If it's a good work of adaptation, the book should remain a book and the film should remain a film, and you should not necessarily read the book to see the film. If you do need that, then that means that it's a failure. That is what I think.
Interpretation
A successful adaptation keeps the essence of both the book and the film distinct.
In this quote, Marjane Satrapi suggests that a good adaptation of a literary work into film should respect the integrity of both forms. The film should stand on its own merits, allowing audiences to enjoy it without prior knowledge of the book; if viewers must read the book to appreciate the film, then the adaptation has failed in its purpose.
In practice
During a discussion on literary adaptations in a film studies class.
It is dangerous when you start calling people from one part of the world terrorists or fanatic, and you reduce them to some abstract notion. If evil has a geographical place, and if the evil has a name, that is the beginning of fascism. Real life is not this way. You have fanatics and narrow-minded people everywhere.
I'm not a politician. I don't know how to solve the problems of the world. But as an artist, I have one duty: to ask questions.
I'm not a politician because I'm an artist. Politicians have a very easy answer for a very complicated question. I have a very complicated question for what you consider very easy situations.
For me, drawing is a question of death and life. Every day I draw, I write, I do something.
My mother always told me I had to do 100 times better than a man. I had to work hard at maths, and learn four languages.
The best thing I ever did in my life was to ask, 'Do I like everybody?' And the answer was, 'No.' So why should everybody like me? If people are against me, so what? I'm against them too.
The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering.
I don't like records that are the same from beginning to end, that are too styled and slick. Everything is so designed and airbrushed and Botoxed, it makes us think, 'Oh, everybody's perfect except me. Everything's smooth except me.' But nothing is smooth.
I love to see actors' work. I love to surf channels late at night and accidentally run into movies I hadn't seen before. It makes me very proud of the profession.
In fact, most artists want to make things a bit more difficult for themselves as they go along, to challenge themselves.
The newspaper is, in fact, very bad for one's prose style. That's why I gravitated towards feature stories where you get a little more leeway in the writing style.
I've never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.
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