Movies & Books

So, a REALLY long time ago I presented my opinion about movies based on books. This is an extension to that opinion. People get frustrated when they watch a movie based on a book, because they feel that it is not as good as the book was. Sometimes that is true, and sometimes it is just different (see the opinion “Movies Based On Books” for details).

Knowing this stuff, is there anything that can minimize the disappointment? Well I think there is. I really prefer to watch the movie first if I have a choice in the matter. When Hollywood makes a movie, there is often a formula that they try to follow. When they adapt a book to a movie, they try to enhance parts of the movie to make the movie follow the formula a bit better. Hollywood knows that the formula fills the seats in the theater. I like to watch the movie, get all excited because of the action and special effects (and sometimes the hot babes). I then leave the theater in a good mood because I watched an exciting movie. I then pick up the book and read it. The book fills in more details on the plot, characters, etc. It enhances the story I already am sort of familiar with from the movie. I read the story and think, “wow, that was good". The book has no trouble living up to the movie (because it is invariably better due to the detail), so I don’t feel let down.

I guess what I am saying is that reading the book after I watch the movie, I get to enjoy the story twice, where-as doing it the other way around, the movie won’t live up to the book, so I wasted $10. (notwithstanding the point I made in the other opinion about separating the two so that I don’t get disappointed).

Addendum. Someone said to me that this opinion means that the movie experience is more important to me than the book experience. Although I see her point, I don’t agree with it. Obviously, my opinion won’t work in every case, because sometimes there is some real suspense and mystery involved where one would spoil the other. Most of the time, the books that are turned into movies do not fall into that category. I read a LOT of books, and most of them do not get made into movies.

Another addendum. When watching a movie, you get to see what the characters and the sets look like. When you then read the book, those bits that would have required your imagination are already taken care of, so you are reading the book with someone else’s idea of what things are supposed to look like. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it is bad if the movie gets it really different from how the author describes it. Mind you, that would be a problem if you read the book first as well. (Please refer to the opinion “Movies Based On Books” if you find yourself in this situation). On the other hand, I usually don’t find this issue to be a problem. I would have come up with someone’s features on my own anyway. One face is as good as another where the story is concerned. The stories I am interested in have nothing to do with what a person looks like.