Adapt or Die: Why Adaptations are Taking Over Cinema

Adaptations are everywhere. Cinema over the last few years has relied heavily on books, plays, comics and often previously released films for their source material. Some claim that cinema today lacks originality, that filmmakers have run out of new ideas…and with the resurgence in comic book films, English-language remakes and book to film adaptations, is it any wonder? But people are still flocking to the cinema in droves to see these adapted films. So why the appeal?

Think back to your favourite film from the last few years – was it a new idea? In just a few years, we’ve had adaptations made from the books for Anna Karenina, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Lucky One and the massive blockbuster hit, The Hunger Games. On the side of comics, there’s been Avengers Assemble (The Avengers in the USA) and The Dark Knight Rises – two of this year’s biggest films. In the last few weeks alone, adaptations of The Silver Linings Handbook, Breaking Dawn and Argo have hit, with a new take on Great Expectations arriving in cinemas this weekend. The play Carnage was adapted into a hilarious film with big names including Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.

So why do filmmakers keep taking these ideas, instead of coming up with their own? Well, for one there is an audience already out there to tap into. The popularity of The Hunger Games book trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, meant that fans of the books were already going to see any film adaptation that was made – no matter how good it may have been. Just look at the staggering box-office success of Twilight!

The other factor, I imagine, is the opportunity to bring something old and tired back into the limelight. The number of times Batman has re-imagined himself would put even Doctor Who to shame. He is a fascinating and beloved character and fans will always want to see new guises for him. Classics such as Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina and Jane Eyre are always getting new adaptations because, after all these years, people are still enjoying the stories over and over – be they in book, TV or film form.

It’s worth considering that the dominance of adaptations at the cinema does not mean there is no room for something new. Two of the greatest films of 2012 so far – The Raid and The Cabin in the Woods – took old, tired ideas and injected new life into them. Cabin took every cliché in the horror genre and flipped them on their head to make something brilliantly clever and original – but it was done by lovingly taking everything that had been done before and making something new with it. The Raid had a fundamental plot similar to that of Judge Dredd but by using a new martial arts star (the insanely talented Iko Uwais) and showcasing the martial art style of silat, writer/director Gareth Evans managed to redefine the action genre.

More solemn and incredibly well-acted adaptations like We Need to Talk About Kevin and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy did tremendously well with critics and audiences alike, winning numerous awards and worldwide acclaim. Sadly though, for every We Need to Talk About Kevin, there is a My Sister’s Keeper – a debacle of an adaptation which can be seen to take a strong, powerful idea and turn it into overly sentimental drivel. Film adaptations like these have no need for adapting a source text when all they want to do is change it into something that has been done already – and often done better.

This tendency to adapt shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. Still to come in the next few months are adaptations for Life of Pi, Les Misérables, Gangster Squad, Cloud Atlas and The Great Gatsby.

The old phrase goes that you need to adapt or die. Well it seems filmmakers are finally learning to adapt to new ideas – even if they sometimes need to use old ones to get there.

Which adaptations have you enjoyed so far this year and which ones are you really looking forward to in 2013...?

 

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: Book vs Film

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the story of an extremely wealthy Sheikh who enjoys Salmon fishing in his Scottish home so much, he wants to introduce the sport back home in the Yemen. So Harriet, a woman who works for the company that look after his many estates, enlists the help of fisheries expert Dr. Alfred Jones to plan the project and make it work.

But Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is not really about Salmon, more the journey each of the characters takes during the whole process. Harriet is a strong woman, persuading Dr Jones to come on board with the project against his better judgement. However, she's also incredibly fragile as she writes letters to her fiance Robert while he is away at war. Dr Jones is in a practical and altogether loveless marriage, accustomed to the civility and monotony of everyday life. He believes the project is utter rubbish but when politicians get involved and make it a high-priority project, he is forced to take part. The Sheikh is a spiritual man, wanting the sport in the Yemen as a way to blur class boundaries and unify his people - though the people in the Yemen do not agree with his plans. He is the kind of awe-inspiring man that leaps off the page and will have many readers wishing they could have met him.

Overall, the developing friendship between the Sheikh, Harried and Alfred is what makes the story so fascinating. The Sheikh's beliefs and way of looking at the world eventually start to rub off on the pragmatic Dr Jones and he begins to realise that perhaps there is more to life than what he currently has with his wife. Harriet, a woman who must keep her cool in all situations, is struggling without her fiance and not hearing from him unnerves her. 

The end of the book though is utterly shocking and breaks with convention in every way. Though some unexpected endings work well, this one seemed completely out of place and was ultimately quite jarring and unsatisfactory.  Due possibly to the constant shift in styles, it also doesn't feel like it really ends - it just stops.  I actually turned the page to see what happened next and realised there was no more.

Paul Torday's book was interesting in its delivery thanks to the combination of communications - there are emails, letters, memos and interview transcriptions. This makes it an easy book to dip in and out of. There are no chapter headings, only shifts in communication style. There is comedy, drama and emotion. Overall, it was an interesting concept but left a little to be desired in its execution.

Sadly, one rather central character - that of the Prime Minister's right-hand man Peter Maxwell - is utterly self-serving and dull to read. When there were pages and pages of his interview, I found myself skimming through them. In the adaptation, the biggest stroke of genius was turning the dull Peter Maxwell into the hilariously cheeky Patricia Maxwell. Kristin Scott Thomas breathed life into a tired role with a brilliantly witty and humorous performance. She stole the screen every time she appeared and had many viewers grinning from ear to ear.

Emily Blunt was also great casting in the role of Harriet, oozing both professional charm and a fragility in equal measure. Sadly though, in making her fiance Robert her boyfriend of only a few weeks, the stress and anguish she feels at his being at war feels a little over the top. Amr Waked was good in the role of the Sheikh but sadly did not quite live up to the sheer presence of the character which Torday wrote so beautifully. Ewan McGregor was brilliantly cast as Dr Jones, delivering his lines with a monotony and dryness that somehow made him more endearing. The changes he goes through as the story develops are done with such subtlety that you often don't realise they've happened until after the event. 

The film also uses the communication style of the book well, incorporating the use of emails with screenshots and voiceovers, texts and even a rather entertaining speech bubble instant message function between Maxwell and the Prime Minister. 

The film, directed by Lars Hallström (The Cider House Rules, Chocolat), managed to iron out many of the kinks that existed in the book, bringing humour to a dull central role and shifting the focus more to the developing friendship between the three main characters. However, just when I thought the end of the book was jarring, the filmmakers decided to completely change it for the film. This story is not all about the ending luckily, so the film is not completely destroyed for the change - and for those who haven't read the book, it may well have worked. However, the filmmakers reluctance to part with any of the characters turned a shocking ending into a sentimental one. The result was a cute, nice film which will no doubt make audiences smile but could have been far braver.

Book - 3/5

Film - 3/5