More and more it seems that books are being turned into films. Some of these films are done quite well. The Lord of the Rings comes to mind on my end as it follows much of the plot and characterization even though they had to change or leave out certain elements. Still, some of the films are too far from their novel inspirations to be generally acceptable. There are quite a few movies that fall into this second category- Eragon seems to be fairly high on this list- and one of the more recent ones is The Giver.
The book is one that I have read many times, and it has been widely read since its release twenty years ago. It features an ultimately dystopian world, though it is presented as a utopian world at first. Jonas realizes the true nature of the world and that the people around him are victims of that society. He decides to leave the society forever, with the knowledge that his leaving will cause his people to remember the truth.
The movie, however, makes a few too many changes from the book. The film features, among others, Meryl Streep as the Chief Elder. In contrast to the book, and presumably because they cast someone as amazing as Meryl Streep in the part, Meryl Streep is turned into the villain of the movie. Rather than the Chief Elder being a product of the society, the Chief Elder becomes the mastermind behind an effort to prevent Jonas from bringing the truth to the society that had been kept in the dark about the truth for so many years. In making this decision, the movie seems to lose quite a bit of the significance of the book.
The book presented a very simple and profound story, but the film seems to have fallen victim to the idea that young people cannot focus on something that is not action-packed from beginning to end. Not that there is anything wrong with such stories as The Hunger Games or Divergent, but the idea that The Giver should be in the same vein as the others seems to be a detriment to The Giver. The Giver is not The Hunger Games, and it deserves to be treated as a different kind of tale.
What are your thoughts on the trend of Young Adult novels turned into films? Do you think making the films more action-based than the books is necessary to attract people, or is that an incorrect assumption made on the part of the people making the movies?
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