Sunday, July 19, 2015

2015 Summer Blogger Promo Tour: The Book Bratz


The 2015 Summer Blogger Promo Tour is hosted by Amber and Jessica from The Book Bratz. The purpose of the promo tour is to get to know other bloggers and introduce them to your readers through various types of posts.

This week, I'm featuring none other than The Book Bratz themselves! In this guest post, you'll get to learn about Amber and Jessica's favorite book-to-movie adaptations and how both of them think adaptations should be done. So sit back, relax, and get to know a little bit more about Amber and Jessica!



Guest Post by The Book Bratz 

Warning - There are some spoilers for popular books, TV shows, and movies ahead. Read at your own risk.

Hey there, Hardcover Lover readers! We're Amber and Jessica, AKA The Book Bratz. Not only are we the (*cough* fantastic *cough*) creators of The Summer Blogger Promo Tour, but we're also in Erin's tour group for the whole thing, so you could catch a post about her on our blog sometime this summer!

For now, though, Erin asked us to do a guest post on our favorite TV/movie adaptations of books.`So, without further ado, here are our thoughts on YA Book-to-Movie/TV adaptations!

Jessica's Opinion: I'm a huge stickler for following the book when it comes to adaptations. If a movie adds parts or removes parts from the book, I immediately form a huge distaste for it. One example of this where it was blown hugely out of proportion from the book is the Pretty Little Liars TV show. They removed totally vital characters from the story and added ones that never even graced the pages of the book. I refuse to watch the show because it's nothing like the book, but my sister watches it. I've concluded the book series, so I know who A is, and according to my sister, the person that is A in the book is not the person that is A in the TV show. What the heck? The show shouldn't even be called Pretty Little Liars if it's nothing like the book. At least call it a spin-off or something!

Another case where this happened (but only to a minor degree) was in The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel's good friend Kaitlyn (I think that was her name? I read the book a long time ago so I've forgotten a little bit of it now) was totally removed from the movie. Granted, she wasn't a vital character like A was in Pretty Little Liars, but her hilarious banter gave the book some of its best lines, such as "I'd ride that one-legged pony all the way around the corral." (I still laugh about that one.) The fact that she doesn't even exist in the movie is just ridiculous - the director wouldn't need to move mountains to get her in the movie. It wouldn't be a big deal. So why not just add her and stay true to the book? Granted, I really liked The Fault in Our Stars, because aside from the whole Kaitlyn debacle, the movie was spot-on. John Green had a say in what went on in the movie, which is probably why it stayed as true as it did. Other than leaving a supporting character out, it was a great movie.

There is only one movie in my seventeen years of life that I saw that followed the book word for word from beginning to end, and that movie was the most recent addition of The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is one of my favorite literary characters of all time (besides Alaska Young from Looking for Alaska), and I've read the book several times over. Not only did I feel like all of the characters cast in the movie were spot-on, but even the movie's dialogue was exactly that of the book. I left the theater that day feeling very, very satisfied, because never before in my life had I seen a movie that completely followed the book.

Basically, my take on adaptations is this - you don't need to write a whole new screenplay. The screenplay of the movie is literally sitting in novel form right in front of you. Don't add characters or take them away. Don't throw in extra scenes or delete the ones that you, personally, feel are irrelevant. People fell in love with the book that you're turning into a movie for a reason. I feel like adaptations are the easiest movies to make because virtually NO script-writing is required - the story is already completed. So why not follow it?

Amber's Opinion: I would like for a movie to follow its book as closely as possible, but I understand that it isn't always possible. We've been seeing it a lot with Shadowhunters lately that it isn't going to follow the book as closely as a lot of us would like it too. But that doesn't mean a movie/show can't be amazing anyway! The screenwriters, producers and everyone else who are involved have to sell this movie not only to you but to other people. Some things in the book may not appeal to the a majorities of viewers.

Example: I saw Insurgent in March and obviously the plot line was a it different. In the book Tobias and Tris never sleep together, there isn't not mysterious box, and plenty of other things. That didn't take away from the movie. I ADORE that movie, it was well done and amazing! It is the one time that I actually enjoyed the movie better then the book.

In my head, if things need to be taken away from a book or added in order for it to be made into a movie, do it in a way that won't leave the readers angry. Its successfully been done before. It's a cool thing to see too, the author wrote the book one way but this is how another person interpreted it and pictured it. I believe that if the author doesn't have a problem with what is changed from the book to the movie then everything is well!

So, those are our opinions on YA Book-to-Movie/TV adaptations! Comment down below if you agree/disagree with us, and tell us your thoughts!

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Erin for having us visit The Hardcover Lover! If you're interesting in hearing what other strange things we have to say, come over and check us out at The Book Bratz. Until then, another huge thank you to Erin and we hope that you all enjoy the rest of the Summer Blogger Promo Tour!


Amber and Jessica are two teenage bloggers who have been best friends since the dawn of time - or, realistically, since the dawn of kindergarten. They share a mutual love for books, and their friendship is the perfect balance - Amber being super lax while Jessica is super organized. Together they form the unbreakable duo known as The Book Bratz, and their Summer Blogger Promo Tour is their favorite part of their blogging year.

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3 comments :

  1. Hey Erin! I just nominated you for the Book Fangirling Blog Award, if you'd like to check out my post. :) http://the-paperbackprincess.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-book-fangirling-blog-award.html

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  2. Wasn't it, Lauren? I loved reading Amber and Jessica's opinions! :)

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