Kai .'s Blog: Word Lover, Books, Poems and Scripts - Posts Tagged "amma"

Last night, my daughters and I went to see Beautiful Creatures, the movie. A couple sat directly behind us. The movie began and they, just like I, excitedly waited to behold the wonderful story that had captivated us.

Within minutes, it was evident that the story had been oddly distorted. First, key characters were missing, which is understandable in some cases, but weird here. The ancient aunts were eliminated. The Keeper Marian was morphed into Amma the Seer. Even subordinate characters were confused. This immediately killed fan familiarity. Second, the plot was completely manipulated, until it was an entirely different story. And, unfortunately, the climactic scene of the novel was more a rushed, inverted, scene in the movie. I was disappointed-confused about what choices the writers faced that caused them to accept the destruction of their great story.

As disappointed as I was, the couple behind me seemed devastated. She kept saying, "No, really?" and he kept groaning. After the movie, I looked back at them-their faces expressed not only disappointment, but also betrayal.

Which led me to thinking about the power of the written word. They, and I, were so intrigued by the novels that the movie was a painful experience. We had bought into the dream painted by the writers pens, had attached emotion to the characters and feelings to the plot. And the movie, by redefining every aspect down to the simple characters, tore apart those expectations, was a complete let down.

While the movie (which was well-acted)was certainly not the novel, our emotional rollercoaster ride is a testiment to great novel writing. It really is a classic, wonderful series. The movie will be something different - good in its own right, but not the pure simplistic genuis of the novel. Maybe capturing the entire story was difficult. Maybe, like in Harry Potter, mystical characters - such as Boo Radley-have to be deleted. I have not been so fortunate to know the process of adapting a novel to a movie.

But I will say that I learned the power of words last night, the wonder of drafting a story so intriguing that strangers would sit in a theater and bond over the disappointment of not seeing those exact words turned into a visual performance. And accomplishing that...reader buy in, so to speak...is what I strive for in every story I tell...