"Do We Really Need This? The Struggles of Literary Adaptations" by Sophia Nigro

Photo by Alex Litvin via Unsplash

I think everyone gets a little surge of joy when they hear one of their favorite novels is being adapted into a movie or television series. Getting to see a story they love so much brought to life, letting others see the wonders of it, can be a great thing. That is, when it’s done right. 

Now, there’s a lot of adaptations I’m a fan of. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the show NOT the movies, is amazing. The Hunger Games are truly unrivaled, and personally, I’m really on a Heated Rivalry kick right now. What all of these do right is that they keep true to the original story. They know what the books did right and try to convey that on the screen to the best of their ability. They make people want to read the books if they haven’t already, and it gives book fans a greater appreciation for the original books. This is what adaptations are meant to do, help enhance the story and make people excited. Unfortunately, many adaptations miss the mark.

Recently I saw Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and the thing running through my head the whole time was “Emily Brontë is rolling in her grave.” I could talk about the issues with it all day, but to summarize, they made a story about class, race, revenge, and abuse about BDSM. Granted, there are still themes of class and revenge, but it’s overtaken with over the top sets and costumes that don’t give off gothic vibes in the slightest, and of course the issue of making Catherine and Heathcliff’s desire for each other mainly revolve around sex. There’s also a wall made to look like Catherine’s flesh. No, we don’t have time to get into that. So many creative liberties are taken that if you changed the title of the movie and changed the characters’ names, you would not know it was Wuthering Heights. In my opinion, this is an insult to the original novel because it ignores many of the themes that the novel was trying to convey and twists it into this movie about love and lust. I pray for anyone who tries to read the novel for the first time after seeing this movie, they have no idea what they’re getting into.

Now, sometimes adaptations miss the mark just because they’re being adapted, period. The one that comes to my mind is the upcoming Harry Potter series at HBO. They’ve said it will be a more faithful adaptation than the original films, so you may be wondering why this is a bad thing. Well, I just think it’s unnecessary. There’s of course the issue of J.K. Rowling herself and her blatant transphobia, so many people do not want to continue supporting her as she is actively working on this adaptation herself. Even if she wasn’t, we don’t really need the show. The movies are already a pretty faithful adaptation of the original novels and they’re beloved by many fans. Honestly, this really just seems like a cash grab for HBO and J.K. Rowling rather than wanting to bring the novels to life once again. The love it takes for a novel to be adapted seems to be lost, and instead we’ll possibly be getting something that pales in comparison to both the novels and movies.

So, literary adaptations can certainly be a struggle. I admit it can’t be an easy thing to adapt a book. There’s so many details and plotlines that are lost, but luckily that’s what we have the books for. Nevertheless, many adaptations just seem unnecessary, especially when they change so much to the point it’s unrecognizable, like Wuthering Heights, or we don’t really need to hear this story again, like Harry Potter. I’m always going to be a little excited when I hear something I love getting adapted (personally I’m looking forward to the possible adaptation of the Check, Please! graphic novels), but depending on the novel, there’s a voice in my head that now asks, “do we really need this?” Most likely, the answer is no, we don’t.