After years of rejection of Joanne Rowling’s books she finally achieved to publish her book and it made a remarkable history by making it to the top books of the world. With fame and loads of awards ofcourse that request to make it as a movie reached her. She first was unsure and later she accepeted and the movie creation process have started. The audition for the movie cast still being the great one in the history. For as long as people have been making movies, people have been making movies based on books. Films have also been adapted from several other forms such as television shows, theatrical plays and even other movies. More recently, entire book series have been adapted, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the still in progress Harry Potter series. With six of the seven books written, and five films finished (four of them released), the Harry Potter franchise has a lot to offer scholars interested in the how-to’s and the results of adapting books to film.
The Harry Potter films, which started with the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the year 2001, depict the events covered in the books in a more filmic fashion. The films bring Rowling’s words to life; however, as is nearly always the case in adapting work of one form to another, the transitions can be less than smooth. As Deborah Cartmell, senior lecturer in English writes, “An adaptation is undeniably an appropriation of the text, and although the plot remains the same, the telling ’ or the interpreting of it ’ radically changes from one generation to the next.” From time constraints to a director’s need for artistic expression to casting choices to how a film is promoted, the process of transforming a book to a film can be fraught with peril. Other such issues surrounding direction, characterization, pacing and chosen content (among others) can also contribute to a film’s eventual success or failure. Though the resulting movie may in fact be a good film, the question that must be asked is whether it is a good film version of the book. Though most published academic works covering the adaptation of a book to a film focus on classic novels, such as those by Shakespeare or Jane Austen, adaptations are not made merely from acclaimed literary masterpieces. What the Harry Potter series lacks in academic acknowledgment, it more than makes up for in mass popular appeal.
For this reason, this essay will dissect the Harry Potter books and their resulting films, paying particular attention to what issues in the process of adaptation were most relevant to each, and see what, if any, perils were encountered in the making of them. In doing so, this essay will make use of both scholarly and amateur sources, because while authoritative texts are more often relied upon (and with good reason) in essays such as this, the opinions fueled by the unquestionable knowledge of the Harry Potter fan base (in regards to the content of both the books and films), are not necessarily any less valid than their more academically informed counterparts.
Stealing hearts of millions of people the movie is still watched by the people and passed on to generations. With no doubt, this book will always have a irreplaceable place in history and hearts of readers and movie lovers!
