The Trouble With Adaptations

By Lady Galadriel

"Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable." - Carl Jung

Consider for a moment: what has been the tool that literally has given birth to all the great stories that we know and love? Imagination. Without imagination, I'm sure there never would have been a magical world called Narnia. Narnia wouldn't have been discovered and never would we have met the lovable and chivalrous Reepicheep, the endearing Marshwiggle Puddleglum, or any of the other characters which the imagination of C.S. Lewis has allowed us to enjoy. How much we would have missed!

Seldom is there a movie that is done correctly and faithful to the book. Never is there a movie that doesn't to some extent, kill your imagination. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I might also say in the case of a movie, a picture ruins a thousand words. There is something distinct in each author's style and descriptions that just can't be conveyed on film. Once you see the image of a character in a film, it is almost impossible to ever remember that character the way you imagined him or her. This is the danger of movies and this is one of the reasons I believe that the Chronicles of Narnia should not be made into a movie. When you see a movie, you are seeing the director's interpretation of it. Well that'd be all fine and well if he wanted to watch it himself, but think of all the people who won't even take time read the books and won't ever be able to use their imagination in that respect?

Sadly, what I have found tends to happen after seeing a movie like the Narnia ones will be, even if you have already read the books and you come out of the movie saying "They did the animals all wrong!", you will in time gradually accept it. By doing this, you will not only accept something you know you didn't really like as well as losing that beautiful gift called "imagination".

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