Friday, August 5, 2011

Which is Better: The Book or The Movie?

We recently read The Hunger Games in class and during the discussion someone mentioned that they were now making it into a movie. It got me thinking about all the other books that had been made into movies, and whether or not I liked the movie after reading the book. I feel as though I am always disappointed by the movies that are based off books I have read, especially when what happens in the movie is different from what happens in the book. One example of this is The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I absolutely loved the book, and while I liked most of the movie, they added some things in, that weren’t in the book, that kind of ruined it for me. For example, in the movie, there are many parts where the main characters Noah and Allie are old and living in a nursing home. Many of these parts aren’t in the book, but they put them in the movie. I didn’t really like these parts, and it made me not like the movie as much.

There have also been movies that I have refused to see because I liked the book so much and knew that the movie could never live up to it. One such book/movie is Dear John. I really liked the book but I couldn’t bring myself to go see the movie. While reading the book, I got a certain picture in my head about things such as what the characters look like, but I didn’t think that some the actors lived up to that. As a result, I refused to see the movie.

Has anyone else had these experiences? Or do you find that movies made from books are as good, if not better, than the books they are based off?

8 comments:

  1. My dad always said that the book is always better than the book except for Jaws. So since this was ingrained in my mind when I was young I always believed that and still do. I have found that when I see a movie first and then read the book then I don't mind the changes made as much, but reading the book first and then watching the movie, I am upset at the changes. Even though I read the Harry Potter books before the movies I don't mind most of the changes they made, with the exception of the 6th movie. Gone with the Wind I saw the movie before I read the book and even though the book is so much better, the movie is still good. So I think that it really just depends on the particular book and movie, but when it comes down to it books are generally better.

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  2. Hollywood always taints a great storyline from a book, always. I never liked a book and the movie. I believe if your read the book first, you create certain expectations and imagery. Then when you watch the movie it does not match what you thought it would be like, they you hate the movie and rather stick to the book (and your imagination). I noticed that if i watch the movie first then i read the book, i tend to like both (odd right?). The movie gives us one perspective and the book broadens it (and we have the freedom of our imagination). So to us it is just an improvement from movie to book but a disappointment from book to movie.

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  3. I agree with all of you that the book is always better that the movie (except Holes, the movie was great, but I think it stayed very true to the book, which is why it was great.)I read an article in which a director claimed that movie versions of books are different because readers have already experienced the book and want a new experience in the theater. I completely disagree with this! If I read a book and decide to see the movie version at the theater, I want to see the book. I read the Twilight books and saw the movies and I was happy that the movies stayed true to the original text. I also read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccult, but I REFUSED to see the movie when I heard that they completely changed the ending. SPOILER ALERT: They killed the other sister in the movie. The ending of the book was sad, but it was wonderfully ironic and changing it would have ruined it for me. I think that if someone wants to make a book into a movie, they have an obligation to stay true to the major elements of the original version.

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  4. Definitely, movies are horrible misrepresentations of books half of the time. I think that is why J.K. Rowling wanted so much control over the movies because she didn't want them to taint her world. Though, I still think the version in my head was better than some of the movies, the plot lines stayed fairly true to the book. It just irks me though when they change even one little detail because to me it is altering something special about the story itself. For instance, in some of the later Harry Potter movies they stopped putting them in uniforms and had them looking like they came out of Abercrombie or something. That totally threw me off, I hated the movie because of that tiny detail, it was just now how it should have been to me. I can say that in every movie I watch that is made from a book the more they steer away from the story the less you will like it if you've read the book. It seems an unfair standard to uphold Hollywood too though because anything or anyone that goes their is usually changed for the worse, it's almost like they can't help it.

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  5. I think the book is always better. The book allows for so much more detail and allows for you to almost create relationships with the characters. You spend more time (usually) reading the book than you do watching the movie so you really find yourself captivated by it. I hate it when I read a book and create the world in my mind and have it set that that's how it is, then I watch the movie and it's nothing like that. It also really bugs me when I pick up on all the little things that were left out of the movie. The most recent book I read before watching the movie was the Twilight series. The books are decently long, and so many of the small details are left out of the films, but when you add it all up, it just doesn't make for as great of a story. The one thing that I did enjoy, however, was that I saw the first Twilight movie before reading any of the books and then proceeded to read them all, so I had an image in my mind (somewhat) of what their world looked like. This helped me to envision a somewhat accurate portrayal and eliminated some disappointment during the movies.

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  6. I agree with what everyone has been saying, the books are ALWAYS better than the movie. I can think of so many movies off the top of my head that just left me extremely disappointed, such as, The Notebook, Dear John, The Last Song, Sisterhood of the Traveling pants, and so on. Like Kathleen mentioned, whenever I read a book I get this image in my head of what I think the characters would look like. I read the entire book thinking of the character as the person I created in my head, then I go and see the movie and i'm just left disappointed when the characters aren't the same. Not only do the characters turn out different than I expect them to, some of my favorite parts in the books don't make the cut into the movie...which is the biggest let down of all.

    There have been instances where I watch the movie than decide to read the book because of how much I loved the movie. For example, Twilight. I was obsessed with the first movie and knew there was no way I could not read the books. While I loved the movie, reading the book, in my opinion, was so much better. I do agree with the Katherine that the story line stayed the same, however I feel like the movie lacked emotion. I think it was in the second book/movie (they all blend together now), in which Edward leaves Bella. There was a large section of the book that talked about how for months Bella was depressed, it went in depth about how she was feeling and really made you understand her pain. While the movie did a horrible job of displaying the emotion, it literally showed Bella sitting on a chair while it flashed the words of the different months about her head. It did the book no justice.

    After reading Hunger Games and liking it as much as I did, I think it's a better idea not to see the movie. I already looked up the actors/actresses that would be playing the roles of Katniss, Peeta, Prim, etc...and was extremely disappointed with the cast. Maybe the movie will surprise everyone and end up being really good, but I don't think i'll be taking my chances and possibly ruining how much I enjoyed the book.

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  7. Unless its a book for class I already know I'm going to somehow see myself in the novel, so I have always thought that books were better than movies. Children can expand their imaginations so far when they read books. A movie is already imagined for you. So its very hard for your imagination to go anywhere.

    A funny thing that I thought about when I read this was the fact that someone used the example of Twilight. The casting director said they chose the girl they did was because she was so plain and bland that girls could take her out of the picture and put themselves in the movie. So girls can if their imagination lets them put their selves in Bella's shoes. But is that good enough?

    I don't think so but to each his own. I guess I'm "Team Books are Better".

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  8. I find that I am usually disappointed by the movies too. I recently started reading the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid book after seeing the movie earlier in the summer. It is a graphic novel so it has much less words but I feel like I can see the movie in my head as I’m reading it. I think it is better in this direction, movie before the book, because if you read the book first then you are disappointed when not all of the details are included in the movie. I was looking at the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series in the audiobook section of the library and they are between five and ten hours long. To make a movie out of a book it can be shorter because a lot of the descriptive language is just shown in the set and the characters but also they take parts of the plot out. I personally like having to create the setting in my mind rather than see it in a movie because I always interpret it differently than the movie portrays it. I like having that readers can imagine the story how they would like when reading a book. So, I tend to like books after I’ve seen the movie and sometimes movies even spur my interest to read the corresponding book because I can get more detailed story.

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