Don't Be So Fast To Dismiss Film Adaptations Of Your Favorite Books [Video Essay]

For every person who gets excited when a Hollywood studio announces that they're adapting a bestselling book into a feature film, there are just as many who would rather not see a film adaptation ruin the text that they love so much. However, when it comes to cinematic adaptations of classic literature that seem to play fast and loose with the source material, it's usually for a good reason.

A new video essay makes the case for film adaptations of books, especially when it comes to classic novels, simply because they have the opportunity to take the material and make it more relatable to a new, contemporary audience. Using films such as 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless as examples, the video essay illustrates how these classic narratives are made more interesting to a new generation of viewers by relating them to modern day issues and settings.

Watch the book to film video essay after the jump.

One could make a similar argument for remakes of movies as well. Though some remakes are just carbon copies of an original movie that doesn't seem dated enough to require a remake to be more relatable to a new generation of viewers, some of them are satisfying updates of the movie with a cast that might be more familiar, and thus more engaging, than that of a movie that came out decades before.

Though a film adaptation may never be as good as the book in the eyes of the readers who fell in love with the text, Signature Views makes the case that there are still redeeming qualities that can make them stand on their own as a new take on a story you're already familiar with. Try not to get caught up in the changes that movies make to your favorite book and enjoy it in a new medium that can't always easily translate what's on the page to the screen.