Character Development ... The 100

My posts have become sporadic at best. Life happens. Maybe that’s my new normal? I will continue to update just perhaps not as regularly. It may sound like a cop out, give me an easy out for not updating weekly anymore, but I’d much rather focus my posts from now on.

Everyone pretty much knows that I am an aspiring fiction writer, that’s the ultimate goal! I read a lot. I watch a lot of adaptations of books to movies/TV shows. I also have a lot of opinions on them.

Let’s start with my latest page to screen adaptation: The 100.

IMDb

For anyone that hasn’t watched this show on The CW I highly recommend you do and I would go no further in this post, spoilers and such. Today I would like to focus on character development, specifically the character development of everyone’s favorite delinquent leader, Bellamy Blake.

For anyone that’s followed the series all the way up to the current episode of season 3 we all know that Bellamy’s story is a fairly wild ride. We’ve seen him play many different character tropes, the jerk, protective big brother, rebel, soldier, friend, hero, etc. There really does not seem to be an end to the ways in which his character has grown and changed over the last two seasons leading up to now.

At the end of season 2 we’re left off after Mount Weather has been slayed, season 3 picks up and shows us the aftermath of those events. Clarke, his partner for all intents and purposes, is gone and he’s left alone to deal with what they had to do in order to save their friends from the Mountain Men.

IMDb: Wanheda Part 2

What I really want to talk about are the last two episodes of season 3, 3x04 and 3x05. Now I follow The 100 on Twitter, Tumblr, etc. and I see other posts in regards to the show and its characters. Many of the posts I am seeing recently are claims that all the development Bellamy’s character has gone through has been ruined by his behavior/decisions in the last two episodes.

Well I want to say as a writer; that’s just not true. Let’s talk about the events leading up to 3x04. Bellamy and Kane go on a rescue mission to try and save Clarke from the Ice Nation. In the process Bellamy goes rogue and ends up with a stab wound in his leg, it lands him squarely on the bench, which is a place he hates to be. Despite all this he tries a second time to do the right thing and save his people at the summit in Polis, he wants to bring Clarke home. However, his rescue at the summit turns out to be a trap (thank you Echo, don’t trust Azgeda apparently).  While he’s gone Mount Weather, full of members of the Ark/Farm Station, is destroyed by an Ice Nation assassin as part of a coup to start a war with Lexa. Bellamy’s girlfriend Gina is among the carnage.

So that leads us to 3x04 and 3x05. Of course I agree that he’s made some bad decisions and the things he’s done the last two episodes is not the Bellamy Blake that we’ve all grown to love over season 1 and season 2. That, however, does not mean all the growth his character has gone through was for naught. If anything seeing him falter and make a few bad decisions while blinded by grief makes his character more human.

He’s still human and grief, pain, loss can make people do crazy things. He is not thinking clearly when he makes these decisions, these choices that have him slipping off the path he’s been solidly on for the last two seasons. Bellamy Blake is ultimately a good person he’s just upset, confused and being viciously manipulated by Charles Pike.

Marcus Kane has been shown as acting as a mentor to Bellamy and Marcus does what he has to in the name of protecting his people. Charles Pike believes he’s doing the same thing but only sees the Grounders as the enemy. It is a blanket view on all Grounders; his view is clouded by hate due to what Azgeda did to Farm Station when they landed. Pike has been shown as using Bellamy’s grief against him in order to gain leverage on his cause.

At the moment Bellamy is angry at losing so many people in Mount Weather, he’s upset over losing Gina, he’s hurt because he can’t seem to get Clarke to come home and he’s struggling with the revelation that Octavia, the sister he’s sworn to protect, is gearing up to leave him too. All of those emotions are clouding his mind it’s a lot for one person to deal with. Pike knows this and is exploiting that to get Bellamy on his side.

So yes he’s made some truly misguided decisions that have truly horrific consequences. But the Bellamy we watched grow over the first two seasons still exists; he recognizes they went too far by attacking the Grounder army. He’s the reason Pike did not kill Indra. Deep down he knows what he’s doing is wrong but I don’t think he quite knows how to fix it just yet. So I have hope for him, he will come back to us as the Bellamy we all know and love.

And if it’s not on his own I’m sure Clarke and the rest of the original hundred would surely help move the process along. His character growth has not been destroyed, not by a long shot, as long as he recognizes that what he’s doing is wrong there’s hope for him. He will get back on the right path … and for the love of god, STOP LISTENING TO PIKE!

