ArnoldtheRubberDucky wrote:I am not a book purist, and I still don't totally get the philosophy of book purists, mostly because I believe books and movies to be quite similar, why would you want to just have an exact copy of the book for screen?
I'm going to deviate a bit from the topic, but only because I think this is a question that needs to be answered, and from the perspective of a book purist, I can explain why we tend to hate the movie adaptations so much from my own experiences with the Harry Potter franchise.
My problem with the Harry Potter movies is that I see some of the changes as really unnecessary—not in the "THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN IN THE BOOK SO THIS SUCKS" sense, but in the oversimplification of the characters that drive the story. I am, to say the least, extraordinarily unsatisfied with the way most of the characters in the
Harry Potter movies were presented—Hermione is made devoid of flaws and Ron's character is turned into a buffoonish clown to make her look better, Harry is a generic self-insert action hero, Ginny could be any boring girl who has no chemistry with Daniel Radcliffe, Malfoy was made to look charming and darkly alluring instead of like the cruel and petty bully he really is, and Snape is made to look far too sympathetic.
Now, the question is, do I have to accept these changes? No, and I don't. But the problem is, I like to interact with my media on a deeply analytical level, and it angers me to see people misinterpreting the characters I have come to know and love because they've been overexposed to the Hollywood distortions of them. I don't like the way the movies portray this universe because I see it as a misrepresentation of the truth. Selfish? Yeah, I'll admit. But in an odd way, these characters are like friends or family to me, as characters tend to be in works people love, and people don't like to see their favorite characters get watered down to a few basic traits that are either exaggerated or erased entirely solely because it's more palatable for a movie audience.
(Obviously, not everyone complains about characters; some complain about the plot as well. I was simply using my experiences with Harry Potter as an example, and my central problem with the movies is always going to be the fact that it turned lovable, human characters into props and caricatures—and often ones that made certain particular characters look better or worse in ways that they aren't.)
Should I or any other fan care about what other people think about my favorite media? Not really, because in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter—it's not like we're going to get to heaven and God's going to be like, "You believed the movie version's misreadings of the characters instead of reading the books. Lolbye".
But like with most things about which people are passionate, it is still important to me that my favorite books be represented generally as they are, rather than what Hollywood has twisted them to be.
Basically, what I am saying is that most of the people whom you would probably classify as "book purists" aren't so much saying that movies should be copies of the books as we're saying that faithful (and therefore, in our eyes, worthy) adaptations of the books stay truer to the source material than most adaptations typically do. I don't think there are a lot of people who complain about movies not staying true to the books who actually want a six-hour movie (although the nerd in us is rubbing its hands together and squealing "But that would be
so cool!"); most book purists are interested in the whole story generally remaining intact and as the author intended it to be. (This is, for example, why I prefer the
Sorcerer's Stone and
Chamber of Secrets movies; they are fairly faithful adaptations without having to copy everything from the books.) Fans of LotR and
The Hobbit aren't necessarily complaining that the story isn't exactly like the book; they're complaining because it's too much unlike the book for their comforts. And while the world doesn't have to cater to your comforts, obviously, you can understand why fans of the book are disappointed.
And on a more basic level, I empathize with the disappointment of the "book purists" who really wanted to see that super-cool scene in the book get adapted for the movie and it didn't happen. =/
it's not about 'deserve'. it's about what you believe. and i believe in love
I think it was my favorite out of all 3.
