Books that are films, and films that are books... (to the tune of blur's boys and girls)

Unless you have been living in your  wardrobe of late you will've noticed that the cinema is showing adaptation after adaptation of books.
The film industry has always found a rich vein of source material on their bookshelves, the problem is they don't always get it right. Some books are so "cinematic" that part of you can't unstand why it hasn't been made into a film, whilst your other half is screaming that some form of injunction be taken out preventing it from being mangled at the hands of a  profiteering Hollywood producer and his incompetent director.
The latest thing is adaptation of Young Adult Fiction, a phenomenon that is perhaps unsurprising when you consider the explosion in the size of the category since *sigh* twilight made it visible and attracted older readers into the fold. Its a broad category and many books have already suffered film adaptions hurried out in order to fill a niche market.
Often they make changes to the narrative and bring in features that serve no purpose or change an arc entirely. One thing that several years later still annoys me is the changes to the narrative in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader adaptation, and the bizarre and frankly confusing inclusion of the White Witch in one of the scenes, she's long dead?! And why do we need her popping up when there is A GIANT FREAKING NARRATIVELY CORRECT SEAMONSTER to fight?! ITS A SEAMONSTER! That counts as both villain and threat to me! The obsession with having to have an overarching nemesis to pose some form of menace at all times is a trope that's beginning to get a bit tired. Even the creators of the magnificent Sherlock have fallen prey to it. I can hear Conan Doyle spinning in his grave, he was annoyed enough at having to bring back Holmes, but Moriarty too? And whilst I have enough theories enough  on Sherlock to type till Sunday this is not what I'm here to discuss, and no there will be no gratuitous pictures of The Batch.Sorry Hannah.
Why am I belly aching about this?
Because of Divergent.
Veronica Roth's Divergent series is one of the best things I read recently, (review to come, it will be spoilery) and they've made it into a film.

As a book its depth is huge, and a masterclass in world building, the characters are multifaceted and complex and could be said have been the deal sealer on my love of dystopian fiction. I don't want my ideas of the characters becoming the actor's interpretation of them, Daniel Radcliffe is now and forever more Harry Potter, whether or not any of us like it, just like Katniss Everdeen is now always going to be Jennifer Lawrence and the list goes on.
But my real problem is this it's been branded as "The New Hunger Games", another film adaptation of a dystopian YA book that has done PHENOMENALLY well. But its not the hunger games, yes it deals with serious themes, there's even, in the first book, a remarkable amount of violence, but  this is an act of war not a reality TV show, Katniss is concerned only for herself and her family, Divergent is not just the story of Tris' journey of self discovery but also that of Four, it is a book with many more interactions a more complexly woven life more akin to real life than in Collins' books, of which I can stomach one and a half of. The latter half of Mockingjay i find enraging and a betrayal of Katniss' Character.
Will the film be able to accurately portray this? The Hunger Games certainly mucked up on certain key emblems - The Cornucopia is a giant gold thing! Not a black tent!  I know already that they've changed aspects of the Choosing Ceremony.
Now as a Man of Great Fezdom once said 'what makes a great book doesn't necessarily make a good film, it has to be a good film and accessible to the newcomer who wouldn't be willing to sit through the 8 epic the dyed in the wool fans were hoping for. The Man of Great Fezdom, of course is right and sometimes it does work, Hannah pointed out Atonement, The Hunger Games again is very good, but the issue arises when they start messing with key parts of the narrative! I'm looking at you City of Bones.
The one thing that reassures me, is that both Roth and fellow YA author John Green, whose own novel 'The Fault In Our Stars' has been filmyfied with the same lead, Shailene Woodley, are please with both their respective adaptations and Woodley's performances, but then Cassandra Clare hand picked Jamie Campbell-Bower.....*rage*

Anyway what are your thoughts? Get commenting and I'll go review the Divergent series.

Beth xx

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