This season has been a wild ride so far I can only imagine what the rest will be like!

xoxo

From Page to Screen: The 100

Barnes & Noble

From Page to Screen: The 100

All right, all right I broke the rules. Yes, I watched the TV show before reading the book. Sue me, it happens on occasion, not many but it does. So of course having seen the show first you would assume that I would like that better than the book, that she show would be my baseline to which I compared every little detail and aspect of the story that Kass Morgan so meticulously created.

And that’s where you’d be wrong.

I mean of course I’m going to notice the differences between the two, characters, language, setting, etc. and there are some MAJOR differences! (Um, Jasper & Monty? Hello where are you guys?)

Now at two-thirds of the way through the Morgan trilogy I’ve come to the conclusion that the differences between the novel and the show are not bad, not in any way. Sure the differences are pretty obvious and I find myself searching for those characters I fell in love with on the show but at the same time I got to meet new characters, who I fell in love with for entirely different reasons! We’ve got our favorites around to tether us all together (Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia) and yes Octavia Blake is still chasing butterflies and making friends with the Grounders (Earthborns). Bellamy Blake is ever the protective older brother of his little sister and one half of the only set of siblings in space. Clarke Griffin is actually a doctor guys! Well almost, she kind of gets arrested before finishing training and you can kind of piece together what happens from there.

Maybe I am not judging this adaptation as harshly because I watched the show first and had already resigned myself to the changes that had to be made to stretch a three book trilogy into a whole show. Even still I find myself enthralled with the world, the same basic story, and not minding those changes in the least. It’s clear to me that the books and the show can have two entirely separate fan bases without ever really needing the other; but it is also possible to be a fan of both, as I have recently become part of that category.

For anyone that has seen the show but not read the books yet, I implore you to give them a try! They are a world apart and just as thrilling. Fans of the show we have Jason Rothenberg to thank for keeping the integrity of the story but should praise him for creating such a fantastic world of his own. The TV show is and adaptation in its truest form.

CWTV

For those in the back the meaning of adaptation, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is …

• The action or process of adapting or being adapted
•  A movie, television drama, or stage play that has been adapted from a written work, typically a novel
• Biology A change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment

Ironically it’s the last one that I think is most relevant in this instance. This is a case of Jason Rothenberg taking the idea created by Kass Morgan, changing and altering it to fit its new medium. What Morgan does in three books Rothenberg has to stretch over as many episodes and seasons he can muster. So yes, while I am the nerd that would gladly sit through a seventeen hour Harry Potter movie if it meant nothing had to change, I make an exception to my general rule. The 100 is fantastic regardless of whether fans came by page or by screen.

From Page-To-Screen: The Maze Runner

IMDb

This is a little late, as I saw this movie at least two weeks ago, but since then I’ve had the film mulling over in my mind. When I saw the movie I was not in the right state of mind to form the right sort of opinion on the movie.

The Maze Runner.

You see I pride myself on not being one of those people that will condemn a page-to-screen adaptation just because cuts needed to be made. I understand that pacing and timing are vital parts of success for any film. But I also REFUSE to be one of those girls that swoons over the main actor/actress thus the film can have no flaws because “so and so” is playing the lead.

But it has been two weeks since I’ve seen the movie and since then I’ve come to the conclusion that the film was actually a bit of a disappointment to me. The casting was fine, I have no major complaints there, and visually the maze, The Glade, everything was amazing!

I think my biggest complaint is that it just did not really peak my interest. I found it too easy to scroll through Twitter or Tumblr on my phone and let the movie play in the background. The excitement in the book did not necessarily transfer to the big screen and it fell a little flat in my mind.

I’m contemplating giving the move a second chance; to watch it and really pay attention the entire way through. But there’s no promise that I will.

As it stands this particular movie is not my favorite page-to-screen adaptation and I am even less inclined to read the next book or see the next movie. Only time will tell!

The Mortal Instruments ... TV?

The Hollywood Reporter: Full Article Here

Okay so at full disclosure when I first read City of Bones, the first in The Mortal Instruments series, it was when there were previews and trailers all over the place for the movie. Now it had been recommended to me when it was first released back in 2008/2009, or somewhere around there, but I just never really saw the appeal in it. And I would be lying if I said seeing the trailer and getting a glimpse of that world is what really drew me in and made me finally read the books.

I read City of Bones, flew threw the next few books in the series, and saw the movie in theaters ... it was good. It wasn't the greatest film adaptation I've ever seen, but definitely not the worst either. I of course was upset by the delay in filming the next portion of the franchise, the stalled release of City of Ashes but time has passed and I've finished City of Heavenly Fire.

I'm torn between whether or not I want it to continue on screen. If they continue as movies the ending to the final installment will leave me just as satisfied as the book did. The story itself in that final part will leave me unsatisfied. City of Heavenly Fire is a book that I, and many others, waited over a year for after reading City of Lost Souls. To me the ending just fell flat and there was almost nothing redeeming about it, it took me a month to read because the desire and the drive just weren't there.

