Dazzled by Books

Books vs. Movies or Movies vs. Books has been on my mind for a while now. Some of the biggest discussion that I have been a part of is whether a movie is as good as the book or if the book is worth reading when you can watch the movie. Then there are so many factors that go into why to choose a book over a movie or why to choose a movie over a book.

People ask me all the time why I read a book rather than watching the movie or why do I feel like I need to read the book before I see the movie. The reason is simple. I want to experience the original work first. There is too many times that things are changed, I want to know the original story so that I could make my fair opinion.

There are so many times that people prefer to watch the movie over reading the book because they don't want to have to put the effort in to actually picking up a story to read. Granted I can't say I don't understand why people feel that way. Who wants to put hours and hours in to reading a book when you could just want a movie in two hours or less.

There have been book to movies that have been successful and ones that haven't been. "Series of Unfortunate Events" that was a pretty good book series, but it made a terrible movie. Part of that was because people changed the story up way too much. "The Hunger Games" went over well. I thought "The Hunger Games" was a great adaptation. Then you have tv shows. "The Lying Game" was an okay adaptation. "Bones" was a great adaptation. What happens when the movie or tv show is much better than the book?

"The 100" is a great example of how the tv show is way better than the book. I was really disappointed in the book "The 100," but the tv show is so addicting though. Look at "Pretty Little Liars." "Pretty Little Liars" is a very successful book series and tv show. I have to say that I read the first eight books of the series and I really liked the idea but I think the way the story was executed was terrible. I really didn't like it. Once I saw the tv show...I was hooked. "Pretty Little Liars" is an amazing tv show and well it has surpassed the books. I could watch "The 100" and "Pretty Little Liars" all day long and still never get enough but reading those books. Goodness. I really don't see how those books do as well as they do. The tv show is amazing.

One of the other reasons I think people choose tv shows over books is because we don't have to work hard to create a visual picture because someone already created it for us. When you don't have to work at creating the picture for yourself, why not choose the easier option? I like creating the visual picture in my head, it makes for an interesting fun book. Then you have the other problem. When readers create a visual picture in your head than when that movie is made, you have such high expectations for it. What happens if that movie is a huge disappointment to you because the guy you saw as the lead is not who they chose to play the part.

The blogs and the chat rooms start a riot if the wrong people are chosen to play the parts or if a director has a different vision than the reader. What happens if they change the story around or take out big key parts? When you are looking at books and movies I have to say that the world starts to get a little messy when the readers get involved. There is a lot that is involved in making a movie and a book, so I know being a reader that we can get pretty passionate and excited when we find out that there will be a movie.

The second thing that comes up between books and movies is insta-love. The insta-love seems to be a big thing between books and movies. A big part of this is because we can't have that complete visual picture when we are reading, it is whatever we can come up with in our imagination, but when we look at it in a movie or tv show, all the dirty details are right in front of us, so there is much less to object too. I also think it has a lot to do with the actor/actress chemistry.

I think tv shows are just as easy to get addicted to as book maybe even more so because your brain has to do less work with not having to create its own visual. I feel like when I read a story that has insta-love in it, I get irritated and bored because I know that the insta-love isn't true. Insta-love like that really doesn't exist. Seeing the insta-love on the big screen, it is very easy to accept it because you have something fun to watch and look at. Insta-love is so easy to accept when you can watch it happen on the big screen, but in a book it gets annoying because you are wanting a genuine story. I am not saying you can't have a genuine story on the big screen but what I look for in a book is way different from what I look for in a movie or tv show.

For example Lincoln and Octavia from "The 100." Lincoln and Octavia's relationship has always been an odd one for me. I loved the fact that they were always willing to accept each other even though they come from different tribes/nationalities. Right there shows world acceptance. At the same time I still have a hard time believing in insta-love. Maybe infatuation but not love. I like them two of them together. This shows perfectly how insta-love works for tv. Everyone loves how Octavia and Lincoln's relationship is but if it were to be a relationship like that in a book, the readers and bloggers would go on strike or start a riot.

Whether someone should choose to read a book or watch the movie is truly up to them. My personal preference is to read the book first, even if I don't think it is as great as the movie. Those a few and far between. Most of the time the book is way better.