Hollywoodization of Literature

Nolan Loughlin and Matt Viel

Hollywoodization of Literature

• There is several ways in which literature is Hollywoodized.

• The Evolution of Language• The book is actually made into a movie.• A movie portrays the book in a creative way with the

same theme(s).• TV episodes being based off a theme from a book or a

book itself.• And several other ways.

Changes of Language in Literature

• The language used in literature has dramatically changed over the years.

• From Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to The Writings of Shakespeare to the writing styles we see in today’s literature.

• Nowadays we have the simplistic writings of J.K. Rowling with the Harry Potter books. These books are very easy to read and comprehend compared to Shakespeare’s books.

Book to Movie

• When a book is made into a movie the director usually sticks storyline in the book.

• We often find a lot of things are different.– Relationships– Scenes left out from the book– A scene is different from the book

Relationships

• Relationships in movies are sometimes different from books. In some books it gives hints that two characters like each other and they never get together but in the movies they put them together.

• The main reason this is done is so the audience can experience the emotions between the two as well as feel for the characters.

Missing or Different Scenes

• Scenes are left out and some are different from the books because of a few reasons. There is two main reasons and the first would be the director wants to go in a different direction but still end up at the same out come. The second is the director finds the scene unnecessary to the ending and the storyline and it would make the movie to long.

Feelings towards characters

• Movies also help us feel more in tune with the characters providing us with visuals rather than creating our own using our own imagination. By doing this we are able to feel for and understand the character’s emotions more.

Movie Portraying a Book

• Some movies have the same storyline, plot and theme(s) as certain books but are portrayed in their own creative way.

• They change up the characters, the scenery, and a few scenes here and there.

• This is done to express the theme(s) and and meanings to a different audience whether it be youngsters or adults.

Portrayal Example

• An example of this would be Walt Disney’s The Lion King 2 being a Hollywoodized form of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

• Disney is known for it’s classic animated movies that people of all ages can enjoy especially the younger kids.

• If a child read or even saw Romeo and Juliet they probably wouldn’t understand what’s going on in it especially with the language. The kid would probably understand the message that The Lion King 2 is trying to portray because the Disney are aimed at a general audience of children.

• The child wouldn’t realize the two are similar until they actually read the book.

TV Episodes

• Most TV series only last as long as they do because they base some of their episodes on the theme(s) of certain books.

• This is pretty much the same thing as doing it for movies. It still makes us feel for the characters but at the same time the characters learn a new life lesson that will help them develop as the series goes on.

Example

• An example of this would be Boy Meets World.• A lot of their episodes are based off the theme of a

book to help develop the story and characters.• The book the episode is based on, if it is at all, is

usually the book they are assigned to read for class. Making it blatantly obvious to the audience, if they’ve read the book, and also develop the characters because by the end of the episode they realize that they’ve learned a new life lesson.

Comic Books and Graphic Novels

• Modernizing it/making the films more realistic.

• Selling the actors.• Selling the special effects of the film.• Changing plot details of the original story in an

attempt to make it more appealing to the modern audience.

Modernizing/Making It Realistic

Selling The Actors

Selling The Special Effects

Changing Plot Details/Characters

Philosophy

• Not only have novels and comic books been Hollywoodized but so have people’s written philosophies.

• Every movie has some kind of philosophy behind it. Whether it tie into the theme or one of the characters just views something a different.

• This helps develop the story and keeps the audience thinking on whether who is right.

• It also intrigues the audience to see what direction it is going in.

Philosophy Example

• For example Arthur Schopenhauer, a German Philosopher, believes that there is nothing stronger in the world than “the will”. By “the will” he is referring to the will to live.

• In the new movie 127 Hours it is about the will to live. A mountain climber get’s stuck between two cliffs and has to do what ever he can to survive.