Book-Movies, Movie-Books...whatever

Has anyone noticed that there are a great number of book-movies out there? I think that it’s great, it will get people to read and it’s fun to experience a book a new way. I can go through a whole story in two hours. Usually I disagree with some of what the movie-makers chose and sometimes I get a new insight from watching a movie. There are some books out there that deserve that recognition. And there are others that can only be degraded when put on the big screen.

I read this great book, it’s called Wings, by Aprilynne Pike, and I really liked it. It’s going to be a series (I think there will be four books). Then I found out that Disney has optioned the rights to the book and they are considering putting Miley Cyrus in the lead. For those of you that have no clue what this means, I give you Libba Bray.

“Basically, if a movie studio/director/producer/influential Hollywood pet is interested in your book, he/she/they/it can option said book, meaning they can throw money at you and "rent" your book for a while, usually about 18 months while they try to get the financing and creative team together. They approach a star or studio to get them on board. They try to get that sucker into production. If they get a deal and a green light, they purchase (as opposed to option) the rights to make the movie (more $$ for the author) and said movie goes into casting and filming and all those fun things that signify "This movie is being made" and you can email all your friends and buy the shoes you hope to wear to the premiere.”

Putting aside all my qualms with Miley and her multiple personalities, I still don’t think she is right for the role, in fact, she is rather wrong for the role. However, this decision has made me think of what direction Disney wants to go in with this movie and I disagree completely. With Miley in the lead, it would become a “Let’s go see a movie with Miley” movie. It would be like so many other Disney movies. Think for a moment about some of these: A Cinderella Story, High School Musical, Life-Size, Another Cinderella Story, Sleepover… you get the picture. Now, I love Disney, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the right people to do this particular book-movie. With Disney in charge, it will turn into a highly un-realistic, musical-esque, colorful, kids movie. Which is fine…if there weren’t a book attached. This magic of books like Wings is that they are realistic. They create the feeling that anyone could wake up one normal morning and find out that they are a mythical creature. In these Disney worlds, you expect things like that to happen and that’s part of the magic of Disney. I absolutely adored this book and I think that a movie would ruin the experience for so many people.

My sister says that I’m being selfish, that I don’t like to share books. That is entirely true, it takes a lot of trust and friendship for me to deem someone worthy enough to borrow one of my books. I’m just weird that way. When I read that book, it becomes mine and I feel like giving my book to just anybody is like sharing my journal with just anybody. There are tear-marks on some of my books, and food marks on others and dog-eared pages and some even have writing. Each of these tiny marks are so personal that sharing with somebody is hard. I’m not the same way with book-movies. I mean, I prefer to be some of an elite few who know about a book, but I am willing to share, I got at least 6 people to read the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (which is a lot of people if you think about it). But some books just shouldn’t be made into movies and that.