Adaptations have been in vogue in the entertainment sphere since the beginning of Hollywood; stories that have found widespread acclaim in print form are snapped up by producers and transformed into films and television shows that are often widely hyped. Done correctly, an adaptation can be a lucrative venture—it comes with an existing fan base, eager to see the material they are so passionate about come to life in front of their eyes. But so often adaptations are subject to high expectations, and as a result viewers may end up leaving the cinema disappointed, feeling as if they have been let down.

A good adaptation is often thought of as something that stays true to the book through conveying as much of the plot as possible. Yet this simply doesn’t work; film and television are not merely different mediums, but are rather entirely different ways of storytelling, and hence the narrative must be reimagined in a manner appropriate to the platform. A good example of this is The Book Thief: although it doesn’t necessarily stay exactly with the events of the novel, it captures the tone by taking the most important stylistic aspects of the novel and translating them in a manner appropriate for the screen. This is particularly evident through Death’s narration, which is key to the humour and darkness of the book, being transformed into a voiceover; the idea of being watched by Death remains prominent, and leaves us with the same raw emotions that the novel does.

It is also commonly believed that an adaptation will inevitably be strong when the author of the original work is involved in some way, however things can still go terribly wrong. Game of Thrones, for example, was initially successful in capturing George R. R. Martin’s impossibly complex and intricate A Song of Ice and Fire universe; although characters and plotlines had to be axed due to time constraints, the show maintained the tone and the atmosphere that has made the novels such a huge hit. But despite good creative intentions, Game of Thrones quickly became known for its shock factor, and showrunners attempted to draw in and sustain viewership by capitalising upon it as a selling point. Controversial plot choices, such as Sansa Stark’s rape in the latest season—not present in the original novels—were strongly criticised in the media, and ended up alienating the very audience that showrunners had tried to pander to.

Existing target audiences prove an additional problem for studios behind adaptations; the market in which book-to-film transformations can go horribly, horribly wrong is the Young Adult universe. Producers, scrambling to find something to fill the void left by Harry Potter, have pre-existing conceptions about what young people want to see, and how films can be marketed towards them. Perhaps the best example of this is the recently concluded The Hunger Games franchise. Aggressive, elaborate marketing campaigns for the films were somewhat ironic, for Collins’ trilogy is outspoken against the oppressive power of consumerism and entertainment. Although the dark themes of the novels, such as warfare, freedom, oppression and revolution, remain relevant in the film, promoters gave more emphasis to the love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta, which is more of a side-plot in the novels than anything else. The implications and moral complexities of a universe in which children are forced to fight to the death are toned down to create artificial good and evil combatants in order to better craft a crowd-pleasing franchise. Although The Hunger Games was commercially successful, it fails in truly capturing the themes and subtleties of the books, because producers attempted to preempt what young adults wanted to see, and sold them a story that underestimated their intellectual capability.

And yet despite the failures of recent adaptations, the film industry continues to churn them out. Hollywood appears to live by the saying, “if at first you don’t succeed, try again”: failed film adaptations, such as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events are being given second chances as TV shows. Furthermore, adaptations are breaking out of traditional confines. In the last few years, YouTube has become a popular mode of adapting classic literature; The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a web-series based on Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, started a trend of modernising age-old stories through vlogs and other forms of social media, and has been continued through immensely popular series’ such as Nothing Much to Do (based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing) and Carmilla (based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella of the same name). One thing’s for sure: adaptations aren’t going anywhere.