I have a confession to make: until this past weekend, I had never seen Total Recall. I know, I know, practically everyone has seen this movie, I must be living under a rock, etc. I have no excuses; it was simply one of those things that slipped by.
Aside from the ubiquitous Ahnold one-liners that make me groan, I really liked the film. And it got me thinking: in many respects, short stories often make better fodder for films than do novels, especially in the realm of sf.
One of the main problems in developing a sf novel for film has to do with world-building. A sf or fantasy novel often deals in totally foreign environments that are very specific. The author spends a certain amount of effort creating a setting; the idea is to envelop the reader in this new world. If the author and the reader don’t share exactly the same vision, that’s okay; no one will ever know. in a short story, words are more often reserved for advancing the plot.
When a filmmaker attempts to create an alien world, they’re often asking for trouble – whether it’s because of the limitations of the technology or budget, or because their vision clashes with longtime readers. Those who have been convincingly enveloped in their own vision are often jarred when a movie isn’t how they always envisioned it.
Similarly, the pacing of a novel – especially an epic tale of 200,000 words or more – doesn’t always lend itself to the pacing of a good movie, and tough decisions must be made in the adaptation. Inevitably, someone’s “favorite part” gets left out (Tom Bombadil, anyone?).
When it comes to movies, a short story is more like the broad strokes of a painting, ready to be filled in. That’s not to say that short stories can’t be memorable or evocative, but there’s often less details to quibble about. Whereas a movie might have to condense a few extraneous characters into one or cut a subplot altogether from a novel, there’s usually no such problems with a short story. A few words of description can become something much more – it might not match with the reader’s vision, but they’re typically less invested in a short story.
In essence, with a short story a movie can typically add, whereas in a novel someone is often forced to subtract. There are exceptions to everything, of course, as well as the occasional movie that is actually better than the source material altogether (I prefer the movie version of Jurassic Park, though I wish they had left in the bit about the triceratops and gizzard stones) .
I do think it’s strange that short stories are becoming less popular at the same time as Hollywood seems to be needing more and more original inspiration. Next time I complain about yet another sequel or remake (I hear they’re remaking Footloose), perhaps I should pick up an anthology or a magazine subscription!
Do you have any favorite short stories that you’d like to see in movie form (mine is “The Veldt”)? Any adaptations, of novel or short story, that strike you as particularly wonderful or terrible?
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I’d love to see “Ripples in the Dirac Sea” made into a movie.
That said, Hollywood seems to turn novels into movies, and short stories into TV shows (twilight zone did this latter one a lot). I think we need more… novellas. Something halfway between a novel and a short story.
I mean, look at “The Body” which turned into “Stand by Me.” That’s too long to be just a “short story” but had almost the perfect length for a movie.
@Alexander – Funny you should mention this, because I was thinking of King a LOT when I was writing this. I tried to limit myself to sf, but horror is another genre where this works particularly well. Cycle of the Werewolf is the novella that became the movie Silver Bullet, one of my childhood favorites.
But again, I don’t think novellas sell particularly well.
I mostly just like that the title of the story on which Total Recall is based is “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”. I read a number of these short stories in my science fiction literature class in college, and only later found out that they were made into popular movies which I had never seen. And I remember thinking that they seemed rather short to make a feature length film, but you do make an excellent point.
I also believe that “The Veldt” would make a terrifying film, but it would be insanely awesome!
I’ve been saying for years that if you are going to make a film adaption of a written work, it should be a short story. (Probably Blade Runner was one of the data points in that conclusion.) A sci-fi author I knew later told me that—more accurately—novellas are best.
I still think the best thing to do is to be inspired by literature but to make your movie original that’s meant to be a movie rather than trying to adapt and messing with licensing issues. Trying to adapt a novel to a 120 minute film, however, is just guaranteeing you aren’t going to be able to do it justice.
The Veldt seems more appropriate for a short film or a Twilight Zone episode than a full-length movie. It quickly builds to its conclusion and I think that any side-plots to extend it into a full-length movie would just ruin the ominous tone.
Two short stories that I’d love to adapt are the Colossus of Ylournge by Clark Ashton Smith and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.
Colossus just because a Giant Monster destroying medieval France would make a great movie (plus, it’s public domain, so there’s no rights issues).
Bergeron already has the TV movie with Sean Astin, plus an upcoming short film adaptation. But they both play it pretty straight, and I feel the story is best interpreted as satire–highlighting the absurdity of books like Atlas Shrugged–and it deserves an adaptation consistent with that reading.
Hey guys, one question I’ve always had, is why do the Hollywood people think that the entire book has to be in the movie? Most books have a point within a book’s storyline where the action could be paused a(like after a semi-major battle or event) and then conclude the story in the next movie. I know that this wouldn’t work with all book to movie adaptations, but there are so many movies that have came from books that they massacre the storyline in order to put everything into one movie.
As far as short stories I’d like to see made into movies? Hmm… “A Rose for Emily” might be interesting, but that would probably be more of the horror genre again.
Any particular examples, Kathy? The only book I can think of where the movie cut out early is The Golden Compass–and the movie suffered horribly for it.
Eragon is an example. I really liked the book, but they chopped it up so much, the movie just didn’t make sense to me. They way they did things, they made it practically impossible to even think about movies for the other books in the series. Also, with some parts of The Chronicles of Narnia and Prince Caspian seemed a bit chopped up after reading the books. I know, they get the most exciting parts and put them in the movie, but to me, the story building up to the exciting parts is what makes the climax of the story so great.
Been a long time since I read the books, but wasn’t it the case that the LOTR movie endings didn’t quite match up with the novels?
They’re also splitting the last Harry Potter novel into two movies.
hey,
thanks for your notes on sci-fi adaptations. I would say that above the budget constraints and so on, the most important thing for a sci fi adaptation is for the rules of the world to be
a) clear and well defined
b) obeyed consistently
The clearer the rules of the world to the writer/film maker the easier it is for the audience to understand early one. Look at Heros – simple rules, make sense – so people get it. Same with Total Recall – its a coherent world where the audience understands what is possible and what is not – so they go with it.
Personally I think the most interesting Sci Fi stories deal with the real world, which allow us to reflect on ourselves e.g. La Jetee (dir: Chris Marker) or Quantum Leap
thanks for the post
mo x
.-= Mo Bazazi´s last blog ..The Prostitute – A Short Story – Part II =-.