Faithful, Fractured, or Rewritten: Rethinking Book-to-Film Adaptations
Written By Stephanie Hampton
Young Adult Librarian
Great books can be adapted into great movies, but the book will always be better than the movie. And 99% of the time, that rings true. But not all adaptations are created equal and fall into different categories. The three categories I’ve made are:
Scene for Scene:
These adaptations are basically the book pages transformed directly onto the big screen (the best). There are lines and phrases I can remember reading, and I feel great anticipation because I know what’s coming up, and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen, not just in my mind. It’s no surprise to me that many of these adaptations make up some of the Oscar-winning classics that remain popular today. Like The Godfather, Gone With the Wind, Holes, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Exorcist, A Clockwork Orange, Gone Girl, I could go on. One of the best to ever be adapted is a title I’m sure we all know (and one available to check out today): To Kill A Mockingbird (YA FIC LEE)
Same Title, New Story:
Some share the book title, and that’s all. Maybe the main premise, or lesson, remains, but the rest of the story, sometimes even the characters, are vastly different from the source material. This is particularly disappointing for book fans. That won’t necessarily make it a bad movie (Stand By Me, Forrest Gump, Ella Enchanted, the Jason Bourne films). Still, if you’re a fan of the book, I hope you appreciate the cinematic elements, because you sure won’t enjoy the changes from the book. Try not to think too hard about that and just enjoy the film. I adore Wicked, but Fiyero alone is nowhere close to his book character. But we can all enjoy a song from Jonathan Bailey.
Almost Canon:
My absolute least favourite kind of adaptation. And it hurts the most, because they’re always so close. When a book seems like it will be a faithful adaptation, but changes 1 overwhelming detail that triggers fans of the book the most. It’s never just a small detail. It’s always a world-changing detail. It’s one detail that fundamentally changes the main lesson, or emotional backbone of the original written material. This is a specific annoyance to book lovers and fans. Just say the title, My Sister’s Keeper (FIC PICO), and book lovers will shudder. For theatre lovers, read Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town. Then watch the 1940 film version. You know exactly what I mean.
It’s impossible to literally take the words from the page and make a 100% accurate adaptation. Film and literature are art forms, but different art forms. To create a film from a book, creative liberties MUST be taken into account. They absolutely must. A book can easily (and often beautifully) have pages of inner dialogue, backstory, inner thought monologues that a film must then externalise. Changes must be made. Things like pacing, time constraints, stakes, and clarity must be taken into account. Additionally, a book typically has a single creative voice. A film requires a team of artists. The director, editor, set designer, sound designer, producers, writers, composers, technical crew members, extras, and, of course, actors.
Going forward, this blog is where I’ll keep digging into the complicated, sometimes frustrating, often exciting relationship between books and their film adaptations—both old favourites and new releases. But beyond asking “Is the book better?”, I want to talk about what these stories mean, who they centre, and who they leave out. How do adaptations shift the way women are portrayed? What gets lost, softened, or amplified when stories about marginalised communities move from page to screen? And when does a change feel intentional—and when does it feel careless? I’ll be sharing honest opinions about what’s worth your time, whether that means picking up the book, watching the movie, or doing both. I come to these conversations with some hands-on experience—having served on the board of the Trenton Film Society and studied acting, film, and film theory as a student—but this space isn’t about gatekeeping taste. It’s about thinking critically, watching thoughtfully, and inviting the Trenton community to revisit familiar stories with fresh eyes and discover new ones along the way.
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