It is very common to see the film/cinema industry piggybacking on best-seller novels and making spin-offs of the amazing stories in the books. Whether this move always guarantees credibility and the films faithfully adhere to the stories in the novels is an issue that is often debated. Critics are often quick to discredit these films while film some enthusiasts like to show support by praising the films and standing by their beliefs that cinema adaptations accurately transcribe these novels to more relatable versions of the stories (Atterton , 2015). It is important for all literature and film lovers, and critics as well, to understand the concept of cinematic adaptation of novels before jumping to any conclusion on this matter by studying these adaptations.
One of the adaptations is the adaptation of the novel The Orchid Thief to the film Adaptation. Many important themes clearly come out in the film Adaptation. This film was directed by Spike Jonze. The characters in the film clearly express this adaptation through their life journey (Atterton, 2015). The film brings out some things in a more apparent way than the novel. The theme of obsession comes out less in the film than it does in the novel by Susan Orleans. The whole novel is actually built around this theme. The character Laroche, in the novel, has a penchant for collecting orchids. Laroche’s obsession with certain things seems to be a more than an eccentricity; it is more like an important part of his life.
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In the movie, Charles Kauffman- played by Nicholas Cage- bitterly complains and explodes into a tirade against his brother, claiming he was undergoing a lot of suffering. He blames this suffering to art and trashes his brother for his work on a script about a serial killer The film spends a lot of time judging entertainment meant for the masses, the relationship between Orlean and Laroche, the Kauffman brothers and on the process of writing. The summary of the film, however, clearly comes out in the scene where Donald tells his brother Charles about how he has an idea for a thriller script. He explains that it was inspired by a tattoo of a snake consuming its tail that he saw on his girlfriend. This scene, in itself, brings out the concept of adaptation. It is an artistic scene and the tattoo could be seen as imagery for the thriller that Donald was working.
Another great adaptation is seen in the adaptation of the novel The Siege of Trenchers Farm by Gordon Williams. The film Straw Dogs brings out a lot of frustration among its viewers. The film earned both praise and condemnation in equal measure. Its content is seen to lie in two extremes: Misogyny to an in-depth look at savagery among human beings. The film exhibits both features. The adaptation of the novel to the film, Stray Dogs, came with a lot of issues (Elliott, 2012). One of the weaknesses of the film is the way it portrays women. The other weaknesses that clearly come out in the film are the film’s lack of clarity in its statement on violence and its controversial and intricate rape scenes.
The way the film portrays women is not the ideal way women should be portrayed. This portrayal is distasteful. The women in the film are portrayed as sex objects. The picture brings out Amy as a woman with legs that are fully exposed, nipples that clearly come out in an erotic way and a rueful smile. She is young and seductive. She makes men drool because of her alluring presence (Elliott, 2012). This makes her husband wary. The rape scene in the film has always been subject to great controversy. That scene is very graphic and violent. The fact that Amy welcomes them and walks around nude triggers this incident. The most irking part of this scene is the part where Amy seems to enjoy being sexually assaulted. This is probably incorporated into the scene to improve the film's ratings, but it evokes a lot of discussions.
The adaptation of the novel, Rita Hayworth and Shaw shank Redemption by Stephen King to the film Shaw shank Redemption came with surprisingly many similarities. The dialogue in the novel is consistent with the dialogue in the film (Gutierrez, 2013). This is surprising because the novel’s dialogue is very graphic and distasteful. The novel’s main events in the novel are duplicated in the film with great precision such that the settings of the events in the novel are exactly the same as the settings of those events in the film. For instance, the scene of the court case involving the main character, Andrew Dufresne, clearly has virtually the same words in the novel and the film. Another good example is his escape from prison. The sequence of events of this is virtually the same in the novel and the film.
The adaptation, just like many adaptations, is not perfect. There are some differences between the novel and the film. A clear difference is seen in the characters. The major difference here is seen in the wardens. In the film, there is only one warden and he plays a big role. In the novel, there are three wardens and Warden Norton, the only warden in the film, does not play a major role in the novel (Gutierrez, 2013). The film is better than the novel in the sense that the scenes clearly have more emotion than the novel’s scenes. The ending is particularly emotional in the film and it brings out the theme of hope in a way that the novel could not bring out the same emotion.
The adaptation of the book ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ to the film ‘Blade Runner’ was a great adaptation. The book is not a fascinating book. It is similar to the film, but the film is more lively, and tasteful. It sets the plot of the film. Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, gets hired to make six replicants, who have made an illegal return to the Earth and become a part of the human population, retire (Welsh, 2012). In one day he pursues them through a virtually ravaged Los Angeles where virtually every real animal species has become extinct. The similarities between the movie and the film pretty much end with this basic plot.
The characters in the book and the film are similar, but the story’s tone and objective in the film are different from the book’s tone and objective. The film is more tasteful and gives the story more value than the book. The film has an amazing soundtrack- the Vangelis Soundtrack (Welsh, 2012). The futuristic portrayal of Los Angeles, exposing the grim pollution situation is a great visual portrayal of the futuristic city that the book could not bring out. The book and the film are similar in the sense that they use the future to shed light on the present, and both are great in their own capacity but the film is clearly better than the book in bringing out the important themes of the story. It does this through its great visual appeal that draws viewers to the story.
References
Atterton, P. (2015). “More Human than Human”: Blade Runner and Being-Toward-Death. In Blade Runner (pp. 46-67). Routledge.
Elliott, K. (2012). The Adaptation of Adaptation: A Dialogue between the Arts and Sciences. Adaptation and Cultural Appropriation: Literature, Film, and the Arts , 27 , 145.
Gutierrez, P. (2013). Redeeming the Myth of Upward Mobility:" The Shawshank Redemption". Screen Education , (70), 98-103.
Welsh, J. M. (2012). Peckinpah Today: New Essays on the Films of Sam Peckinpah. Michael Bliss, editor. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. The Journal of American Culture , 35 (4), 376-377.
