Next week, “The Great Gatsby” comes out in theaters. This movie is a remake of an older movie that is based on the classic book. Going off the preview, it looks like the main point of this movie will be to impress the audience with Gatsby’s over-the-top parties and not the actual plot of the book.

As a self-admitted bookworm, I think making any book into a movie is risky business, especially classic books such as “The Great Gatsby.” I don’t think I will ever be completely happy with seeing a movie based on a book. I usually try to read the book first and am always disappointed. I think it is because I get way more attached to characters in the book. It takes me longer to get through the book than to see the movie, and I don’t think the movie ever does the characters the justice that they deserve. Sometimes the character in the book that I have an image of in my head is not the same person portrayed on the big screen, and that is where my disappointment begins. Unless the movie matches the world I have created in my mind, I will not be satisfied.

It’s not that all movies based on books are completely horrible and not worth seeing (for example: “Water For Elephants” wasn’t too bad of a movie). It’s that this type of movie is very hard to “do right.” They cater to a specific audience (people who love to read and students who don’t want to read the book), and it’s hard to fit everything in. By nature, these people (the people who like to read anyway) are going to be disappointed, because no matter how hard Hollywood tries, they will never be able to top the worlds bookworms can create in their heads.

Hollywood is using book series to meet their needs for more stories and bigger productions. It seems every movie has a sequel now, and too frequently, they are making more movies than there are books in the series. This is unnecessary. Everybody should know then ending and if the company has the money to make a long movie, they should. Splitting up the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” books into more movies seemed unnecessary to me. In the last installment of each series, it seemed Hollywood was trying to show off all their fancy special effects. It seemed they were saying, “We recreated one of your favorite stories given to us by one of your favorite authors; now let us show you what we can do.” It’s obnoxious. Aren’t there writers in Hollywood who can come up with some original ideas?

I will go see “The Great Gatsby” because it is one of my favorite books. I have read it more than a few times, and I am sure I will pick it up a few more times in the future. I hope this movie is done well and not all about Hollywood trying to impress me. If you haven’t read the book and plan on seeing the movie, my recommendation to you is to go back and read the book some time. It’s well-written and it’s short, so it won’t take too long. If you want to talk about the plot and how great it is, then this is the best thing for you to do.

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Hannah Dankbar is a senior in political science and Spanish from Johnston, Iowa.