Book to Film Adaptations

I don't know about you, but I get extremely annoyed when a book gets turned into a film/show and the entire plot gets messed up. It blows my mind when this happens because the whole story is already made. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are some parts of a story that can't be adapted into a film so certain events need to be done before others. I get that, but changing an entire plot or story line amazes me. The events and conversations are already built. They don't have to be word for word the same but at least keep the underlying theme. Chronological order is another idea that gets lost when the film is made. Again, sometimes that needs to happen to help certain events take place but overall, the story should stay the same. I just don't understand why these things happen especially when the author gets to be a part of the creating of the script and film.

The reason I bring this up is because one of my favorite books series released their first movie this weekend. Those of you who don't know, I'm talking about After. The book series written by Anna Todd. Let me give some backstory to this series. After started as a fanfic on Wattpad. The story about Harry Styles with members of One Direction making appearances. This was a fanfic, so the story wasn't about the band itself but about a love/hate story between Harry and a girl named Tessa. At the time, there were 3 books in the series on Wattpad. The books got so many views that Anna managed to snag a publishing deal for all three books plus a conclusion novel called 'After Ever Happy' & the first book from Hardin's POV, 'Before'. The only downside to this being the story had to drop the One Direction relations. Therefore, Harry became known as Hardin Scott. Liam became Landon. Louis became Logan. Niall became Nate. Zayn became Zed. This was somewhat annoying for all us Directioners who read this fanfic and were super invested in the Harry Styles story. Overall, the name changes didn't ruin the books. Anna Todd was doing great with her newly published stories and went on to write more books even creating a spin off series about Landon.

Imagine the Hessa (Hardin + Tessa)  fans' excitement when Anna told us that After was being made into a movie. We were all ecstatic for this story to be brought to the big screen. I followed the creation on Instagram and kept my eye peeled for when the age rating came out because this story's content was more on the mature side. So, I knew that if the rating was PG13 we would be losing a lot of content from the book. In other words, the sexy scenes would be ruined and we would be left with awkward fading out scenes of just face shots during the intimate scenes. I followed every move on casting. There were some major changes to characters when the casting decisions were made, but I was willing to look past that. Who cares if certain character was written as a boy but is now a woman? Who cares if that said character has a decently sized part in the majority of the series and being a woman could alter that story line. In the end, the movie was rated PG13 and this set the tone for what I assumed would be a lackluster movie. I went into the theater with low expectations because almost every book to film adaptation is crummy at best. I knew the run time was an hour and 46 minutes, meaning this 500+ page book would be missing many details. I knew this was the first movie, so budgets and acting would probably be low quality. But I knew Anna was on set everyday and she had a say from the beginning, so I had HOPED she would make sure the film stayed true the main story line and there wouldn't be major screw ups....

I was proven wrong. The After movie disappointed me more than when Twilight came out. I know some people loved this movie, but I was not one of them. I was upset after the first 5 minutes. Tessa's persona in the movie is not the Tessa we read pages upon pages about. Noah is not this timid boy who is madly in love with Tessa. Let's not even discuss the fact that Tessa starts out her college career as an econ major or that her encounter with Hardin doesn't take place until way later (when in the book they first meet on move in day). There were SO many things wrong with this movie. Many events don't take place chronologically. They're not even close. Hessa is awful. The book has so much tension building between them and they have so many moments together and the movie barely touches on a third of those moments. They add in scenes with Tessa and her roommate Steph, but barely give us an Hessa. So many important details were left out of the movie. (I understand that they had a budget and it's tough to work with when it's a new series starting up)

The biggest disappointment though is the fact that Anna changed the outcome of the story for book one. I realize this is a PG13 movie, but did we really need to change the bet? NO. How a movie can be so screwed up is beyond me, but changing the  bet is horrible. The whole story is built upon a lie and then that lie gets destroyed because the movie decides to make it about "faking love." When we all know it was about Tessa losing her virginity to Hardin. Don't tell me it's due to the age restriction when they play Truth or Dare and mention Tessa being virgin. I could go on about the major screw ups this movie had when comparing it to the book, but I think I've said enough. There is one saying that can sum up this movie and it's this: "The book is better." I've decided I need to invest in a shirt with this saying so I can wear it to all the book to film adaptations I go see because typically it's 95% true. I can't say I'm thrilled by the idea of any of my favorite books being turned into a movie or TV show after this disappointment.