It is extremely common, especially this year with books such as “Divergent,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” for Hollywood to take novels and convert them to the big screen.  This is an interesting practice that exposes the author’s work to a larger audience and provides a visual interpretation of the written word. With modern-day special effects, creating a believable portrayal of the author’s work has become more and more possible, especially in relation to fantasy or science fiction novels. Of course, with the transition comes a certain amount of creative leeway, but Hollywood producers are now going too far.

It is reasonable to cut material from a book; otherwise, most movies would be around three hours long. However, if scenes are already being cut, new ones should not be added in. It is all too common to find new material added into movies for no discernible purpose, and it is unfair to the authors of the books. The purpose of turning a novel into a movie is to recreate the world that the author has imagined, and to avoid having to write an original screenplay. Both of these would imply that the goal would be to avoid adding new material, and to instead work with what the author has provided, and cut some scenes if necessary.