In the course of watching The Hobbit this past week and re-watching The Hunger Games, I heard myself using the phrase "bringing the book to life." It's a common phrase, but the idea behind that is troublesome. What, were they dead before? Dormant? Movies add visuals and audio to books, overlaying the vision of a round of screenwriters, directors, producers, and actors. The books become multimedia; they breathe in a different way. But if they did not have a life of their own in the first place, no one would have chosen if for a movie.I will talk of books adapted into films, but I resolve in 2013 not to so diminish the act of writing as to call the film versions "brought to life."
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