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WHAT WE ARE THINKING
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Film and TV Tie-Ins by Gill Chedgey
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eeling somewhat bombarded by adverts and trailers for The Girl on the Train got me thinking about why there is such a compelling need to make a film/TV drama out of a successful, best selling, book. My fear is that it is all money motivated. If the book was successful then maybe so will the film/drama be? And there’s no doubt that there’s something in that. Look at the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and, of course, Game of Thrones! Who goes to see such films, watches these dramas? If you’ve never read the book then it saves you the trouble and you maybe get to see what all the 98
fuss is about. But if you read the book and enjoyed it, is there a need to see a film/drama? Sometimes it is a curiosity to see if the film/drama can in any way match the book that you loved. On The Road? Appalling, Kerouac must have turned in his grave. The Hunger Games, wonderful – but then Suzanne Collins was involved in the scripts. There seems to have been an unprecedented wealth of such films/dramas in recent years Carol, Brooklyn, Room, Wolf Hall, War and Peace to name a few. I saw them and enjoyed them but nowhere near as much as I enjoyed the books. I hunger for original screen plays like The Lobster, Bridge of Spies, Ex Machina.
written don’t the descriptions do that anyway? I wonder too how publishers feel. On the one hand they have to go rushing about to publish a new edition with a cover that depicts scenes from the film or members of the cast. On the other it could boost further sales of the book. We’re back to money. But there is another side to this conundrum. Sometimes a film is made of a little known book. Or a writer who has slipped through your own radar. I remember seeing the film Shipping News and being blown away - not having previously read anything by Annie Proulx. Since then I think I’ve read everything by her! One film did that for me, opened a wealth of words that I was delighted to discover. I saw the film Serena, I’d never heard of Ron Rash but I sought the book out and loved it. Winter’s Bone is another example. And years ago I watched I, Claudius and subsequently read the books. Those are just a few examples. These adaptations have enriched my library and my mind. And I’m so grateful. Hopefully I’m not alone.
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Gill Chedgey
It’s a collision of media in some ways. It may be argued that the film, or TV drama, offers a visualisation of the book, but if the book is well
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