When the fans of the original novel meet the fans of the adaptation, who will win?

The American TV series Game of Thrones, adapted from the novel A Song of Ice and Fire, is known for its inhumane massacre of characters. Even the original author Martin couldn't help but complain about the screenwriter David's cruelty. Martin revealed the reason why David killed characters during a talk show:

The biggest killer trick used by fans of the original novel and fans of the adaptation in a fight is "Don't talk nonsense if you haven't read the original novel." Fans of the adaptation usually lose when faced with this sentence, but is there really no way to crack it?

The faults of adaptation The merits of adaptation

Any best-selling novel may be adapted into a TV series, which is now called building an IP ecosystem. However, if the original novel is good, can the adapted TV series also be well-received and popular? Fans of the original novels are extremely demanding about the eyeballs of the original novel adaptations - the "Lord of the Rings" movie set a box office record at the time, but the picky fans were still not satisfied with Peter Jackson's adaptation. When it came to "The Hobbit", the original novel fans' voices of criticism were even louder: the two light races of elves and dwarves actually fought each other, allowing the dark camp to take the opportunity to kill... The "Lord of the Rings" series can be regarded as a conscientious work in the adaptation industry, and there is no need to list all the 50-cent special effects thunder dramas adapted from domestic IPs.

With the success of the original work, the adapted TV series will naturally have no worries about no one watching them. However, a good adaptation is icing on the cake, while an unsatisfactory adaptation will discredit the original work.

Recently, the super IP "Ghost Blows Out the Light" was adapted into a movie. The director of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" had three bottom lines that could not be crossed: no tomb robbing, no mention of "Ghost Blows Out the Light", and no "ghosts". So it is understandable that "tomb robbing" was changed to "treasure protection adventure", but "Nine-story Demon Tower" is almost an adaptation similar to "fan fiction": after a group of people entered the Nine-story Demon Tower, there was no tomb robbing, no black donkey hoof, no gold-grabbing lieutenant, and no ancient country of Jingjue, but aliens invaded the earth - it is obviously easier to accept it as a sci-fi AU of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" fan fiction.

The Monkey King: Hero is Back is also a domestic adaptation IP. It is based on Journey to the West, an IP that has been adapted many times over the past thousands of years. Its adaptation is obviously successful. Journey to the West is the starting point of imagination, and The Monkey King: Hero is Back is like a story that unfolds from the original point, which is independent, complete and wonderful.

The level of adaptation determines success or failure

As a movie adapted from a novel IP, a huge work of hundreds of thousands of words has to be told in just 120 minutes, which means that the grand story will slip from its biggest highlight to the most unbearable weakness. When it is necessary to use movie shots to connect the fragmented branch plot scenes, too much detail and fidelity to the original work will directly split the development of the story, and it will become "what a mess of a story"...

Even when adapted into TV series, it is not always the original party that slaps the adaptation party in the face. For example, the Star Wars and Star Trek series of novels were only circulated among a small range of science fiction fans before being adapted into TV series. When Star Trek was adapted into a TV series, the "ideas" in the original novels were presented to ordinary audiences through film and television performance techniques - allowing ordinary audiences to understand the content more intuitively - so we have mobile phones, notebooks, pads... The influence of adapted TV series has surpassed the original novels.

The success or failure of an adaptation is not simply about "restoration" but about "resonance." Fans of the original novel can sigh "that's how it is," while new viewers can sigh "so that's how it is."

Hergé, the original author of The Adventures of Tintin, created the best idol for children and made Tintin a shared memory for generations. In 2011, The Adventures of Tintin was jointly adapted for the screen by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Compared with the comics, Tintin's appearance in the movie has not changed much, but director Spielberg has added his signature action elements while retaining the style of the original, making the whole story look fuller and smoother. Objectively speaking, the movie version of The Adventures of Tintin is far from perfect, but it has achieved a balance between the original fans and the new audiences, and both sides have been satisfied, which is the most important thing.

After all, adapted TV series and original novels are two different products. The reasons for TV series themselves make them more popular with audiences than novels. Moreover, the time cost and patience required to watch a movie are usually much lower than reading a novel. If a movie cannot be understood or "cannot appreciate its goodness" without reading the original novel, then it is not a good movie. Being faithful to the essence of the original, resonating with the original party and new audiences, and being worthy of the original IP may be the direction that the adaptation party should strive for.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.