We’ve heard everyone say that the movie can never be as good as the book. Books almost always have more detail and have more room for interpretation which gives the reader more independence. A large percentage of movies are adapted from books, and according to the numbers more successful movies are always adapted from a book. Today let’s look at the flip-side. Movies that are (arguably) better than the books they are based on!
1.Fight Club (1999) based on Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
image from imdb
We don’t talk about Fight Club! But, now we have to – Chuck Palahniuk himself has stated that he was embarrassed that the book did not compare to the genius of the David Lynch script. Fight Club translated into the cinema screens in a more expansive way than the book. However, to preserve the suspense of the movie this is all that I’ll say!
2. Mean Girls based on Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World by Rosalind Wiseman (2002)
image from wikipedia
I bet you didn’t know that Mean Girls is a literary adaptation! Adapted from a somber title, the Mean Girls movie goes above and beyond with fantastic writing from SNL veteran Tina Fey. Definitely a must watch if you’ve only read the book.
3. The Shawshank Redemption based on Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (Different Seasons) by Stephen King (1982)
image from musiconvinyl
No list about books to film adaptations would be complete without Frank Darabont’s classic. The Stephen King novel does a great job in creating a shorter story about life in prison. However, the movie greatly expresses the friendship between Andy and Red in a way the book could not. If you’ve already seen this movie (which you probably have) it might be a good time to read the original novel and then give the movie a re-watch to understand the parallels of media.
4. Arrival (2016) based on Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (1998)
Arrival takes a very interesting book and adds a layer of emotion to it. Addressing more than the alien language and focusing more on the protagonist’s life. Arrival is another masterpiece from Denis Villeneuve that adds to our list of movies better than the books.
image from imdb
5. Children of Men (2006) based on Children of Men (1992) by P.D James
With direction from the talented Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men takes incredible cinematography and characters and builds on the premise of the plot in a more thrilling journey on screen. The film captures violence and emotion more profoundly than the book does and that is why it finds a spot on this list.
image from wikipedia
Aditya Lahiri is a rising junior studying public financial management with a minor in business at Indiana University. He is working at media services this summer.
1 Comment
Fight Club was not written by David Lynch. It was written by Jim Uhls and directed by David Fincher.