Six months ago I would have loved the idea at attempting to continue the series and maybe a switch from film to TV would've been the right move to keep it current. But now I just don't see any move being the right one. There are a number of fans that are over the moon by this change of pace, fans mourning the fact that there will need to be a recasting, and then there's me. I'm not happy and I'm not angry I'm just indifferent to the whole thing. If Cassandra Clare had given me an ending that made me mourn the end of her primary series I would be more excited about it, she's failed me as an author in my mind so I can't get excited. I just can't.

The Fault in Our Stars

IMDB

I feel I must post this, and I know this entry is going to be short and sweet. But thus far I have seen The Fault in Our Stars twice in theaters. It's amazing! Beautiful!

Really that's the only way to describe this movie. Beautiful.

As we all know when adapting novel to film things get a little muddled in translation, scenes and moments land on the cutting room floor in the name of timing and pacing. Ultimately changes must be made, it's the way of the business and it's a necessary evil I've accepted in life. So when entering the theater I always remind myself that this is an adaptation! ADAPTATION!

But this ... this movie I left the theater with not a single complaint. I left the theater utterly speechless and, honestly, a complete and total mess! I melted into a puddle of tears because of how beautifully true and emotionally jarring it was.

So there it is ... beautiful.

From Page to Screen

Okay so here it goes …
And in this week's post guys keep this one question in mind 'Is my nerd showing?'

Here's the deal recently the world of YA fiction has been blowing up, series are getting adapted into movies and hitting the big screen. Let's just get the obvious out of the way and say that this is AMAZING! Authors have put their blood, sweat and tears into these stories. People have worked for years and years to get to this point. Characters that have become almost like family or friends to them are becoming tangible, they're being brought to life. The world's that have, until recently, only existed in the author and the reader's mind are coming to life. Concept becomes reality and that is just truly an accomplishment unlike any other.

But the flip side to that accomplishment is opening your life's work up to even more hate and criticism. Now of course critics are expected to be very critical and even at times harsh, but that's their job! They're supposed to critique these things and while reviews from critics are supposed to be objective human nature does not always allow for that. But it's the viewer's choice, the reader's choice, everybody's choice to take the reviews at face value or ignore them all together and form your own opinion.

It seems to me though that lately the critics aren't even the ones to watch out for, it's the fans. Fans that have read the books and have fallen in love with the characters, the worlds, the author in one way or another. And I agree the fans of the books should be critical, they after all have given years to these series! I myself gave Harry Potter more than ten years! More than a DECADE! Out of that I got seven books, eight movies, three heroes and I am part of a generation that is unlike any other. As a self-proclaimed Potterhead I'm part of the original "fandom." A fandom that basically all others strive to become, the following and the success that only one franchise has successfully claimed and kept the crown of having the most loyal fans. As a Harry Potter fan from the start; I read the first book in the fourth grade and followed the entire series to completion in 2011.

And yes I am guilty of being critical of a series that I love so much, an example would be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. Of all the movies in that series I felt this was the movie that was least like the book. There were plot points missing from the movie that I just wish had not been cut; I still enjoy the movie but in terms of my own rating system it's not my favorite of the bunch.

That being said I spent the last few days scrolling through different tags on Tumblr, where a majority of the ranting and raving seems to happen, and found every type of fan review possible. Those that praised the book to movie adaptations, those that hated them and justified their reasoning behind their hatred. But then there were those reviews in which the writer simply felt the need to nitpick and gripe over every little minuscule detail that was changed or omitted from page to screen. These are the reviews that bother me the most and hopefully others as well.

Now the reviews I spent my days reading focused largely on The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. I chose these three because they're not only some of the most current adaptations but they are also ones that I myself have both read the books and seen the movies. They're not the only YA books I've read, I'm up to date on Twilight, obviously Harry Potter, Hush Hush, The Gallagher Girls series, etc. and I'll admit I have not yet read Insurgent or Allegiant; so if I'm short on a few details that potentially come back in later books I won't comment on those changes either.

There are still plenty of things I can share my opinion on, such as many viewers apparent hatred of the fact that Christina (Zoe Kravitz) is not significantly taller that Tris (Shailene Woodley) in the Divergent movie. The point of a casting of a particular actor/actress for any adaptation is that they capture the essence of the character, the life that you felt from them in the book and needs to be translated onto the screen. Now Zoe Kravitz playing Candor turned Dauntless Christina I enjoyed very much and chopping a couple inches off her height is not in the long run a big deal! It does nothing to affect the overall performance of Zoe or the portrayal of the character.

