"Oh, you liked the movie? Well the Book is so much better?"
How many times have we heard those words, or better yet said those words. I cannot think of a book that I've read, where I thought the movie was better. Yet this doesn't stop us from watching the movie of our recent reads of even old favorites. Why I saw a commercial just the other day for the movie version of Secret Life of Bees and couldn't wait for the time to see it. So what is it about the movie that makes us want to watch it when we almost always come out saying the book was better?
My guess is that while reading a book our mind creates its own "movie" of the events. We picture the setting and characters and read the book with that image in our minds. Then the movie comes out and the characters are not who we pictured them to be. They look weird and talk funny and go to different places then we imagined. Although its interesting to "see" the book as someone else imagined it, it also is a little disappointing to lose your vision of the story. At the same time its fun, to discuss how you imagined it differently and even point out differences with the story itself.
The book may be better, but the movie is just as fun!
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3 comments:
I think this post is very interesting. We do hear those words a lot! The first thing I thought about was the Harry Potter movies/books. I never read all the books but I know a lot of people that have read the series. They all say that the books are so much better.
From a person that hasn't read the books, I couldn't tell you. I do think that both are different though. I think that you can't go into the movie expecting it to be exactly like the book. They are two different medium's so they are most likely going to be presented differently. I think it's fun to see the differences rather than recognizing all of the faults the movies have because they're different from the books. I appreciate the hard work the author put into the book as well as all of the actors in the movies.
From someone who has read (most of) the Harry Potter books: several parts from the book are left out and details can be misconstrued. I do, however, feel that the Harry Potter movies did well in capturing the most important (and definitely most Hollywood appreciated) parts from the books and putting them in the films.
Since reading Shakespeare is extremely difficult for me, seeing clips from the movie helps me better understand the emotion of the characters and what they are really saying.
Jenny and Maria
I agree with both of you! I have found that while reading Shakespeare in particular, seeing the movie version has always helped me to understand the play. I always think back to 8th grade when I had to read Midsummer Nights Dream. I was so utterly confused as to who loved who/who tricked who that the movie version was very helpful! I have also found that in reading Shakespeare I am never able to feel the emotion through their language. The movie versions allow me to actually feel and see the characters emotion. They are super helpful when it comes to Shakespeare!
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