The long-awaited TV show 鈥淧ercy Jackson and the Olympians,鈥� first released on Disney+ in December 2023, received over 10 million views in its first week. In the same month, the movie 鈥淲onka,鈥� remake and prequel to 鈥淲illy Wonka,鈥� hit the screens, ending the year as number one in the box office. Finally, in February 2024, the live-action remake of 鈥淎vatar: The Last Airbender鈥� aired on Netflix, gaining 153 million watch hours within its first week after release.
The past few years have seen an upsurge in film or visual-media counterparts to popular childhood book series. Junior Stella Su remembers watching several older adaptations of her favorite childhood books 鈥� including 鈥淗arry Potter,鈥� 鈥淭he Giver鈥� and 鈥淛ames and the Giant Peach鈥� 鈥� and thinks adaptations may be going downhill.
Composition and Literature of Visual Media teacher Justin Brown said that the rubric for a good adaptation has many dimensions. In his experience, the best and most satisfying adaptations stay true to the original novel: capturing the theme, understanding the characters and imitating the writer鈥檚 style.
鈥淚n a movie, you need to have conflict in every single moment 鈥� otherwise, the audience gets bored,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭here needs to be something at stake every moment. And a part of what鈥檚 wonderful about books is they just provide a texture to the characters in a way that films can rarely do now.鈥�
Another problem, Brown notes, is that many directors struggle to compress the full depth of a novel into one movie. This notion is shifting, however, as many adaptations such as 鈥淧ercy Jackson鈥� move away from the movie format and into a multi-episode show.
鈥淣ow, so much mainstream entertainment is about serialized streaming stories where they鈥檙e going to spend six seasons adapting a book,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭hose are situations where you can really do justice to it.鈥�
Su agrees that attempting to cram a large amount of content into a film can ruin the pacing but also notices how adaptations of shorter books, such as 鈥淭he Giver,鈥� tend to stretch out unnecessary scenes and include their own details.
Freshman Ofer Kranz, who has read the 鈥淧ercy Jackson鈥� book series and watched both the movie and recent show adaptations, also appreciates the benefits of a series. She recalls the anticipation she and other fans felt waiting for the first episode to air.
鈥淚 forced my parents to watch it,鈥� Kranz said. 鈥淚t was good, really good. And I thought, 鈥楩inally, it鈥檚 here. Finally, we can breathe.鈥欌�� Though there were a few disappointments with pacing and altered scenes, Kranz recognizes that there is no perfect adaptation and recommends the 鈥淧ercy Jackson and the Olympians鈥� show for its stronger fidelity to the book series than its movie counterparts.
鈥淭hey looked at more independent details that weren鈥檛 really portrayed in movies,鈥� Kranz said. 鈥淭hey did a really good job with the characters and other details so I definitely prefer the series to the movies, but the books will always be on top.鈥�
With these recent adaptations, Su also hopes to see tributes to smaller book series, and underappreciated or newer novels.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a shame that (companies) usually only adapt books when they get really popular because a lot of times they try to bank on the already existing popularity,鈥� Su said. 鈥淎nd so obviously some good books don鈥檛 get adapted.鈥�
