Saturday, June 14, 2008

Film As Art

I recently watched again the movie “Stand by Me.” Stephen King commented that one pivotal scene that he had in the book had been changed in the movie. He said that he did not have a problem with that, because a film is an independent work of art. I totally agree. A film should not be judged on how well it may follow a book on which it is based but as a work of art completely separate from the book. Everything in a book does not translate well to a movie. If a movie contained everything in a book it would create a dull film. Filmmaking is a visual medium. It must be judged as a visual medium not on how well it follows some book!

5 comments:

Docface said...

You are right. That is enlightening to me because I am always disappointed in movies when I see them after I have read the book. But, I think that the movie should make an effort to have some sort of integrity with the book, don't you?

Joe said...

I must admit that I am sometimes disappointed when a movie does not closely follow the book. Then I must realize that the film is a separate work of art and does not have to follow the book. I remember “Jurassic Park.” There were many differences between the book and movie. Both were great. Only on Masterpiece Theater must the movie follow the book.

alirara said...

This is what I always thought too. SO I completely agree with you. I was surprised when I read Jurassic Park to find that the grandpa was actually really a mean olg guy. But it was a good book. It's like with Harry Potter too. Everyone make such a stink about it not being the same and I'm like well it's a movie it's different. And the only complaint I have about the Harry Potter movies is the third one because the scenery was changed because they started filming it in Scottland instead of England so everything was all differnet. And no Oliver wood who is hot.

Unknown said...

Alicia, in the case of Harry Potter, the third movie so terribly does not follow the book that there are several important aspects left out that non readers of the book may not pick up on and come the seventh movie they will be very confused. That director was dumb, and tried to make the movie too symbolic.

Joe said...

A movie must survive on its own. Knowledge of the book should not be required. If a movie is compared to a book that its based on, the movie will almost always be disappointing. Movies should be compared to other movies.