Why SH5 Should Never be Adapted into Film - Milan, OWA3

It has been tried before. The word on the street is that the movie doesn't perform as well as it could have what the novel intended. Is this coincidence? Or is it actually a result of the fact that the book was never written to be adapted into the forms that modern film take today?

The truth is, when Vonnegut finished writing SH5, his intention was not to create an entertaining novel, per se, but rather to make a point. His elimination of suspense throughout the story (by revealing events prematurely) and lack of character development in Billy (creating a character that cannot be sympathised with) results in a novel that lacks the fundamentals for a movie with which people can enjoy. Granted, it can be said that these forms of writing were employed in order to create more focus on the messages in the novel. However, the results of which create a novel that is not appealing to the general public.

Getting the themes and points of SH5 across in a movie as effectively as the novel (arguably) does, would involve changing the storyline in order to make Billy a relatable character. I believe that doing so takes away from what makes Vonnegut's book unique; it would take away the essence of the story in order to make it a Hollywood hit. If you turn an orange blue, it's no longer an orange.

But, if we were to assume that a film would not attempt to make the movie in the form of how many movies are made today (to make money), then it would be possible for the novel to be re-written for a screenplay. Indeed, doing so would be risking thousands of dollars on the notion that the movie would sell as well as the novel. Not doing so, I believe, would discredit the principles that the novel was written upon.

In addition, the movie can be loosely based upon SH5 in such a way that the fundamental themes are still represented. They can be shown in such a way that they are intriguing and encourage any watchers of the film to create their own opinions of the subject matter within the film. If they are interested enough, they may even delve into the novel itself when previously they may never have given the notion a passing thought. In this way, the novel can be used to slightly simplify the messages from SH5 to make them more appealing and thus draw more people in to the enlightenment that Vonnegut was hoping to achieve.

In short, SH5 cannot be taken lightly. Reformatting it into a movie that can make money on its own should not be the attempt of any film director: the novel, as it stands, is not made for such transformations. A direct screenplay of the novel would be possible, but would risk in the loss of thousands of dollars and man-hours from its creation. As I said above, a movie that is perhaps somewhat based on the themes from the novel may prove to be more plausible. Quite simply, Vonnegut's eye-opening piece literature should be given the same credit in its film adaptation. Anything less would result in the dishonour, not only to Vonnegut, but to all the readers of the novel who have taken from it as much as they could.