By Jamie-Paige Tucker
With my new found time, I have taken quite heavily to reading again. Over the years, with school and working part time I slowly but surely lost my love for the activity. But now that the whole world is on pause, I’m using the time to make up for all those lost reading hours.
I ordered a copy of a well recommended book, ‘After’ by Anna Todd. And a few pages in I realised I recognised the story and the characters involved. I quickly remembered a film I’d seen on Netflix a while back and of course; it was a film based on this book. I remember enjoying the film at the time, but now that I’ve read this my opinion had started to change slightly.
As I sat, studying each page I got more involved into the story, more attached to the characters and then I realised that the majority of this story was new to me. Considering I’d seen the film I expected to remember much more of the story line. But it was completely different.
Then came to mind the age old statement of “the book is always better than the film” which I’m a firm believer of. But when first watching the film I really enjoyed it, and after reading the book a year or so later, I realise the film was nothing in comparison.
After two solid days of reading I had finished Todd’s masterpiece and decided I needed to re-watch the film just purely to see what they’d done with it, sounds silly but with my new found perspective I went into the film already feeling disappointed. This book is so detailed, every move is clearly outlined and it’s full of raw emotion. So much so, I can’t believe the film left so many key details out.
The part that shocked me the most was the films ending. It was completely fictional. One part about the book, that I loved, was that it didn’t have a happy ending. It didn’t end the way you wanted it too and It made you want to read on when you couldn’t. But the film? The ending is hopeful. Hopeful and completely made up.
But why is this allowed to happen? I know films have restrictions and time limits obviously. But with the author as a part of the production crew, you would think she’d have wanted more of her vision portrayed on the big screens? It just isn’t the same. It goes to show that you should always read the book first.
Once completing the film, I ordered the second book, ‘After we Collided’, and was once again in awe of how well Anna Todd is able to tell a story and make you feel like you’re in the book. And with the film heading to the big screen within days, there was no way I wasn’t going to see it.
The book included the characters I’d loved previously, and introduced me to new ones that added so much to the narrative, so much so that I couldn’t believe they weren’t included previously. And I think I enjoyed this sequel more, due to having no prior knowledge of this particular storyline. The book once again exceeded my expectations of fiction. The film, however, did not.
I left the cinema feeling disappointed, with two things actually. Firstly, how far from the original story it was, but secondly, how different it was to the first film. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said the film was a completely separate production.
Once again, the author was apart of production, so how she has let the film stray so far from the original plot left me baffled. But also, the style had changed. The first film was very tame, things were insinuated, but never shown. It was tasteful. The second film took a different turn. And I’d say in parts, took the nudity slightly too far. It’s not like the second book was any more risqué than the first, so why have the films taken such a drastic turn? Whatever the editorial decision was around that… it was not appreciated, and I don’t believe it was necessary either.
My final review on the subject would be, that if a book is really that good… maybe it should just left alone. Why ruin a great book, with a bland film?