The Reddit interview of "The Giver" author Lois Lowry, expressed her insight about the book's movie adaptation. The movie adaptation of "The Giver", a book which won the Newbery Medal for YA novel, took years in the making, but Lowry bluntly pointed out the changes she's observed.
She said that "one major problem of YA lit. is that they want to make romance a central theme." There was no romance in the book. However, romance, or relationships will always be a key ingredient in the lives of adolescents, thus the presence of the element in the movie.
She added, "To a degree, she feels it was an obligation to affirm the power of young people; to consider their wish (and mine) to repair a very troubled world...and to present the fact that that is possible, for them."
When asked if she was involved in writing the screen version of "The Giver," Lowry mentioned that among her favorite movie book adaptations, only a few authors were actually involved in preparing the screenplay and that status remained for her book.
She continued, "I was given full access but no power. In other words, I read the script, watched the filming, sat in on the editing...and they often sought my advice. And sometimes they acted on my advice; but otherwise, they graciously respected my opinion."
One Reddit user mentioned that "The Giver" was banned from her school's curriculum when she was in 6th grade because parents found the bath scene too raw. The author was asked how she reacted to people who are trying to censor or ban her works, and whether this censorship would become an issue that could change how people write or affect literature.
Lowry said that the bath scene was not lewd; in fact she loved it and considered the part very poignant. But she had no hand in telling the filmmaker how to present the scene without offending parents.
She explained, "Of course the threat of censorship is always looming, a dark cloud hanging there, when a writer, particularly a writer for young people, writes. It DOES change the process, I'm afraid. If a book can't be published...or is published but banned from a school or library...then it is useless."
She was also asked what she thought of the movie adaptation of the book and whether the film did it justice. Lowry's answer summed it all.
"There were things I loved about it and things I ...well, didn't hate. But did not love. That's inevitable. A movie can't be the same as a book. And a film can't get inside the head of the protagonist. 'The Giver' was an introspective book. But the movie had to create action, not thoughts and walks a thin and precarious line," she said.