100 Years… 100 Adaptations

In the wake of a recent surge in successful movie adaptations of literature—from classic novels liketo popular young adult fiction like—it is often assumed that an adapted film which isn't faithful to its source material can't be good. Remaining objective is incredibly difficult, especially for fans of the books who see the story and characters they love represented in a way different from what they imagined. I'm here to tell you that adapted movies need not adhere to their source material to be “good”—in fact, strict adherence is often just as inadvisable. We all know significant deviation in an adaptation causes disappointment and backlash. Audiences see the title and expect a certain obedience to the original story, so that when there are missing subplots or characters they feel betrayed. Let's talk about David Lynch's(1984) for a second. Lynch hadn't even read the book when he signed on to write the screenplay. Watching the film makes you feel like Lynch got halfway through the book and then just skipped to the end. Cuts are inevitable when it comes to adapting literature, but in this case, the entire second half of the book is missing or significantly altered.And what if you haven’t read the book? I actually sawbefore I read the book myself and I thought it was pretty decent. It's incredibly weird, but it's David Lynch. All his movies are weird. The biggest disappointment is that you occasionally have to make generous inferences on behalf of the movie due to the fact that it is trying to pack a 412 page novel (or at least 206 pages of it) into 2 hours. Otherwise it was a pretty solid science fiction film.Strict compliance to what you're adapting has precisely the opposite effect: fans may be pleased, but those who haven't read the novel will likely find themselves bored by the experience. Peter Jackson’s recent adaptation ofis a perfect example. According to Metacritic, the first film in this new trilogy earned an average score of 58%, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting that only 65% gave the film a positive (>50%) review. I had similar feelings: there were some scenes that might have worked on the page, but simply fell flat on the screen. And it’s not like Peter Jackson’s just a bad director, or that Tolkein's world is unadaptable and doesn't work in the movies. In fact,is in the top 50 of the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies”, its list of the 100 most influential films of all time.Speaking of the AFI, 15 of their top 25 films are adaptations, and 7 of those are in the top 10.was a novel,was a play, andwas a memoir., andwere all books first. Even the ones that weren't based on works of fiction were inspired by a real-life person or event:was based on William Randolph Hearst,was based on Oscar Levant, andwas based on T. E. Lawrence. In each one of these cases, the movies certainly didn't become successful by strictly clinging to their source material—maybe they were faithful and maybe they weren't, but they're famous because they're good movies.This phenomenon isn't limited to the AFI, either. Stanley Kubrick, one of the most influential directors in cinema history, almost exclusively filmed from adapted screenplays. In fact,andare the only two of his thirteen feature films which were original screenplays. Kubrick is also famous for not strictly adhering to the original works. His movie version ofwas criticized by Stephen King himself as being a bad adaptation, but it has nevertheless come to be regarded as one of the best movies of all time. (It’s #29 on the AFI's Top 100 Thrillers, its main character Jack Torrance is 25th on the AFI's Top 100 Villains, and “Here’s Johnny!” is 68th on the AFI's top 100 quotes.) Ironically, Stephen King collaborated with director Mick Garris to make a more faithful adaptation of the book in the form of a TV mini series which was, to make a long story short, pretty bad.In the end, books and movies are two separate art forms with their own advantages and disadvantages. Movies are short, but a good cinematographer can create more beautiful imagery than your average reader may be able to think up on their own. Books lack this visual artistry, but their length allows for deeper development of language, character and theme. We should probably just understand that literature can inspire great film and leave the two as separate representatives of their own worlds.But where’s the fun in that?1.(original screenplay; based on William Randolph Hearst)2.(novel; same name)3.(stage play; “Everybody Comes to Rick’s”)4.(memoir; Raging Bull: My Story)5.(original screenplay; based on Oscar Levant)6.(novel; same name)7.(original screenplay; based on T. E. Lawrence)8.(novel; Schindler’s Ark)9.(novel; D’entre les morts)10.(novel; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)11.(original screenplay)12.(novel; same name)13.(original screenplay; inspired by The Hidden Fortress)14.(novel; same name)15.(short story; “The Sentinel”)16.(original screenplay)17.(novel; same name)18.(original screenplay; based on Great Locomotive Chase)19.(original screenplay; based on "Crime on the Waterfront”)20.(short story; “The Greatest Gift”)21.(original screenplay; based on the California Water Wars)22.(remake of, which was adapted from a novel of the same name)23.(novel; same name)24.(original screenplay; based on Spielberg’s childhood imaginary friend)25.(novel; same name)26.(adapted from an unpublished story)27.(short story: "The Tin Star")28.(short story; "The Wisdom of Eve")29.(novel; same name)30.(novel; "Heart of Darkness" & "Dispatches")31.(novel; same name)32.(novel; same name)33.(novel; same name)34.(fairy tale; "Snow White")35.(original screenplay)36.(novel; same name)37.(novel; "Glory for Me")38.(novel; same name)39.(novel: "Red Alert")40.(stage musical; same name)41.(original screenplay)42.(original screenplay; based on Bonnie and Clyde)43.(novel; same name)44.(stage play; same name)45.(novel; same name)46.(short story; "Night Bus")47.(stage play; same name)48.(short story; "It Had to Be Murder")49.(original screenplay)50.(novel; same name)51.(stage musical; same name)52.(original screenplay; inspired by53.(original screenplay; based on unpublished54.(novel; same name)55.(original screenplay; inspired by Otis C. Guernsey)56.(novel; same name)57.(original screenplay; inspired by Rocky Marciano)58.(original screenplay)59.(original screenplay; inspired by several country musicians)60.(original screenplay)61.(original screenplay)62.(original screenplay; based on post-WWII rock & roll culture)63.(stage play; same name)64.(original screenplay; inspired by Christine Chubbuck)65.(novel; same name)66.(original screenplay; inspired by67.(stage play; same name)68.(original screenplay: inspired by69.(play; "Would I Lie to You?")70.(novel; same name)71.(original screenplay; inspired by a WWII story)72.(short story: "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption")73.(original screenplay; based on real people)74.(novel; same name)75.(novel; same name)76.(novel; same name)77.(novel; same name)78.(original screenplay; based on the Great Depression)79.(original screenplay; inspired by Mexican Revolution of 1916)80.(original screenplay; inspired by81.(novel; same name)82.(short story; "A Trip to Tilsit")83.(original screenplay; based on real events)84.(original screenplay; allegedly based on The Byrds)85.(original screenplay)86.(original screenplay; based on director's experience)87.(teleplay; same name)88.(original screenplay; inspired by Katharine Hepburn)89.(original screenplay)90.(screen story; "Portrait of John Garnett")91.(novel; same name)92.(novel; Wiseguy)93.(non-fiction book; same name)94.(original screenplay)95.(novel; same name)96.(original screenplay)97.(novel; "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")98.(original screenplay)99.(original screenplay)100.(novel: "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ")Since I know nobody wants to go through and count, that adds up to 41 original screenplays. More than half of the 100 most influential movies of all time took their story from somewhere else, and that's not even counting original screenplays which were based on real events or inspired by real people. On top of that, many of the purely original screenplays are comedies, which makes sense because visual comedy works differently from written. What does all this mean? I don't know, I just want to stop hearing about how movies aren't as good as the books on which they're based. You don't have to follow the book to make a good movie.This article was originally written for and published by the wonderful folks over at Literary Traveler , so if you like my work please go check out their website!