For years young adult novels of a certain genre have enjoyed their time being adapted. The last few decades have seen wizards and vampires take center stage, but now the everyday teen and their struggles are on the rise starting with The Fault in Our Stars.
Vampires definitely had their day in the sun – or the overcast Northwest – and dystopians are still showing us a pretty bleak future, but what about the here and now? In the 80’s John Hughes created movies about real teens and what it felt like to experience things for the first time. The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Some Kind of Wonderful were just a few of the films that defined a generation and were realistic to teens.
So far the closest this generation has come to Hughes’ movie is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It was released in 1999 and 13 years later it was adapted by Chbosky for the big screen. Perks opened the door to the contemporary novel adaptation and studios have seen the benefits of choosing something a little different.
While there is certainly no shortage of books representing this theme there are definitely not film adaptations of these types of books. Adaptations are reserved for the dystopian and paranormal love stories that seemed to take over the young adult reading world, but 2014 looks to bring a change to the types of adaptations being made.
The Fault in Our Stars has been so buzzed about pre-release that one of Green’s other novels, Paper Towns, has also been optioned. Shortly following that announcement from FOX, Dreamworks made its own announcement. They have optioned the hugely popular and critically acclaimed Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. As a bonus, and much to the relief of fans everywhere, Rowell will actually be adapting the screenplay herself. Yes, this book is set in the 80’s making it not quite contemporary, but it is realistic which is kind of the point.
With The Fault in Our Stars set for release in June and If I Stay set for release in August the future is promising for this genre to be adapted more often. There is certainly no shortage of material available and the quality of writing is stellar. For studios, the beauty of adapting contemporary novels is the drastic difference in budget.
Check back tomorrow for our list of contemporary novels we want to see adapted.