FILM ADAPTATION

Film Adaptation



Film Adaptation

Introduction

There has been a debate over the merits of books, as a medium, over films'. Most of the people want to talk about respective merits of the two media, and make claims, and allegations to prove which is a better story-telling medium . On the other hand, there is another debate which involves the differences between a book or novel, and a film adaptation of that book. The paper aims to talk about the merits of film adaptation with special reference to Ian Fleming's Casino Royale and the film adaptation Casino Royale 2006.

Discussion

Film adaptations have been around since a very long time. However, it's been happening more frequently over the years than before. One of the reasons is that, technological advancements, like computer generated effects, have allowed film makers to adapt complex stories. If film makers did not have such superior technologies today, would it be still possible for them to make so many film adaptations? The heavy use of computer effects in films might give a hint to the answer.

Moreover, this debate does not only involve use of computer effects. It goes further beyond, to determine the good cause to see film adaptations of books as bad. Thus, what do the critics see in these adaptations as problematic? The answer may not be difficult: alternations to the original plot.

A reader may take several hours to finish the original story, whereas, the film version of that book, may take two to three hours. Therefore, it is certain that a film cannot accommodate the entire story of a book, and exclude most parts of the original story to produce a film. For instance, in the novel, Le Chiffre is character of a Russian spy, but in the film, he is manipulating the American stock exchange. According to the critics, such changes corrupt the original story. Furthermore, one of the significant relevance is the experience of those who have never read the original story, but have seen the film- do they miss out something important, and do they get misinformed?

The merits of film adaptations seem unlikely with the emergence of graphic novels and their film adaptations, such as 300, The Spirit, and The Watchmen. They are all adaptations of graphic novels. However, do these adaptations differ from those of standard novels?

These questions need to be considered thoughtfully before any judgment is passed. Furthermore, there are also certain cases where film adaptations have been successful, but at the same time, they may also damage the original literature.

Casino Royale 2006

It is strange, when compared to the previous bond films, how Casino Royale finally made it to the big screen in 2006. It was Ian Fleming's first book of the series. Initially, the producers of the official James Bond series, failed to secure the rights. The main reason behind it was because Fleming had sold the television and film rights of the book back in 1954. Furthermore, when the rest of the films rights were sold, they ...