Lost in Translation: How Do Movie Adaptations Change Narratives?

Movie directors have been known to make small changes in the transition from book to film, but do these edits change how the narrative is interpreted? Many of the adapted books are often well-known for their complexity and amazing storytelling. Because of the difficulty translating a book into a film, many things about the story and characters get lost. Should we consider these books more before adapting them into movies? Moreover, should some books even become movies? 

Movies use actions instead of narration when telling stories because it’s more entertaining to show than tell. Movies would get boring if it was mostly narration like books. The Catcher in the Rye wouldn’t make a good movie because most of the story occurs in Holden’s mind while he’s stationary. The story wouldn’t progress as much if most scenes were just him sitting alone with narration. Due to this, many directors opt for filler scenes and change the way in which the story is told. Another example of this would be Atonement. While it’s a well-adapted book, the movie requires you to think more about the plot than you would have after reading the book.

Atonement by Ian McEwan, written in 2001, debuted as a movie just six years after its original publication. Starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, the movie spans six decades, starting in 1935 and ending in 1999. It explores drama, war, romance, and bildungsroman, making it a very complex story. Tension between the two main characters, Robbie Turner, a lower-class man, and Cecilia Tallis, an upper-class woman, provides the foundation for the story. Throughout the book, it’s clear that they have mutual feelings for each other, but in the movie, viewers have to study their body language to decipher their feelings toward each other. 

During the fountain scene, it’s much harder to interpret what Cecilia thinks as she climbs into the fountain.  While the novel informs us that Briony, Cecilia’s sister, sees the spectacle from her room and believes her sister is being harassed by Robbie, in the film, viewers have to interpret Briony’s body language as a way to learn her feelings. 

As the movie progresses and the tension increases between Robbie and Cecilia, we see many interactions between them, which are often interrupted by Briony. Many people who have watched the movie conclude that Briony accuses Robbie of raping Lola, Cecilia’s cousin, out of jealousy, but in the book where there’s more insight into her mind, we discover that Briony wants to be taken more seriously and therefore attempts to take on things that are out of her depth. 

We also get a lot more character backstory in the book compared to the film. In the book, we learn how Briony truly feels about her cousin, Lola, why Briony lies about who raped Lola, and why Cecilia suppressed her true feelings for Robbie for so long. We gain many of these things through the characters' thoughts, not what they say out loud. McEwan tracks the changes in the characters almost every second of the novel, but the movie notably lacks that. Briony is developing in every second of the story, but we lack that information with the film because we no longer have her internal thoughts. Due to the absence of these elements in the film, we lose the complexity McEwan strove to create. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another book that was very popular during its initial release as a novel and was transformed into a movie early on in its lifespan as a book. The Hunger Games delves into a dystopian world separated by 12 districts and ruled by a malicious President Snow. In the movie, the protagonist, Katniss, trusts Peeta (the second District 12 tribute) and seeks an alliance with him, but the book depicts her as more timid and slow to trust. The movie also shows Katniss leaning toward Peeta more than Gale as a romantic interest. Still, the book gives us an insight into her thoughts where we then learn that she’s torn between the two, compared to just leaning towards Peeta and continuously denying Gale’s attempts at running away with her. 

During the span of the book, the reader doesn’t get insight into what’s happening outside of the games and how the world is reacting; we only see the games. In addition, the movie flips between each character’s perspective as opposed to purely Katniss’s perspective in the book. As readers, we only know what Katniss knows. In the movies, having the citizens' reactions outside the games helps with worldbuilding since we’re looking at the world from another perspective, not just Katniss’s. With only Katniss’s description of the world, we lack both sides of the story. By giving the viewers context through the outside world, we gain back the knowledge that was lost when we lost Katniss’s full perspective. Due to these things, the book has a higher level of suspense and mystery compared to the movie.

Overall, The Hunger Games is an example of a well-adapted series. Although we lack Katniss’s narration, we still aren’t lost in the story. The moviemakers added and subtracted necessary parts to keep the overall narrative alive even though the book gives you a more complex experience. 

Dune, published in 1965 by Frank Herbert, was adapted into film a second time in 2021 with Denis Villeneuve’s rendition of the story being released. Villeneuve’s films are separated into two with Dune: Part 1 and Dune: Part 2. Dune takes place in the year 10191 in a world where extended space travel exists because of a substance called Spice. In this story, Spice is the centermost substance in the world and is the cause of most of the conflict between groups.

While Herbert’s story originally focused on politics, Villeneuve’s film is more action-based (as most films are) with a lot less dialogue than the book. The action scenes in the movie seem to be heavily drawn out for the viewer's enjoyment. For example, the fight between Paul, the main character, and Feyd-Rautha, one of the main antagonists, in the first book only spans about two pages. Additionally, we never get any narration from the characters in the movie. Due to the complexity of the plot, I think that the perspective we gained from Paul and the other characters in the books was necessary. If you come into the Dune movies without any prior knowledge of the characters or the overarching plot, it’s hard to follow what’s going on. This causes the movie to lose the preexisting complexity and just turn into another action movie. 

Paul and Jessica’s characters are especially difficult to translate onto screen. For example, Paul descends into madness as the book progresses, meaning his actions get increasingly different compared to the first part of the story. This is reflected in both movies, but the film doesn’t show why Paul’s actions are changing the way they are– it’s only hinted. If you came into the film knowing the book, it’s easier to understand what Paul was doing and how he was manipulating the other characters. Jessica and the Bene Gesserit are also very important to the plotline, but their screen time doesn’t reflect the effect they have on all of the characters. In the film, we don’t know as much about the Bene Gesserit’s plans since we lack Jessica’s internal monologue. 

The Dune films released in 2021 and 2024 differ greatly from Frank Herbert’s original series. Although the films are riveting on their own, they lack the complexity through narration and detail Herbert originally wrote into his novels. Overall, Villeneuve’s Dune movies seem to be targeted towards a broader audience than the novels. This changed the way the story was told so it could appeal to a wider variety of people.

Ultimately, films can change the original storytelling of a novel to appeal to a broader audience. Although they can change the nuance of the overarching story, this can also sometimes urge fans of the film to read the book and vice versa. Doing so can widen the fanbase and create a larger picture for the story. As I stated previously, I think a good example of a well-adapted story is The Hunger Games. Even though the movie adds and removes some parts of the story, Suzanne Collins’s message is still alive throughout the movie. Overall, movie adaptations change how the story is told through filler scenes, showing instead of telling, and adding more action to a narration-heavy story. 

By Penelope Guest