Comparison of Twilight Book and Movie

Movies and books are both great sources of entertainment. They are two very different ways to present ideas. Books use descriptive text to bring words to life and create vivid imagery. On the other hand, movies supply the visuals to the audience to bring a story to life. When a book becomes popular it is often adapted into a movie. This process can either cause cynical criticism or profound praise. Many viewers and readers criticized Stephenie Meyer’s book-to-movie series Twilight. The same critics of Twilight overlooked the movie adaptation of her adult science fiction novel, The Host. Meyer’s novel The Host was extremely well adapted to the movie screen.

The Host is an unconventional alien invasion story. It takes place in a futuristic setting on Earth where the human race has been invaded by aliens. These aliens are relatively non-hostile. They come to a new planet and take residence in the native species. Each alien has its own human “host” which it uses to navigate Earth and live a human lifestyle. The aliens do not change anything about the planet they inhabit; instead they “perfect it”. After the aliens invade on Earth there is no war, no hunger, and peace for all. Even with the seemingly “good” changes brought by the aliens, it becomes clear that humanity will not surrender their planet without a fight.

The book is told through the point of view of Wanderer, an alien “soul” who is later nicknamed “Wanda,” She takes residence in Melanie Stryder’s human body after Melanie is caught being part of the human resistance. Wanda is tasked by the Seeker to extract Melanie’s memories and reveal where the human resistance is hiding. To Wanda and the Seeker’s surprise, Melanie is still active and can talk to Wanda through their shared consciousness and occasionally take control over her own body again without Wanda’s permission. Melanie and Wanda fight for control over the same body while Wanda fights with herself to choose what is morally right: revealing the human resistance or helping them.

A small difference between the movie and the book occurs when the narrator tells the audience about Melanie’s background. The movie does a short flashback memory of Melanie and explains that she grew up in Louisiana with her brother, Jamie. The flashback shows that their father committed suicide when the Seekers came to invade them. The movie explains that she has been on the run ever since then. The book, however, explains that Melanie “was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico” and “was in Los Angeles when the [invasion] became known to her” (28). The reason for this change in the book-to-movie adaptation is unclear. It does not impact the story later on in either the book or the movie. In the movie Melanie does have a slight southern accent, which could have been explained with her novel origin in Albuquerque as well as her movie origin in Louisiana.

The first movie visual and novel imagery conflict the audience sees is the appearance of the Seeker. In the novel, the seeker “wore black from chin to wrists” (24) and “her hair was black, too” (25). In the movie, the Seeker is dressed in all white clothing and has blonde hair and blue/grey eyes. This was a necessary and intelligent change by the movie producers. The book is able to describe the Seeker’s aggression and attitude in her tendencies and expressions. The movie is unable to do this, so instead she is portrayed with an aggressive appearance so that the audience will still get the same impression of her as they do in the book. The movie producers did not make this change unnecessarily and that helped the success of the transition from novel to movie.

The largest difference between the book and the movie The Host is the loss of dialogue within the first scene. The first four chapters in the novel equates to about nine minutes in the film. The book is extremely lengthy, with 60 chapters spread over 600 pages. It is completely understandable that the movie producers had to cut out the less important dialogue in many places; otherwise the movie would have been too long. The dialogue happens between the Healer, the man in charge of transplanting Wanda into Melanie’s body, and the Seeker, the woman who caught Melanie. Much of their conversation explains Wanda’s background and information about the other planets that their alien species has inhabited. The dialogue enhances the depth of the story, but is not necessary in the movie because of the movie’s stunning visuals during this scene. The movie version shows Wanda in her pure form, before she is placed into Melanie’s body. The visuals make up for the lack of dialogue.

There are many subtle changes in the book-to-movie adaptations. It can be an extremely daunting task for a filmmaker to convert a book into a movie. Certain details have to be cut out of a film in order to meet time restraints. The makers of the movie The Host, a movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s adult science fiction novel did a spectacular job. They were able to keep the main storyline intact while altering scenes to better the progression of the story. The Host is a must-watch movie and a must-read book.

Works Cited

1. Meyer, S. (2008). The Host. Little, Brown, and Company.
2. Weitz, C. (Director). (2013). The Host [Motion picture]. Open Road Films.
3. Schottenfeld, R. (2014). Transformations: From Book to Film. The ALAN Review, 42(3), 84-91.
4. Robinson, J. (2011). Adaptation and the book-to-film industry: Frankenstein and the legacy of the Universal Pictures adaptations. Adaptation, 4(3), 242-254. doi:10.1093/adaptation/apr024
5. Stam, R., & Raengo, A. (2005). Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Blackwell Publishing.
6. Cartmell, D., & Whelehan, I. (Eds.). (1999). Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text. Routledge.
7. Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge.
8. Naremore, J. (2000). Film Adaptation. Rutgers University Press.
9. Ryan, M., & Kellner, D. (Eds.). (2009). Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film. Indiana University Press.
10. Corrigan, T. (2012). The Film Experience: An Introduction. Bedford/St. Martin's.