Musing Mondays. Book to Movie: The Giver

Hosted by Should be Reading

Okay, so to start out, this week's Musing Monday is going to be hosted by me, Stella! I was unsure of what to talk about today, but then it came to me! 

Lately, as you heard from my last Top Ten Tuesday, I have been obsessing over "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. And as some of you may have heard, the film adaptation is coming out on August 15th. But before I go on a rant, here's a brief summary of the book, for all of you who haven't had the pleasure of reading this marvelous book!

Jonas' world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Yup, that's right, a dystopian novel. See, before we had the pleasure of reading about slaughtering children in "The Hunger Games" or realizing segregation follows us in the future in "Divergent", there was a little old 179 paged book called, "The Giver". And this book, written by renowned author, Lois Lowry, paved the way for many dystopian novels and trilogies that we all know and fangirl over now.

But onto the movie adaptation...

At first I was nervous, after I saw the first trailer, I was thoroughly disappointed. For one, they failed to capture the color scheme of the book. At the beginning Jonas is supposed to live in a world with no color, and gradually, as time goes by, he begins to see the different colors. This is an important, symbolic element to "The Giver", and to see it stripped away was an outrage. Also, they failed to mention some of the most crucial details like, "Who the fuck is the dude with the beard?" or "What the fuck is Meryl Streep supposed to be?" or "Why is the beard man touching this kid and a screaming baby appears?", all valid questions!!! I mean, I didn't even get any names, let alone any plot development! A huge disappointment for the first trailer. But why don't let you guys watch it, and you can see for yourself.

Here's the first trailer:

So after that mess of a trailer, I was losing help. Even the adorable Brenton Thwaites (Jonas) couldn't get me out of my funk. But, praise the Lord, because on the day of June 4th, 2014, The Weinstein Company released a second trailer for "The Giver". And my God! It's amazing!

The 2nd trailer:

 

YES! We get names, we get dialogue, we get a color scheme. Most importantly, we get a plot! Even if you haven't read the book, you can basically get a pretty kick ass summary out of this trailer. But before I go into more detail, let me just say: Yes, Jonas should be twelve. And yes, Jonas and Fiona is never actually a thing. But, this is Hollywood. They're always going to pick older actors. And let's be honest, we all shipped Jonas and Fiona when we read the book (except for a couple of weirdos who shipped him with The Giver or Asher...:/ Yuck!), and it's pretty spectacular seeing them locking lips on screen! I'm so fangirling right now! Sorry...

Other than those minor details, I can't see any HUGE changes. I have read that this movie is going to include more action and all that shit, but as long as that doesn't deter from the original plot, I'm fine with that. Everyone seems well casted. I think Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep are great additions to the cast, and I'm excited to Brenton Thwaites shine in his starring role as Jonas. I'm intrigued to see Taylor Swift take on the important role of Rosemary, and I'm seriously pumped to see Odeya Rush portray Fiona! What I'm most excited for is to see how this crazy world, this world without memory, will all be put together on the big screen. Lois Lowry spoke a bit about this with Brenton Thwaites and I'm happy that she is a big supporter of the upcoming blockbuster! All and all, this seems like an excellent movie and I couldn't be happier with what I see.

We'll see when "The Giver" hits theaters on August 15th! (Wow, I sound so professional! Just ruined it...)

- stElla