An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

[u/RJSnea]

The "Percy Jackson" movies: you can fuck up the plot all you want but fucking up the literal mythology that's thousands of years old is some BULLSHIT!!!

"The Golden Compass" movie: If you're gonna adapt a young adult series about killing literal God, then fucking COMMIT!

The "Artemis Fowl" movie: The book series is about a teen villain. He may not be evil, but he's still going to steal as much of your shit as he can while being intelligent as fuck about it. Yet the movie somehow made him a damn "hero" while completely ignoring the book plot.

The "Eragon" movie: I have never regretted wasting my time to watch a movie in theaters more.....and we literally saw it for free because I was an employee. 😭😭😭

[u/TheRisingSun777 → u/RJSnea]

Per the first one: If we really wanna argue semantics, even the books "fucked up" Greek Mythology by including a snake-headed Medusa. Medusa as a mortal woman cursed by Athena was introduced by a Roman writer. The only thing I would definitively say they fucked up would be Kronos. Greek Mythology, like any myth, is iterated and reiterated ad infinitum as the culture of the time brings its own interpretation. There is no singularly wrong way to engage with and decipher a myth within one's own story.

[u/RJSnea → u/TheRisingSun777]

Also true and I totally forgot I made a comment on that to my sister when the first Roman book of the series released.

[u/Arzanyos → u/TheRisingSun777]

The original book went around that by making the Greek/Roman conflation part of the setting. And then later introduced Roman mythology as its own thing, undermining all that. Whoops

[u/DuelaDent52 → u/RJSnea]

I don’t know about the whole series as I’m only really familiar with the first book, but regarding Artemis Fowl:

• In the first book he’d rather not do physical activity if he didn’t have to, but in the film we’re introduced to him catching waves.

• One of Artemis’ sole redeeming traits is his affection for his mammy, in the film his mammy is dead.

• He wants to be filthy stinking rich like his family used to be rather than just well off like they are in the present, in the film he does what he does because the bad guys kidnapped his dad.

• Holly faces a lot of sexist backlash from her peers over being the first female agent in her job, but while her superior firmly believes in her he’s also very tough on her because he knows any failure on her end will be used as a political excuse to keep them down further. In the film, the commander is an elderly woman.

[u/RJSnea → u/DuelaDent52]

You hit some of the biggest issues! Also, Butler, a Eurasian man who's literally surnamed Butler, and his family have been serving the Fowls for generations as both house staff and militarily trained bodyguards in the books.

So why in the fuck did the movie make him a Black man, that could barely throw a believable punch?!!?! DID NO ONE SEE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT??!!??!?

Processing img 4w3g7usc2yth1...

[u/Arzanyos → u/RJSnea]

How does the Percy Jackson movies miss the themes and message of the books? The plot, sure, but to me they actually hit the themes pretty well

[u/RJSnea → u/Arzanyos]

The "parent/adult jokes" and changes were just......disturbing. We went from tweens learning about themselves and how they fit into the world to horned up teens trying to bang intentionally sexed up, adult goddesses while complaining about being chosen.

Honestly, it was just fucking disgusting and one of the main reason I hate those damn movies.

Edit: I also didn't appreciate how immediate they made the lotus flowers seem to take effect. Not every drug hits like that, some of them are as insidious as described in the books where they didn't even realize they'd been drugged for days. They "magic-ed up" the visuals and character reactions for unnecessary aesthetics and completely changed the meaning of the scene and reveal later when they meet the 1970's guy. It also tarnished the believability of how Nico and his sister were trapped there for so long.

[u/Arzanyos → u/RJSnea]

There was only one case of that, with a character who's always been a teen in the books, and is a flat out adult in the movie. And heck, Percy and Calypso, Luke and Annabeth, it's in the books too

[u/RJSnea → u/Arzanyos]

Sorry for being one of the adults in the world who doesn't think any adult needs to be flirting, let alone fucking, a teenager. Nothing like that should have been added.

[u/Arzanyos → u/RJSnea]

Grover isn't a teen, he's an adult. Judging by the change to the prophecy, Percy is 16, not 12, in the first movie. Grover is maturity wise 2 years older than Percy, thus, he's an adult.

And again, unethical age gaps is entirely in the theming of the books. So where does it botch the themes and messages?