should stay true to the book and not make changes to the story.

[xawyx-3]

Yes, I think so, I always prefer original stories from the novels.

[KostasKouvalis]

Yes please. It's so annoying when they change the hell out of it

[DryGermanGuy]

Inspired, not necessarily. Adapted from, yes.

[sage2021]

Yes, otherwise what's the point?🙄

[AgentG111]

As much as possible.

[Paige2006]

I don't mind a few minor changes

[msc545]

Yes it should be painful but it rarely is

[Cidknee]

Yes.

[Cidknee]

I guess "inspired" leaves room for improvement. Based on, thats different.