Raindrops patter against your window. You’re in your living room, curled up on the couch reading “The Hidden Staircase.” Nancy is seconds away from revealing the secret behind the wall and unraveling the mystery. She pulls back the curtain and sees–

  Since its release in 1930, the book “The Hidden Staircase” has inspired young girls to “pull back the curtain” and be curious, confident and passionate. My childhood dream was to become a world famous detective like Nancy Drew.

    After almost 90 years since its publication, the story has been adapted for the big screen. The movie,“Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” takes a modern approach to Nancy’s character. Sophia Lillis, famous for her acting in the 2017 movie “It,” plays the role of 16-year-old Nancy.

         The movie was released mid-March and brought back nostalgic memories for many. Unfortunately, rather than improving the story, the on-screen Nancy loses her original charm and vivacity.    

    The movie starts with a scene of Nancy Drew skateboarding down the streets of her suburban hometown, River Heights. Nancy and her two best friends, Bess and George, get together to talk. When Nancy hears that Bess is being bullied by a school jock, she rigs a showerhead in the boys’ locker room. But this is not true to the Nancy of the novel.  The original Nancy would have done the right thing and talked it out with the school jock instead of pulling a cruel prank.

    As punishment for her prank, the Sheriff tasks her with community service. Nancy is to help an eccentric, elderly woman Flora, who lives in a mansion that Flora believes is haunted.

    Nancy, with a brain for puzzles and games, gets intrigued and starts investigating. After poking around, she finds a secret lever in Flora’s bookcase that reveals a hidden staircase.

    One key difference between the book and the movie is that Nancy is portrayed as more of an everyday teenager — pulling pranks, getting caught and even being sentenced to community service.

    This is different from the books where Nancy was seen as an exceptionally good student who never got into trouble at school. This change was made to interest today’s teenagers, who enjoy movies with strong, rebellious main characters.

    “[The movie] was really good with the plot and all but I feel like it took away from the book series,” sophomore Vonesha Shaik said. “They were like two whole different things and I didn’t really like that.”

    People have strong opinions of what medium is better: book or movie. Before the movie came out, when I asked whether or not students would actually watch the movie, there were a variety of responses.

    “I feel like the books would be better because there is more descriptive details that the audience may not be able to feel when they are watching the movie,” said Melissa Liu, a freshman at South who remembers reading the series as a kid. “But there is also the creepy background music for an audio effect that the audience can’t get while reading, so I’m open to watching it.”

    While the use of music in the movie was effective, the noticeable difference in Nancy’s personality between the book and the movie still caught my attention and the attention of other students, who were worried that the movie would be different from the book that they remember growing up with.   

    “Overall I’m excited [and] I would love to see it,” said Akshata Padalkar, a sophomore at South. “[But] if the production isn’t good and if they mess up the plot then I will not enjoy it.” Books that we think about fondly are often ruined because the movie completely changed the original plot.

    Another example of this is the Harry Potter series. Important characters in the books were left out of the movies. Unfortunately, this was exactly the issue with the new Nancy Drew movie. The movie did not match up with the books.

    While it may not be relatable to this generation because of the changes in mindset towards women, the innocent, determined character of Nancy from the 1930 book was the reason I admired her for her strength. During a decade where women were expected to be docile and submissive, the voice of a young female teenager pursuing her dream and standing up against all odds was a breath of fresh air.

    The movie made the original story relevant to today’s teenagers, but the onscreen version of Nancy lacks the wit and charm of the original.

     My recommendation?  Read the book.