George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman criticize the lack of fidelity in the adaptations

George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman are two authors who specialize in adaptations of their literary works for television. Martin experienced how his saga “A Song of Ice and Fire” was adapted, which gave rise to the HBO series “Game of Thrones” and, most recently, the adaptation of his book “Fire and Blood. “to create the” House of the Dragon “series. For his part, Gaiman recently participated in the adaptation of his comic series, ‘Sandman’, a project recently released by Netflix, but other novels by him have also been adapted for television such as ‘Good Omens’ or ‘American Gods’ ‘. Recently, both authors gave a speech at Symphony Space in New York and complained of unfaithful adaptations to the source material.

This conversation was published by Variety, a speech in which the two authors agreed on the degree of fidelity that should be maintained in the television adaptations. Martin said the “duty of fidelity to written material” It is a theme “controversial” in Hollywood. “How faithful do you have to be? Some people feel they don’t have to be faithful at all. There’s a phrase that goes around: ‘I’ll make it mine.’ I hate that phrase. And I think Neil probably hates it too.” reflects the author of “Fire and Blood”. Gaiman said he hated such a claim: “I’ve spent 30 years watching people make Sandman on their own. And some of them didn’t even read Sandman to do it, they just flipped through some comics or something.”Gaiman explained.

Despite the negative criticisms leveled by the authors regarding the literary adaptations for television, it seems that both are satisfied with their projects. The author of “American Gods” assured that it was a “pleasure” to be able to make ‘Sandman’ for Netflix, and Martin encouraged the author by shouting to the audience: “We want the second season!”

On the other hand, the writer of “Game of Thrones” made it clear that there are necessary changes in the adaptations: “There are changes you need to make, or they ask you to make, that I think are legitimate. And there are others that aren’t.”. To exemplify this reflection, the author mentioned the adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s fantasy story, “The Last Defender of Camelot”, for an episode of “The Twilight Zone”, and how budget restrictions forced him to choose. between having horses or an elaborate scenario “This, in my opinion, is the kind of thing you’re asked to do in Hollywood and it’s legitimate.”. Additionally, Martin said CBS forced him to include a “ordinary person” who joins the protagonists in one of the episodes to appeal to a “high concept”and said this was indeed a change “illegitimate”: “I was new to Hollywood … I didn’t say, ‘You’re fucked up, assholes'”He explained.

Impossible in the adaptations

Books are ideal for developing the imagination and describing and daydreaming of the impossible. Cinema is also a perfect medium for the imagination, but it cannot reach the places where literature arrives, since in the seventh art one must have elements such as the budget, which are decisive for the realization of film projects. Therefore, not everything written in a book can be reflected on the big screen as an adaptation.

To explain this Martin gave an excellent example, that of the Game of Thrones. “Why isn’t Game of Thrones in Game of Thrones like the one described in the books? Why isn’t it 15 feet tall and made up of 10,000 swords? Because our studio ceiling wasn’t 15 feet high! We didn’t fit in there and they weren’t willing to give us St. Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey to shoot our little show, “said the author with a laugh.