After seeing the fourth and final installment of the Hunger Games film series, Mockingjay Part 2, I thought about the many problems I had with the movie, despite how much I really enjoyed the movie, one of the biggest problems I have (along with every other critic reviewing this movie) is the fact that this adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best selling novel was split up into two movies. Why? What purpose does it serve? The book is not that long, and there is more than enough story and character development in either movies to fit in just one. Part one is the movie where very little happens but is building up to part two, the epic finally. Does any of this sound familiar? It should, because this is fourth franchise in the epic book adaptations to have gone through this formula. We saw this in the final Harry Potter adaptation, we saw this in the final Twilight adaptation, and we saw this in the Hobbit adaptation (though it ended up as three movies, it was originally two movies).
Fifteen years ago, adaptations of epic fantasies didn't even consider this kind of formula in their final installment. Back in the day, adaptations of popular books stayed at only one movie, because filmmakers thought that one was enough. There was no rhyme or reason to drag it out. The directors knew what their vision was and could get it across in one fell swoop. With that being said, now that it is 2015, what has changed? Why has it changed? Well, it is certainly clear that the fan bases behind these franchises have more access to voicing their opinions on how the filmmakers adapt the story; who should play what particular character, what story arch should be explored, how much detail should be put in that matches the source material. If the overall product doesn't cater to their wants and needs, then the fan base takes to the internet and complains about what they didn't like and encourage others not to see it. We live in an age now, where filmmakers, who are adapting a popular nostalgic property, have to get the stamp of approval not only by the studio executives but also the fan base itself. Restraining the director from bring to life their overall artistic vision.
Speaking as a fan of certain franchises, I don't mind a lot of the deviations from the source material the movies make. Back when I was a kid, maybe I would have, but now that I am older and have a better understanding of the differences between the literary medium and the cinematic medium, the differences between the books and the movies don't bother me. Some of the changes in the movies are brought on by the director. As I said, earlier, the director knows what their vision is and will stand by it, not giving in to the opinions of others. Including the author of the original source material. Sometimes there are things the director includes that the author, or the fans, did not agree with. A perfect example would be how Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his novel, The Shinning. Kubrick made quite a few changes to King's story to make it more scary and interesting, and he succeeded. The Shinning remains as one of the best horror movies to date, despite the deviations Kubrick made from the source material. Deviations from the source material are okay to make, as long as the story you are trying to tell is still interesting. Some of the most classic and popular movies that are based off of books deviated from their source material and still remain classics because they told good stories.
Fans tend to forget that the literary medium and the cinematic medium are two very different mediums. Yeah, they're both mediums of storytelling, but they're both different in how they tell the story. As such, either interpretations of the same story have a rite to be different from one another, in their own ways. But I think that's why fans make a big deal out of how many changes the filmmakers made and what specific changes those are. Which is all fine and good, it just shows that they're passionate about the original source material. But no matter what changes the film version might have made from the book, the book will still be there. The movie won't erase it from existence, or anything. It's just another interpretation added on to the cannon of the source material. And it is up to the fans to decide, for themselves, which version they like better.
So, why does Hollywood feel the need to stretch things out in movies? Money. When they have control over a popular property, studio executives will do whatever they can to keep the series and the franchise going so that audiences will keep watching their movies and fans will keep talking about them and keep the franchise relevant. Even if the story has finished and there is nowhere else to go in the story, the studios will find ways of "exploring/building the universe" whether by creating sequels, prequels, spin-offs, etc. This is true for both movies and television, and it has been an ongoing thing for decades. We're seeing this in the Star Wars franchise with the coming of The Force Awakens, next month, and we're seeing this in the Harry Potter spin-off movie, Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them, to name a few. Not to say that this is all a bad thing, there certainly have been positive outcomes to this, however this is the truth behind franchise ownership. And, there have been plenty of negative outcomes to this as well, and both fans and common movie-goers are beginning to catch on. Case and point, taking the final installment and splitting it into two movies, unnecessarily. Brad Jones said, in his Midnight Screening review of Mockingjay part 2, "This whole movie would have been a fantastic climax to one movie. It's okay to have trilogies still. This didn't need to happen. And, the only reason this happened, this part one and part two bullshit, isn't for any kind of artistic reason. It's just cause it'll make double the money. Even though you've taken what could have been a really good trilogy, to two really good movies and two movies that are mostly boring and should have been one movie" (12:14 - 12:44)
As I said before, some of this studio marketing formula has come partially from the wants and needs of the fan base and partially from the wants and needs of the studio heads. Without the dedication and desires of the fans, the studio heads would not have considered this formula in the first place. And, because this formula has succeeded in it's intention, the studios have chosen to stick with it in the hope of making more money the longer they drag the franchise out for, by giving the fans almost everything they want. And there lies another issue. Back when adaptations were made in only one movie, or when adaptations made drastic changes from the source material, they had the ability to challenge their audience. Challenge them with new and different ideas that might not have been explored in the source. One example is The Secret of NIMH. Don Bluth took Robert C. O'Brien's novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, stayed pretty close to the original source in the first half, but then deviated quite a lot in the second half by adding a new and different element that was never addressed in O'Brien's book, the magic of the unknown. This was one of the outside elements that made Bluth's animated classic a classic. Movie-goers look at that film and have so much fun dissecting it and seeing these ideas that made this animated movie more adult and more thought-provoking than other animated kids films usually are.
That's the problem with storytelling, these days. Filmmakers, or anyone who has the responsibility of telling these stories, are afraid of taking chances, trying to think of new and original ideas, challenging their audiences with these ideas, use these ideas to inspire their audiences to use their imagination to create their own ideas. Lately, the only kinds of movies we have been getting, at least in the commercial circuit, have been remakes of classics, reboots, and adaptations. And, it's been that way for a long time. Most of the time, they've only been used as mindless cash-grabs by studio heads because it's easier for them, and it shouldn't be that way. Movies, as well as books, should challenge our minds, make us ask questions, think about what we saw, and allow us to broaden our minds and imaginations.
I doubt very much this book adaptation formula will stop any time soon, with all the big epic young adult movies coming out. But, there are still book adaptations that have been dodging this formula. And, even if the multi-parter becomes more overpowering and overwhelming than the single movie conclusion, audiences will start to catch on and grow tired of it. Like all passing fads, this fad will pass as well. As long as there is a story worth telling, people will learn many different ways of telling it.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns...off-the-wall-anecdotes, please leave them in the comment box. Thank you!
Work Cited:
-Jones, Brad, dir. Midnight Screenings - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2. Youtube, 19 November 2015. Web. 21 November 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9eJHV7fctQ