It's little details like this that fans hang onto so hard that it blinds them and makes them hate the conversion. Jennifer Lawrence is a natural blonde, therefore she was a terrible choice for Katniss Everdeen. Hair dye people! That is a fixable problem! And JLaw really does Katniss justice. All the Shadowhunters have accents; are we completely forgetting that the country they all originate from is Idris? Smack dab in the middle of Europe? I think I would've been disappointed if they were completely Americanized considering while Jace, Alec and Isabelle live in New York they rarely socialize with its inhabitants. The Shadowhunters have always held, in my opinion, and old world air about that that makes them mysterious and seem almost as if they were from another world entirely. In a way though they really are.

Now I'm up to date on Twilight but I'm not even going to touch that one, because let's face it a blog about Twilight could be it's own post all together. But seriously guys let's not focus on the fact that Effie's dress was a different color at the Reaping from the book to movie. Madge? I'm sorry but she's not a major character and if you haven't read Mockingjay yet, trust me overall she's not necessary to the series itself. Madge Undersee's job was to get the Mockingjay pin to Katniss and as long as Katniss ultimately gets the pin it really does not matter how she gets, just that she does. Seeing things from the Gamemakers point of view? It's necessary to telling the story; Madge is not!

City of Bones' Simon, no he didn't become a rat and yes I was looking forward to that but it's not a deal breaker that Robert Sheehan remained human throughout the entire movie. If I were to nitpick it would be more about the ending of the movie and the current location of the Mortal Cup. The filmmakers dug themselves into a nice little hole with that one, getting out of it will be interesting. But really I've read a review and the reviewer is angered over leaving out Church! A cat! People it's a cat! Church is awesome but what role does he play other than tour guide? Even Peeves got cut from Harry Potter and Peeves was in every book in several different ways, he was a tormentor, an ally, an enemy; part of Hogwarts!

Things get changed from page to screen, pieces get cut and things are added. It's part of the process, making something flow on the page is different from making it live on a screen. What is described in several paragraphs of exposition and detail can be done in seconds on film. And once again these are all adaptations! The stories are made to fit their new format while trying to remain as true to the original as possible. I highly doubt the writers, producers, directors and actors go into these projects with the objective to butcher much loved books and anger the existing fans. The point of these is to please the existing fans while bringing on new ones to the franchise.

So yes there are some cases in which I would love a 17 hour long retelling of the story, with no detail left out but that's simply not reality. I go into a theater and look at the movie for what it is and where it came from, if I can leave that theater and have the same or similar feeling I had reading the books then I'm happy. If the characters had the same energy and feel that they did on the page, I'm good. But for the love of god don't change the endings! They're written the way they are for a reason!

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/0QLOq 

                                       

Above are some quotes from the different blogs I found on Tumblr reviewing these movies. These quotes are taken from larger pieces but are otherwise unedited. The blog URLs are listed with their related quotes beneath them. 

Rantings & Ravings of a Mad Woman

Original 'Pet Peeve' Post is on my Tumblr: http://consider-myself-an-artist.tumblr.com/

Okay, so I have another pet peeve and yes once again it's about books. I'd apologize but I'm not sorry, books are my life, they were my salvation when I was extremely depressed and they're my escape when reality becomes vastly overrated. I'm also a writer and an aspiring author so the craft and the art of writing is something I feel very strongly about.
Which brings me to my real pet peeve, and it was sparked by the new Breaking Dawn promos. Have I seen the movie? No, not yet. I probably will at some point or another but I haven't yet. I have however read the book, and yes I did pay attention when I was reading the book so just from the promos I already know the directors and producers have changed a significant part of the story.
If I recall correctly there was no battle, no one fought, in fact most of them never even got within twenty feet of one another. The Cullens and the Volturi stood at opposite ends of that field and stared at each other for 25 pages. So where did this great, big battle come from?!? Creative license there, I think so.
But as annoying as that is it's not even the part that irritates me the most. What really annoys me is this supposed twist ending to the story.
WHAT?!?!?
It's a book!! You do not, under any circumstances, change the ending of a story that's already been written. The story has already been established and I can assure you that Stephenie Meyer worked very hard on the ending, because they're not easy! This has happened once before when I saw Dear John and yeah I was annoyed then too! The ending is the way it is for a reason, that is one area in which creative license should never be taken.
I can honestly say that if someone were to take a book/story that I had written, turned it into a movie and decided to change the ending/plot that I had worked so hard on I would be furious. Writing is hard, it keeps you up at night and it consumes your life. As a writer I carry around other lives with me, characters that speak to me at odd times of day and characters that want to be produced for my next work.
This is one opinion I have that will never change, and I'm not sorry for voicing it.