Books and Movies, Part I: The Film Fascination with the Writing World

When my boyfriend and I first began our courtship, we had a ritualized weekend routine that included dinner, drinks, movies, drinks, friends. This was a superb arrangement for the both of us—him for the cheapness of the date, me for the good time I was in dire need of at that point in my life. That space of time has made me realize that, as much as I am a reader, I am a HUGE fan of a well-told story in the form of movies. I have a few thoughts on this crossover project. This is the first.

The Film Fascination with the Writing World

It's no secret that filmmakers have for years been using their skill and utilities to take a novel and turn it into a movie. Some of them, the audience isn't even aware of a "book version," i.e. The Shining (Stephen King—among many, many others—although it's common to see this novelist's books splashed on the silver screen these days), Along Came a Spider (James Patterson) and The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux), to name a few. I mean, come on. Dracula (Bram Stoker) was published in the 1800's for Pete's sake.

So, to say that the line between the two is blurred would be an apposite assessment of the phenomenon. I don't want to say that it all started with Harry Potter series (for fear of disregarding constants like Stephen King whose books are almost a go-to for movie production), but it's a good place to derive the popularity of transference from words on a page to silver screen fun. Children, teenagers and longsuffering parents have been following Harry and his friends around England for years. As everyone who doesn't live under a rock has noticed, the Harry Potter series, both the book and movie versions, have come to an end. J. K. Rowling retired Hogwarts on both fronts. There was this whole big thing between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows and Breaking Dawn Part 1 (which premiered almost simultaneously) because... why?

"Preferred Cedric." Wink, wink, nudge.

You guessed it. What had replaced the Big Thing in Movies when Harry had no choice but to step aside? The Twilight Saga. (I hesitate to call it a saga, per se, but to-may-to/to-mah-to.) Either which way you slice it, Twilight was ripping up box offices with killer grosses and murderous potential. Other films of the time didn't stand a chance when it came to topping these Twilight movies. People who don't even watch movies, or read books, were watching these movies and reading these books. So much hype and buzz surrounded them that you couldn't help it. The atmosphere was so reminiscent of the Harry Potter series, you thought you could catch a fever off the déjà-vu. It had officially usurped the Movie to Watch title.

Not quite to the tune of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Then came The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Thanks (I would imagine) to its foreign fabrication of the title, the majority of people who were picking this book up thought of it much as another replacement to fill the void left by their favorite YA series. Boy, were they in for a surprise with this one! For one, it's nowhere near targeted at young adult audiences. For another, the focus is not on a girl, as the title suggests, but an unfortunate woman, secondary to a man who has almost no relation to her until halfway through the damned thing. Yeah. Still a big deal. Still a huge buzz surrounding. (And, might I mention, much more worthy of such talk and hype than certain other titles.) But with the demographic so altered that there was a huge gap left between immature teens (so-called young "adults") and mature teens to actual young adults (I'm talkin' 20s here, kids... high school is a memory to the folks who can stomach this stuff), there had to be another solution, right?

Indeed may the odds be ever in your favor.

Enter The Hunger Games. This book-turned-overhyped-movie pretty much blindsided me. I read it long before the whirlwind around it picked up, and when it did, it came out of left field—and at just the right time. Picturesque young female making a huge sacrifice and being bad ass at the same time? Score! While also a mature-themed piece of work, it holds in the young adult fiction genre by default. (There's even a flimsy love triangle to boot. Like I said: by default.) Anyone who hasn't read further into the series doesn't know the heartbreak they are headed for by getting attached to The Hunger Games, but it is well-deserved. It is the Next Big Thing.

It never ends, people.

Not that I'm complaining! It's a wonderful thing, seeing a world come to life that before you only had imaginary thoughts of. And to think that it's true to the book (for the most part—commendable! So commendable)!

But that only begs the question... what will the Next Big Thing be? Seems speculative at this point, but you can bet your bottom dollar it's comin'. It almost feels like a successful novel's endstate wraps up when movie production does, too. That is the only concern I have ifs, ands and buts about.

My name is Sierra R. Carrillo. I'm an avid reader, writer, editor and thinker. Feel free to contact me at any of my several avenues of approach—Goodreads for book reviews, permashift for thoughts on my blog, Facebook and Twitter for personal access.