Some readers, especially passionate fans of particular authors and series, revel in complaining about adaptations of their beloved works.
Not us. We appreciate that an adaptation might lead to re-readings by the fans and new readings by a few in the audience.
Susan rereads Jane Austen, often right after we see one of the many film or television adaptations. I watch classic films of the great books and find myself downloading the ebooks or pulling copies from our shelves.
BBC, PBS, and A&E (the old A&E, sadly) have likely renewed reader passions more often than any book advertising campaigns. Bookstores, book clubs, reading salons, and seminars can only reach so many people. Nothing, no other medium and no group of people, reaches as many potential readers as film and television do.
Rex Stout. Agatha Christie. G. K. Chesterton. Arthur Conan Doyle. These were writers I “saw” before I read their works. Thank goodness for television cozies.
As I watch something, I tend to be looking for the book online.
I do admit, when I love a movie or series, I am more likely to read or reread the book(s) being adapted.
When we watched Good Omens on Amazon, we also dug up our copy of the book. I’m sure Terry Pratchett, out there among the floating turtles, and Neil Gaiman certainly don’t mind that we started rereading that book and others. Gaiman’s involvement in projects ensures they are, on their own, great works.
I don’t expect movies to be the books on which their based. Television has more time, if a work is serialized, but things must still be sacrificed.
Teaching, it is always obvious which students watched a film instead of reading the book. That’s okay. I mark the points down, let the students know this wasn’t a wise choice, and hope they enjoyed the movie enough to read the book.
As book lovers, we could mourn that books aren’t as popular as other media, but that’s always been the case.
Plays should be seen. I never understood reading, and only reading, Shakespeare. Movies? The same is true. I had a college instructor who thought reading screenplays was sufficient for analyzing cinema. No, movies are collaborative works and need to be experienced as those artists intended.
Books are books. Not everyone enjoys them, just as not everyone loves stage plays as much as I do.
But, if other media lead people to read more? That’s wonderful.
I’ve read more books because I saw adaptations that piqued my curiosity. In the last year, I read several books because of adaptations: Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures; Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series; Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and several others.
I hadn’t read Artemis Fowl in years. The movie (it was lousy) led me to revisit the books. I should probably revisit A Wrinkle in Time for the same reason: to erase the film from my memory. On the other hand, Lovecraft Country is the rare series that’s even better than the book on which the adaptation is based.
Tonight, I watched an episode of All Creatures Great and Small. I loved the book by James Herriot when I was in junior high. I need to reread that work, too.
I notice few people complain about superhero movie fans not reading the original comics and graphic novels. Why is there a difference? You really should read The Watchmen by writer Alan Moore working with Dave Gibbons and John Higgins. The graphic novel is stunning.
I read mostly non-fiction. All four books I’m reading currently are non-fiction. It’s interesting to me that adaptations draw me into fiction.
Read books. Watch movies. Enjoy television series.
(And I hope to see live theatrical productions once again… someday.)
It’s all art created by writers.