I would like to point out I really enjoyed the chandelier/flashlight example today. It gives almost a perfect concept of watching an adaptation. You are only getting fragments of the original. Some people need to realize the difficulty in crossing mediums. Each has their limitations and advantages. Film is able to attract a larger audience and is easier to remember. But the industry is dependent on technology. Books generally have a harder time selling and the details require a bit more concentration than films. But a books imagination can far surpass that of a film. Everyone makes a book their own. They see and hear characters whatever way they want.
My point is that comparing a film to a book is unfair to the filmmaker and the novelist. The “faithfulness” of the 1949 film version of Little Women would require many class periods to discuss and opinions would rarely be changed. It’s almost like we’re comparing the film to our personal judgement of the book, rather than the book itself. Let me clarify by referring to the “beautiful woman” problem brought up in class. If Renoir didn’t give us a character that said the woman was beautiful, the audience would be left to decide whether she was or not. If people found she wasn’t, they would feel justified in saying Renoir was unfaithful to the novel.
Writing about adaptations is a tricky business that I take very seriously, especially novel-to-film adaptations. You cannot be close-minded when doing so. You must take in the limitations put on both mediums and then make up your mind about the fidelity of the film to the novel. People will read a novel differently than you, especially if they live in different time periods.