Sean Musial, Editor 

Books are a cultural phenomenon that have been around for over 4,000 years. They’ve been rooted in the basis of society for knowledge growth, entertainment exploration and the mass production of any written work. They give outlets for the writer to express their creative freedom to the world, and a desire to unfold every page. 

Film and television are relatively new platforms for entertainment. Though they have become arguably the most prominent platforms for stories to be told over the last century, books still have a richer history by a long shot. Since the creation of film/TV, adapting books into these mediums has become almost inevitable. Here’s how different directors have shaped an author’s book faithfully, or not so faithfully. 

One classic adaptation of a film came to screens all the way back in 1939 with Gone with The Wind. It was a four-hour epic that took the spirit of the 900-page novel by Margaret Mitchell and turned into one of the most influential films of all time that still holds up today. In 1962, Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was adapted with Gregory Peck giving audiences a world class performance as Atticus Finch. Both films received many Oscars for their accomplishments including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

A mainstream figure who has had more than a 100 adaptations of his work is the horror icon Stephen King. His first book that was adapted happened to also be his first published book, Carrie. It was an early film of acclaimed director Brian De Palma, and was praised for being faithful to its source material. Stanley Kubrick adapted one of King’s most influential books, The Shining. Though the movie is considered one of the most iconic horror movies of all time, it controversially diverged from the books and King has publicly disapproved of it. Within the last decade, Andy Muschetti took on the daunting task of adapting one of King’s longest novels, It. Muschetti turned it into two movies over a three-year span, becoming a major success in the process and arguably being the best adaptation of the extremely long novel. 

Mario Puzo’s The Godfather was faithfully adapted into a trilogy between 1972 to 1990 by director Francis Ford Coppola, with Puzo acting as co-screenwriter for all three of the films. The first film was the one that most closely followed the book, while character expansions, cut down subplots and omitted plot points had to be added to fit into the entire trilogy.

 “First rule about F*** C*** is: you don’t talk about F*** C***” is a rule that changed when David Fincher decided to adapt Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Fight Club, back in 1999. The film preserved the tones and themes of the book, but altered the ending to make it seem more cinematic, which was done perfectly. 

The 1991 faithful adaptation of Thomas Harris’s The Silence of The Lambs, elevated the character of Hannibal Lecter into an iconic figure in cinema thanks to Anthony Hopkins’ chilling performance. The film deviated slightly from the book with minor changes for pacing and structure purposes. 

Considered to be one of the greatest film trilogies of all time, Peter Jackson adapted J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings into a cinematic spectacle. Because of the grand scale of the story, a good bit of the overall narrative was either cut down, condensed or deleted completely so it could be fit into the three films. 

The eight part Harry Potter film series comes from the seven books J. K. Rowling released from 1997 to 2007, giving the world possibly the best lore to ever come out of fantasy. Just like most of the other adaptations mentioned, it was mostly faithful with slight alterations due to the sheer density of all the books. The only exception comes in the final book, The Deathly Hallows, which was split up into two separate movies to express the depth and grand scale of the finale. 

Three of the best examples of shows that were derived from books are Game of Thrones, The Handmaid’s Tale and Dexter. George R. R. Martin’s series, A Song of Ice and Fire, is the primary influence on the early seasons of the show Game of Thrones, but the show begins to take its own creative freedom later since Martin hadn’t, and still hasn’t, finished the books by the time the last seasons came around. It can be argued that the final season failed after the previous seasons were considered peak television due to the books not being finished. In contrast, The Handmaid’s Tale TV show initially started off strong after the source material had been finished, adapting the book and creating new storylines. The final season saw the directors writing themselves into a corner since they didn’t see, or were given, a clear path to go. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is the first book in the series that the successful show is based off of, creating a cultural phenomenon in the process. The dark comedy, violent actions and cast of characters that the show had to offer gives the show its unique narrative, similar to the books. 
Books have long been the foundation of storytelling, offering depth, detail and a direct connection to an author’s vision. As film and television evolved, they provided new avenues to bring these stories to life, often with great success but also with creative liberties. From timeless epics like Gone with the Wind to modern fantasy phenomena like Harry Potter, adaptations continue to bridge the gap between the literary and cinematic worlds. Whether staying faithful to the source material or taking bold interpretative steps, these adaptations reflect not only the story being told but also the vision of the filmmakers behind them. The enduring power of these narratives, whether read or watched, proves that great stories transcend mediums.