Let me ask you all a question, what do you look for in a book adaption? Why do you watch
it? Is it because you like judging the plot and the characters and tear all the inaccuracies apart
with your sharp opiniated claws? You might be thinking “Whaaaat no! I never do that” *side-
eye* Well even if you do; don’t worry, I’m not judging you, Hell, I’d even say I’m one of
you (claws and all). I mean how wrong it is that you want something good to come out of
something great?
Before I get into the contents of this article, I’d like to apologize to every single person who
just watches book adaptions for the pure purpose of watching them, like you’d watch any
other film. I’m really sorry if you can’t relate to the stuff that I mention here and you think
this is greatly biased towards the book reading community (because it sort of is), I just hope
you can treat this piece of writing here as an informative article at best. Okay so let me grab
the attention of all the people who sit down to watch the movie after they’ve read the book, I
believe this is how it usually goes: every time you sit down to watch an adaption based on a
book that you liked, nay, LOVED; you cross your fingers, toes and even your eyes and pray
to the God and even Satan to have mercy on you and make everything good if not the best.
Today I’m not going to take you down the memory lane when you spent two hours groaning
at your computer/TV because “that’s not the plot of the book AT ALL?!” Nope, nada, shut
that book and settle down for a different and rare pathway where things were changed for the
better. I’m specifically talking about the characters in book that were changed in the
movie/show to the relief of the audience.
1. Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump): As a person who was dazzled by Tom Hanks’s
performance and Alan Silvestri’s score in this 1994 rendition of Winston Groom’s
book of the same name, the actual reality of the book and the revelation of Forrest as a
character is bound to mess you up. In the movie it is explained that Forrest is a person
with an IQ of 75, hence a legitimate mental deficiency but in the book, Forrest is
portrayed as a big guy with a mind of a five-year-old and he is nothing like the sweet,
innocent character of Tom hanks but an ugly-minded creature. And if while watching
the movie you ever thought that Gump’s achievements were a little far-fetched, I
don’t think anything can prepare anyone for all that’s mentioned in the book, which
goes from a little amusing to outrageously ridiculous. Since there is some
involvement of going into space and getting stuck on an island full of cannibals and
also the mention of Gump somehow ending up with a naked Raquel Welch running
down Hollywood Boulevard, I hope you’ve got the idea. I mean it is so different that
if the director changed the name of the movie, I wouldn’t even know that it was based
on this particular book.
2. Robb Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire): For anyone who’s watched the show, Robb Stark
was our first ‘King of The North’, his mighty battles with the Lannisters and him
capturing Jaimie and his feats with Grey Wind helped us see him as a primary
character and a great hero who deserved better. But its unfortunate that the readers
didn’t have the chance of getting to know Robb as he doesn’t have many of his own
POV chapters in the books, and all of his accomplishments are told through Catelyn’s
point-of-view. So, it’s safe to say that George R. R. Martin did Robb’s character real
dirty. And practically looking at this, it was necessary for the audience to know Robb
first-hand and connect with him properly so that the impact of the Red Wedding
turned out to be as gut-punching as it was, and its not just the sacrificial-lamb
purpose, as the person who had been the center of so much activity it’s really not
understandable to not give him the spotlight in the books, that he received in the
show.
3. Malyen Oretsev (Shadow and Bone): The best way to describe the change in Mal’s
personality in show from the book would be that ‘he doesn’t suck’. Mal and Alina’s
relationship in the show is just sometimes so beautiful to look at, they’ve never had a
bad record: you’re my true north, awesome; I’ll meet you in the meadow,
masterpiece. I mean I understand that these lines are incorporated from the book, but
it was about how well they were delivered. The show Mal may not have the killer
blue eyes some fall for, but you know what else he doesn’t have? The attitude of a
frog-prince and an emotional range of a teaspoon. On the other hand; he’s supportive
of Alina and her decisions, he still has that Gryffindor combination of bravery and
stupidity, but it’s overshadowed by his approach of helping Alina and not demanding
explanations and not blaming her about things that were out of her control.
4. Severus Snape (Harry Potter): Okay so this here is going to be a tad bit controversial,
and no matter what I say everyone is going to have points to counter my argument.
So, I’d like to make it clear at a glance; that I do not believe that the Snape in the
movies was a saint and the book guy was outright-ly evil, nope, not a bit, but what I do
believe is that: the book guy was an asshole, but Alan Rickman’s version was less of
an asshole. Yes, he might believe that shoving your students’ head together is funny
but its far more tolerable than the emotional torture that the book Snape subjected his
students to that often drove them to tears. And he has a better grasp on his emotions as
compared to his book counterpart who often let his rage get the best of himself, which
isn’t necessarily bad but eh. And the best part is how Alan Rickman took it upon
himself to shape Snape’s character as a singular person as the books mostly show his
character from Harry’s POV.
So, this is basically it because it is sort of difficult to formulate a list of character changes
from book to adaption that actually turned out well and were not simply a ploy to ruin your
perfectly ruined day. Hopefully I am able to come across more of these because its pretty fun,
and its like discovering a surprise gift that someone put in your bag or something.
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