BEFORE the scene: the originals of blockbusters

 ‘The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader.’ – Paulo Coelho. When films are made based on novels, there are always different opinions about the rearrangement no matter how tiny the change is. Readers can always have their own interpretation and imagination on each sentence they read; meanwhile, in the cinema movie viewers share a collective experience when they watch the same scene. So there ought to be some discrepancies between how the director put together a film and how the readers imagined it would become. Let’s see if it is true what the famous author Stephen King said, ‘Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.’

It is never easy to put together a film based on popular books, let alone adapting the film from a classic literary work with all the refined and exquisite lines. Somehow the director of the Great Gatsby managed to enrich readers’ imagination by turning the descriptive sentences from the book into stunning scenes with all the visual elements to illustrate the extravagant life and energetic parties of the upper class. Do you think the cinematic adaptation is able to meet your expectation?

Talking about fantasy adventure novel / film, the Hobbit (and its world-famous sequel, the Lord of the Rings) would surely come to one’s mind. The Hobbit tells the adventure of a timid and reserved hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who wants nothing but to relax in his cosy home and live a calm and peaceful life. The hobbit is recruited by the dwarves and soon reluctantly joins their expedition. Being dragged into this noble yet challenging quest to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland, Bilbo must resolve the conflicts among dwarves, elves and men, while fighting against his inner demon brought by the Ring – the most powerful artefact in Middle-earth.

If you are a fan of science fiction and fiction about post-apocalypse, you must not miss the Maze Runner. In the world devastated by a series of massive solar flares, survivors need to find a way to live in the post-apocalyptic world. In the first two books of the series, we have seen Thomas desperately running from the world being controlled by WICKED, an organisation which is supposed to find a cure for the world but has somehow become unscrupulous. In the third book, Thomas is taking the initiative and attacks the headquarter of WICKED to solve the problem once and for all.

The life and soul of the world-famous detective story series, Sherlock Holmes has appeared in various adapted TV shows and movies over past decades, portrayed by different actors. This fictional private detective has solved numerous criminal cases by his exceptional insight into the human mind and his famous ‘science of deduction’. There are 4 novels and 56 stories in the Complete Sherlock Holmes, including classic mysteries A Study in Scarlet and the Hound of the Baskervilles. Among all the versions of Sherlock Holmes, which one do you like best?