Jamison Guice, Campus Carrier Asst. Features Editor

Whenever a childhood book is remade into a movie, I can’t wait to watch it. Seeing a trailer released that shows the re-envisioning of an old pre-teen favorite reminds me of binge readings I would do of an entire book set. Within five days, I would read seven 600-page novels simply from impatience because I needed to know how everything would end.

So, steaming from my impatience and my love to be surprised, I read the endings of books first. While that may sound like a contradiction, most books do not spoil the resolution on the last page, instead there are usually vague hints that insinuate something else unknown which I attempt to determine while actually reading (similar to solving a mystery).

This want for surprise then translates to the movie remake because if it closely follows the book, I will already know what is going to happen and the end result is a feeling of it being anti-climactic.

Additionally, after already reading the book, I have already connected and delved into the minds of the characters, so I want to see other dimensions that were not fully expressed in the book. In the movie, will I get more background information, world building or story structure?

The movie is given an opportunity to build upon an already created world and make it better. So when the Hollywood producers and directors decide to change the well-known script that is forged in ink and paper, the audience is met with a surprise.

New scenes and plot lines are attention-grabbers and provide new context to the fictional world. By retelling the story, it allows more possibilities for the characters and it allows an opportunity for the audience to choose which path they want their characters to take.

For example, in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” instead of Frodo fighting a war in the Shire, he is graced with a happily ever after. In “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” instead of Holly Golightly running away to Argentina, she is reunited with her cat and shares a kiss with her neighbor. In “The Notebook,” instead of falling asleep together, Noah and Allie die together.

Now the audience is now faced with a question: should they follow the canon of the book or movie? Should Allie and Noah live or die?

This choice allows for your favorite character to have a new adventure or ending that they were not privy to before. Instead of the life that is cemented in the book, there is an alternative that you never could have imagined.

Even though the book was amazing, watching a movie adaptation that contains different material is extremely fun and provides new material for the fan to explore.