Can You Help me...??

Question

could u answer these questions for me? it won't take long, i promise!
1. have u seen any films that were converted from books and what were they?
2. have you read the book the film(s) were based on, if yes, did u read the book before or after u saw the film?
3. how do u compare the film to the book?
4. do prefer to read the book a film is based on before you see the film, if u know a film is comming out that is based on a book?

this is for a college assignment into audience research so if you could answer as fully as u can that would be great, thanx!!

Answer 1

1) Yes, alot of them. Narnia, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Thinner, Forrest Gump, Silver Bullet, The stand, It, Interview with a vampire, Queen of the Damned
2) Yes, before
3) Stephen Kings films resemble his novels best and interview with the vampire was a decent adaptation. Forrest Gump was horrible.
4) Always read the book first, wouldn't even watch LOTR until I refreshed on the books.

Answer 2

Yes i have seen films that were converted from books. I saw the Da Vinci Code, The Devil wears Prada and some of the Steven King films, read them all before seeing the films.
I found that all the way through the film i was comparing the film to the book and picking up on every difference therefore not enjoying the film as much as i could have.
I think it is better to read the book after seeing the film. I did this with Steve Kings Green Mile. I loved the film and then read the book and loved that too and didn't pick at differences.

It may be different for other people but i'd rather not see a film if i've read the book.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman. Read the book whilst in the Army in Germany. No UK TV in those days so everyone either read books, smoked ciggies and drank. To try not to drink so much I looked out for BIG books and this one is thick. Fantastic story and so well written you could imagine the scenery. Saw the movie a few years later and it was very true to the book and as I imagined.

Some of the Tom Clancy books, Patriot Games etc, read those before seeing the movies. Harrison Ford was the perfect character and Sean Bean a great baddie, very true to the books.

In both cases, LBM & TC, the authors were very descriptive, very methodical and very true to life which must have made the directors jobs a lot easier because the picture is painted for them.

Personally, I prefer to read. We holiday abroad a couple of times a year and I can do a book a day if they are good. We read Timeline recently, before the movie, which I have yet to see. The book was great but the movie got panned. When you are reading in the sun, after the beach, with a good, well written book, and a bottle of lager, that's better than the movies any day. Then, in the winter, when you watch the movie on Sky you remember the sun and the fun. Linking experiences.

Answer 4

1. The Hours, written by Michael Cunningham, the film had Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman in it. I saw the film first and it made me want to read the book. I thought both were very very good, but I preferred the book because it was so beautifully written, and you have more time to take in what it's trying to say and the author is at their leisure to develop characters, giving you a more emoitonal response to it. That's also the way I felt about The End of the Affair: saw the film first, it made me want to read the book. (By Graham Greene) I got a lot more out of the book because it was darker, and an interesting bit of the plot had been missed out in the film. I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson) before seeing the film. I preferred the film overall, but I think readig the book first might have ruined it a bit for me, because I kept wondering when this or that event was going to happen. I thik the film was generally more entertaining, or would have been had I not read the book.
I think it's better to see a film first before reading the book. You go from being intrigued by a story to getting a whole lot more out of it, whereas going from a much loved book to a film sort of feels like the work you love is being corrupted in some way, because it can't ever be recreated detail for detail or how you'd imagined it.
Overall though, I think it's best to try to enjoy each in their own way without comparing them. Think of the book and film as two separate works, which they are and then if one isn't faithful to the other, it won't annoy you so much!

Answer 5

I've read a lot of books that have been converted to film and more often than not i have found the results to be disappointing. Carrie, Firestarter and It by Stephen king, Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider by James Patterson are just a few of them. I think there is not enough detail and plot in the movies and sometimes they completely change the story line as was the case in ACAS.
I think the reason the book is better is because the suspense is built up for longer and because you always picture a character to look or act a certain way and that never quite matches up on the screen.
Having said that I did enjoy the adaptation of Misery by Stephen King and that was after I read the book. Possibly because they did not try to glamorise the characters and they pretty much stuck to the plot. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Yes - I've seen a quite a lot.

1) I have watched, to name a few, Seven, Trainspotting, American Psycho and Natural Born Killers that where all books first.
2) I read Seven and Trainspotting after seeing the film but I read American Pyscho and Natural Born Killers before watching the film
3) I normally always prefer the book to the film because it usually goes into more detail and you can really use your imagination. They tend to explore characters and sub-plots more in the book. I find the films tend to change bits of the book and one I watched (Kiss the Girls) was so different to the book it felt like a different story
4) I would always like to read the book first so my imagination is not influenced by someone else's and that I can get more of the story before I watch someone else's take on it.

Hope this helps - and good luck with the assignment.

Answer 7

1. All of the Harry Potter series, The Da Vinci Code, Riding in Cars with Boys.
2. I have read all of the books, I read the Potter series and the Da Vinci Code before the films were released, but I read Riding In Cars With Boys after I had seen the film.
3. In all 3 cases, the books were better than the film, I rarely find a situation where the film is better than the book.
4. Generally speaking, I do prefer to read the book before I see the film, it gives me a better perspective when it comes to life (and to see how well they stick to the original story)

Hope this helps, and Good Luck!

Answer 8

1. John Grisham : The Client, Pelican Brief, The Chamber, Runaway Jury, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Firm and Skipping Christmas (Christmas with the Kranks)

2. I read all the books before they were made into films

3. The films were just as good, if not better, than the books

4. I prefer to read the book first before seeing the film

Answer 9

yes I have seen film adaptations of books, that's what most films are.

I have read books before and after the release of the film and I find after works better as there is no way cinema can convey the personal relationship one creates with the priinted word.

I read books for love, if someone happens to make a film of this I will go see it, none have come close to the written version.

examples

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy; woeful even though the writer also did the screenplay.

A clockwork orange, even though kubrick is a wonderful director he didn't capture the futility and aggression of Burgess.

Catch 22, the film skimmed through the deatils of the book and languished on the mundane points.

Answer 10

1) The Devil Wears Prada, The DaVinci Code

2) I read both before their movies were released

3) I thought the book ending to The Devil Wears Prada was so much better than the movie ending. I thought The DaVinci Code was more exciting in book form than on film.

4) If a book based movie is coming out and it looks interesting, I will generally read the book before I see the movie.