Libby Morrell's EPQ

Throughout the course of my research, I have discovered some factors that can make a good adaptation, or what can cause one to be unsuccessful.   1. A universal theme or moral that people can relate to.  Some of the best book adaptations in the world have the most simple, underlying messages which people can connect with. If a viewer can connect with the story, they are more likely to embrace it, and rewatch. For example, the moral of the Harry Potter series is that goodness will prevail over evil. That is a universal message that people want to relate to and support in a world where conflict is always brewing. Similarly, in Pride and Prejudice, the overarching moral is that love will always be found, even if it is unexpected. Once again, that is a message that people want to invest in, viewers want to believe in romance and happiness, so themes like these will always generate success.  2. Good casting  In all the adaptations I've researched, a large quantity of revi...

Whilst many films will be stand alone releases and often drift out of the public eye over time, other films are constantly remade with a different director and cast over the years. These films often become known as classics, and as a result, their retrospective novels are kept in publication due to newfound interest.  Since 1938 there have been 17 film and tv adaptions of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Some of the biggest releases were the 1995 series staring Colin Firth, or the 2005 film staring Keira Knightley. The novel still sells around 110,000 copies a year in 130 different editions. Over 20 million copies have been sold since its release.  Christina Griffin, from the English Department of University of Virginia, said in an article that Austen's novels are so successful and adaptable as they contain, 'universal themes' and the opening of the novels are set up without explicitly specifying a time period or place. Therefore, they can easily be applied to different ...

In most cases, it is the books that are written first which are then turned into movies. However, there are some rare occasions where the movie is created first and then a book is released telling the same story.  One example of this is Billy Elliot which was originally a coming of age comedy drama released in 2000. The screen play was written by Lee Hall. However, in 2001, Melvin Burgess released a novel called Billy Elliot, capturing the same storyline as the film.  Melvin Burgess had been asked by publishers, The Chicken House, to complete the novelisation of the film using the screenplay by Lee Hall. Even Burgess himself admitted to feeling confused as to why the film needed to become a book, but as he transferred the story, he found some answers.  Why was it good for the film to be novelised?:  A novel can show the inner thoughts and feelings of characters which often can't be captured in depth on screen  A novel can explain and make certain motives clear...

  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critics/chris-stuckmann/movies What I learned: I found a critic's review on Insurgent, proving that the vast majority of top critics did not deem it worthy of the young adult dystopian genre.  How reliable is it?: Chris Stuckmann is a verified movie critic for Rotten Tomatoes who has rated hundreds of films and given his professional and personal opinion to either recommend or discourage people from watching certain things. The general message of his review is reliable as it many other reviews were similar and conveyed the same meaning.  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critics/source/2790 What I learned: I found a top critical review on Allegiant, which represented the same general views of other top critics. It proved that the books was of a higher standard than what was portrayed in the film.  How reliable is it?: Roxana Hadidi is a verified top critic on Rotten Tomatoes, proving that she has a reliable, professional opinion. Looking...

I managed to complete my Harry Potter case study before Christmas as I expected. I did some in depth analysis of the main characters to see how good the casting was. I looked at negative differences such as the film portrayal of Ginny Weasley. I used the Goodreads' book reviews to compare with the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for each film and the books always came out on top.  This was useful as it allowed me to summarise that whilst the films are enjoyed by audiences, usually the books will receive higher ratings. However, the popularity of the films may have been what drew people to read the books anyway. The film and literature industries have to work hand in hand in order to be a success.  I also started looking at unsuccessful adaptations such as the Divergent trilogy to see how film adaptations can ruin literature. I wanted to find evidence for both sides of the argument.  I have decided not to do any primary research such as a questionnaire due to lack of time througho...

Many books have been transferred to the screen, but not all of them have been successful for a variety of reasons.  Divergent Series One of the worst rated book adaptation comes from the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. She released her series of 3 books between 2011 and 2013, but the first was not taken to the screen until 2014.  The first book and film was called Divergent and it scored a 41% rating from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Whilst this already sounds low, it is the highest rated film of the three. However, the book itself received an average rating of 4.17 stars on good read which converts to 83%. This is double the rating the film received, proving that it was not the story which was poor, it was the way it was conveyed onscreen.  The second book is called Insurgent and it received a lower rating of 23% on rotten tomatoes. One top critic, Chris Stuckmann commented ' There are some thrilling scenes here and there, but mostly, Insurgent is an aggressively fa...

  https://www.hypable.com/j-k-rowling-discusses-why-harrys-eyes-didnt-have-to-be-green-cutting-a-scene-from-alfonsos-prisoner-script/ When was it published?: 8th November 2011 What I learned from it?: When comparing how accurate the characters are in the novel to the actors who played them on screen, I learned that they had to scrap the idea that Harry had his mother's green eyes due to the fact that Daniel Radcliffe was majorly allergic to the green contact lenses. This led to them changing Lily Potter's eyes to blue as well in order to maintain the motif.  Why was it created?: It was created to share a conversation between J.K Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe about their experiences on the Harry Potter set and their opinions on the world that had been created. It was published a little after the release of the final movie, which had exclusive interviews on the DVDs when they were available to buy in stores.  How reliable is it?: It is reliable because it is a typed out ve...