Again with the spoilerage. If you haven’t read Harry Potter and don’t want me to ruin it, stop reading here.
I mentioned to someone that I was planning Harry Potter Week, and they immediately said I needed to do a post about the books vs. the movies.
But here’s the thing: I am really good at seeing books and movies as the separate media that they are. I know that movie adaptations will not be the same as the book. There are things that can be done with the written word that cannot be done visually, and vice versa. A book can exist more in a characters head, whereas a film needs to be able to show what is happening. Movies often rely on a lot of action, but books can be quieter and have the same punch.
Books and movies will never be the same. By remembering this, we can all enjoy each medium to it’s fullest. So, when I watch a movie, I completely separate it* from the book it is adapted from. I pay attention to see if it is a good movie, not to see if it lived up to the book. Because let’s face it, a movie adaptation is never really going to live up to the book.
Harry Potter has another element working against it that many adaptations do not have. Some of those HP books are really freakin’ long. It is not possible to fit all of the book into a movie**. Things have to be cut. I know this, so when I see the movies, I don’t let myself get upset if a scene I really enjoyed in the book didn’t make it to the big screen.
That being said, there is one thing I really wish would have stayed in the movies: QUIDDICH!! After the first few films, we really don’t see much Quiddich going on (even when they go to the world cup in the fourth film, we don’t see much). Quiddich in itself is exciting, but I have a much deeper motive for wanting the sport to stay in the film. You see, in the sixth book, Harry and Ginny’s first kiss is spurred by the Gryffindor team winning the Quiddich Cup. With the Quiddich element, we get this as their first kiss:
I don't know who did this, but they are talented
The excitement! The passion! The shock on Ron’s face!
Without Quiddich, we get this stiff awkwardness instead:
We've been hot for each other for years, but let's not let any of that passion leak out.
Sigh. This kiss is the only part of the sixth movie that really disappointed me.
*The only time I couldn’t do this was with Inkheart. I don’t know what it was about that book, but I could not let go of it when I watched the movie. Which is sad, because I am certain I would have liked the movie much more if I had been able to.
**Whenever I tell people that they just can’t fit all of a book into a movie, they always tell me that Hollywood should make the movie longer. Um, yeah, that doesn’t work. Here’s why:
- Longer movies cost more to make
- Longer movies cost more to ship (and theatres have to pay for that – they cannot afford too much)
- Some people won’t go sit through a long, long movie
- Longer movies cannot be played as many times in one day as shorter movies can
Looks like the reasoning all revolves around money, doesn’t it? Well, it does. Movies are a business, and the powers that be need to do the best they can to make the business profitable.
2 Comments
I must concur, though it ruffles my feathers. In my case, enjoyment of a film or book revolves around character development. It is characters that make me love or lament over a story. You create a person that fascinates me, and I would enjoy the simple act of them eating breakfast for half the movie or half the book. No number of demon hordes or massive explosions or torrid affairs can make up for poorly-evolved persons. For me, it is the context of people that give actions meaning and interest. Otherwise it is just so much fluff.
Good point, friend! If the characters are not interesting, what is? That is something that is universal when it comes to books and movies.