Like most people, I can always get behind a good TV show or movie. But what I don’t love is filmmakers' recent obsession with turning every popular book into either a series or a movie.
“The Housemaid” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” are a few examples of books that have recently been adapted into media. But the problem is that the differences between these books and shows were too drastic to even feel like the same story.
And yes, occasionally when I read books, I do think to myself, “Wow, I don’t think I will ever get over these characters, and I wish that I could see more from this story.” But that’s never executed properly when filmmakers change most of the distinctive aspects of the plot.
For example, I read “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden over winter break and absolutely devoured the story in two days, and was ecstatic when I learned that the movie had been released.
Once I had watched the movie with all of my friends, I thought they did a great job with casting and settings, but there were some extreme differences.
At the start of the film, they completely cut out one of the most impactful beginning scenes in the book, where the daughter, Cece, accuses the housemaid, Millie, of trying to kill her because Cece was “deathly allergic” to peanut butter and Millie made a PB & J for her. This was an incredibly important scene because it was how the reader starts to catch on to Cece’s mom, Mrs. Winchester’s, insanity.
Then, towards the end of the movie, one of the scenes was completely modified to make it more gory for the audience, and I felt as though it didn’t need to be changed because the audience would perceive the pain no matter what.
I understand if it’s a small scene where the filmmakers legitimately need to change it due to available sets, but they easily could’ve recreated the peanut butter scene, and there was no reason to cut it.
Another book-to-series adaptation that came out a few years ago was “The Summer I Turned Pretty” by Jenny Han, and it also underwent numerous unnecessary changes.
One of the biggest changes was in season one, when there was an addition of the debutante ball that Belly, the main character, attended at the country club. In the book, there was no debutante ball, but it ended up taking the majority of the screen time, in contrast to other important parts, throughout the season.
Also, the relationship between Taylor, Belly’s best friend, and Steven, Belly’s brother, in the books was practically non-existent, but in the show, some would argue that they were more of a vital relationship than Belly and Conrad. This love triangle between them and the other Fisher brother, Jeremiah, was actually meant to be the main focus.
These changes were so frustrating and drastic that they really should’ve just kept the story in the books rather than stretching it into a lengthy three-season show.
Although adaptations of books into media can sometimes work, most of the time, the plot is changed so much that it doesn’t even feel like the same story. Filmmakers should stop trying to create so many adaptations unless the plot is kept the same.
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