13 Classic Movies Based On Banned Books

The banning of books has long been criticized, yet people still think seem to think that it's a good idea. You'll notice that some of the bans on this list are from within the last five or 10 years even.

Yet, some filmmakers decide to fight back to the criticism being thrown at the novel. They'll make films as equally racy, violent, or challenging as the books they're based on, which then often also receive backlash from the same group of folks. However, that group is usually fairly small when compared to the entire world - so most of the films made from the banned books on this list did quite well at the box office.

To catch more movies based off of banned books, go here:

#bannedbooks #movies #weirdhistory

[Killem-Dafoe]

A person can decide that they don't want to read a certain book.

They can decide that they don't want their child to read that book.

But they can't decide that an entire school or entire town can't read that book.

[MadameWesker]

Literature is a safe place to process hard truths.

[munchcat]

To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies were both required reading at my school. We also watched the film for both after reading each book.

TKaM is still one of my favorites from school and i made sure to grab a copy when i saw it in a used bookstore. Gregory Peck is still an incredible Atticus <3

[markedis]

Fahrenheit 451 is feeling left out as are Lolita, 1984, Catch 22, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and many many more.

[lloydwilliams]

I find it interesting that Gloria Steinem found the book of American Psycho misogynistic only for her own step-son to play the main character in the film version.

[miamimercenary]

Kinda crazy that ppl try to ban books based on things that actually happen. Women menstruate and teenagers have sex, why is that ban worthy? You can see a story about murder or incest on the news but can’t read it in a book?? That’s a bit ridiculous

[missdeejay]

You forgot to mention one ironic fact about American Psycho: though Gloria Steinem called for the book to be banned, ironically, her stepson, Christian Bale, played the main character in the movie. Yep. Christian Bale is Gloria Steinem's stepson.

[roberthofmann]

The way he says "the pig's blood prom scene" so cheerily 😂

[johnmartinsen]

1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Color Purple
3. Lord of the Flies
4. Carrie
5. Slaughterhouse-Five
6. Sophie's Choice
7. Gone With the Wind
8. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. American Psycho
11. Brokeback Mountain
12. The Kite Runner
13. A Wrinkle in Time

[MattTheDreamer]

To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic…the movie and the book.

[Rick_King]

I have absolutely no problem with prisons banning certain books from their libraries. I have some problem with schools banning books. But for the general public, anything written should be available to any adult wishing to read it.

Except, maybe, books on how to build bombs and the like.

[tremorsfan]

Utah briefly banned the bible from schools because it fit the state's definition of books that should be banned.

[OkieOtaku]

I remember when the Brokeback Mountain movie came out, it started a stereotype in my high school that cowboys were gay for whatever reason 😂 Funny part is back then, my town was still pretty big in livestock, so there were a LOT of cowboys, or children of cowboys, ranch hands, and farmers in the high school

[QueenetBowie]

Most of these are absurd to ban in schools but I can see the arguments about A Clock Work Orange and American Psycho. If you haven’t read them, the films look like TV-G compared to the actual books. I remember having to actually stop for a few seconds at times in American Psycho and just wait for a few seconds before going on because certain moments were beyond f***ed up.

[thehangmansdaughter]

Half of these books were on the required reading list at my New Zealand high school. Americans are weird about books, seeing difficult stories as some kind of threat rather than a social good.

[bw]

If someone tells you a book should be banned, immediately read the shit out of it.

Read [REDACTED]

[kimberlyhogan]

Clever narrator.
RIP Robert Muldoon! 🎉 whoop whoop!
Thanks for that addition I appreciated that.

[btetschner]

4:45 "Slaughterhouse-Five" was the subject of a significant scene in the film Footloose.

[Quinn-Harrison]

I think books with any kind sexual abuse in the plot shouldn't be a mandatory read in high schools. An option? Sure! Sadly, a lot of young women get abused in their teen years and books like these are extremely hard to read when you're going through the emotional roller coaster of growing up on top of having a reminder of your abuse plastered in front of your face for weeks. It feels horrible to go through!

[JohnnyAngel]

I've always loved Remington's painting, "The Fall of the Cowboy", shown during the "Brokeback Mountain" part. I saw it at the New York Metropolitan Museum when it visited sometime in the 1980s.