Critique: 4 Reasons Why Book to Film Adaptations Fail

By Stan Martin II

So, I’m back!

Yay!

Sorry if I seem a bit off at the moment,  but, as I write this, it’s once again 5 a.m, and as I enter week..whatever, of relative isolation – all the days blurring together right about now – my moods tended to swing between either manic jittering and deep existential apathy.

More of the same, basically.

So I figured, before I swung back the other way entirely, and you inevitably get bored, why not crank another one of these out? 

So, let’s dive right in.

As always, I should make it clear: I like this article. 

The information it presents is clear, flows readily form point to point, and is easy to digest for all readers. It wastes no time in making its points, and providing evidence for them in the form of examples from various well known and (for the time) recent films, all interspersed with the author’s own subjective opinions. It does so while also – at least to my, admittedly, amateurish judgement – avoiding any and all blatant fallacies.

As a side note, the article also makes fairly decent use of visuals, using them both to mark the splits between its sections, and to provide color and even humor to the column overall.

Despite these positives, however, I do have one glaring issue with the piece, and that is its lack of deeper detail.

Okay, now, I know how that might sound.

I agree.

The topic itself is very specific, even if it does touch a number of films, and trying to force too much detail into it just for the sake of it would just end up confusing half-of the audience, and probably end-up annoying the other half.

That said, I still think it could have been stretched a bit further.

While the topic is specific, it also opens itself to various pros and cons specific to its audience – fans of books turned into movies – which, with a bit more time, could have been explored further, and  allowed the author to touch upon other arguments and further strengthen his position.

In lieu of this though, we’re still left with a solid – if minimalist – effort, which does its job well, even if it doesn’t quite reach its fullest potential, in a way, not unlike the type of film it seeks to discuss.

Citation:

DexterTan76. “4 Reasons Why Book to Film Adaptations Often Fail.” Digital Fox Talent, 22 July 2018, www.digitalfox.media/explained/4-reasons-why-book-to-film-adaptations-fail/.