Love movies? Love novels? Love novels that eventually become movies?! We do too! Well sometimes, but what we do love is everything in between. That's right, we're talking about all the juicy stuff that goes on when Hollywood rips up you're favorite books and churns out an on screen adaptation. And that's what we're going to be doing here on Ink to Images; tearing apart, critiquing, analyzing and saying all the things you wanted to shout at the movie screen (good and bad of course!) when you experienced your favorite novels in cinematic form!
We're here to provide both a strong voice on the transition from novel to film. We want to speak not for Hollywood and not for the publishers or the writers of your favorite novels. We're here to speak for you, and voice an opinion on changes that should have been made to the film versions of your favorite novels as well as what could have been handled differently, left out, or placed back in the films.
So we only thought it would be fitting to start the first post of a new blog with a little feature on the first artistic print of you're favorite book-turned movie. Yup, we're talking about movie posters/book covers!
Let's see how one cover from a popular book-turned movie stacked up against it's movie poster counterpart!
1. The Secret Life of Bees
Novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Film written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
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Book Cover Movie Poster
The Cover vs. The Poster
Don't judge a movie by it's poster? Nope. That's exactly what Gina Prince-Bythewood wanted to do with this poster. She tells us exactly what we need to know about the movie. Which is that she essentially turned the novel into a generic romance film catered specifically to women.
The novel's cover contains so many key themes and motifs within the novel. Of course we wouldn't know that going into it, but that's not the point. After reading it, we understand the book cover's significance to the story; the bee jar, the Black Madonna and the bee are all key themes. In the poster, all we see is an an all star cast of women all starring back at us in generic poses that tell us nothing about the novel. Which is fitting because the movie really doesn't care to focus on any of them. Instead it masks them behind generic themes of romance and the bond's between woman. Which is exactly what the poster shows us, nothing deep or meaningful about the film, because, well there's nothing really deep or meaningful about the film when compared to the novel. In this case, even though we may not know it from start, the poster for the film and the cover of the book tell us all we need to know about the key difference between the novel and the book!
It's one thing to abandon key elements of a novel for the sake of an adaptation but to completely ignore deep and meaningful elements of a novel to market a movie, isn't the way to go in my opinion. Comment below, and tell us here at Ink to Images if you agree! Was The Secret Life of Bees cinematic adaptation bottomless and shallow when compared to it's deep and meaningful novel counterpart?
By Alex Lamburini
We're here to provide both a strong voice on the transition from novel to film. We want to speak not for Hollywood and not for the publishers or the writers of your favorite novels. We're here to speak for you, and voice an opinion on changes that should have been made to the film versions of your favorite novels as well as what could have been handled differently, left out, or placed back in the films.
So we only thought it would be fitting to start the first post of a new blog with a little feature on the first artistic print of you're favorite book-turned movie. Yup, we're talking about movie posters/book covers!
Let's see how one cover from a popular book-turned movie stacked up against it's movie poster counterpart!
1. The Secret Life of Bees
Novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Film written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
______________________________________________________________
Book Cover Movie Poster
The Cover vs. The Poster
Don't judge a movie by it's poster? Nope. That's exactly what Gina Prince-Bythewood wanted to do with this poster. She tells us exactly what we need to know about the movie. Which is that she essentially turned the novel into a generic romance film catered specifically to women.
The novel's cover contains so many key themes and motifs within the novel. Of course we wouldn't know that going into it, but that's not the point. After reading it, we understand the book cover's significance to the story; the bee jar, the Black Madonna and the bee are all key themes. In the poster, all we see is an an all star cast of women all starring back at us in generic poses that tell us nothing about the novel. Which is fitting because the movie really doesn't care to focus on any of them. Instead it masks them behind generic themes of romance and the bond's between woman. Which is exactly what the poster shows us, nothing deep or meaningful about the film, because, well there's nothing really deep or meaningful about the film when compared to the novel. In this case, even though we may not know it from start, the poster for the film and the cover of the book tell us all we need to know about the key difference between the novel and the book!
It's one thing to abandon key elements of a novel for the sake of an adaptation but to completely ignore deep and meaningful elements of a novel to market a movie, isn't the way to go in my opinion. Comment below, and tell us here at Ink to Images if you agree! Was The Secret Life of Bees cinematic adaptation bottomless and shallow when compared to it's deep and meaningful novel counterpart?
By Alex Lamburini
I actually haven't seen this movie or read the book. Based on the book cover alone, I probably wouldn't have known how significant the cover art was to the book without having read it. On the other hand, I think that the movie poster gives me a little bit of insight as to what the movie is about. I can tell that race is probably significant to the plot of the movie. I also like how the yellow background looks like a honey comb.
ReplyDeleteLove the concept and content of this blog. I've never seen this movie or read the book so I can't give any real insight to it. But I don't think it right when films based off books are nothing like the book, it's all about what sells in these situations, which is unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteHey. Interesting topic. I've never seen the The Secret Life of Bees or read the book, so I wouldn't really know enough to comment on it, but in general I really hate a lot of what Hollywood does to writing.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be interesting to see you maybe do a blog about the great writers like John Fante and William Faulkner that were forced to start working in the film industry after the great depression.
At one point, William Faulkner actually had to write a screenplay for a film adaptation of an Ernest Hemmingway story.
Love the concept and am looking forward to see what you have coming up next. But I would lose the "we." This is your blog. Own it. It's "I" not "we."
ReplyDeletegreat concept!!! and this is so applicable especially after the harry potter and twilight craze!!!! I highly agree with you when you mention how some novels omit meaningful elements to market a movie, this is actually one of the reasons why i do not follow up on a novel's movie.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent idea for a blog. Yes, Hollywood tends to make films based on books. Usually, they ruin the original script, which is a major problem for genuine fans. I look forward to reading more comparisons.
ReplyDeleteI guess I could describe myself as a purist. Coffee, books, and chocolate are at the top of my list. I'm going to enjoy reading these posts, especially since one of my favorite book-movie adaptations is Fightclub.
ReplyDeleteWow. That introduction got me riled up to analyze the pants off of some works of literature. You have a particular sense of skepticism in the order of the film industry that I can side with. Hopefully you can make me feel venerated in the fact that I do not like every single movie that has come out, unlike the mass population. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteVery excited for this blog. I'm a huge movie-goer, and tend to steer away from books...but my friends have been attacking me for not reading the books before I see the movies...
ReplyDeleteWhen all of my friends keep saying how much better the book is, I always feel guilty/out of the loop. Would love to know which books are worth reading (with limited time) and which ones I'm not missing out on if I just go ahead and see the movie.