Books vs. Movie Adaptations; Which one is better? | Tonia

So here's a question I've often been asked, and I'm sure is a recurring topic in the book community: "Which one is better, the book or the movie adaptation?"

Let me preface this by saying first that both are wonderful forms of expression and delivering stories. I have tremendous respect for both authors and filmmakers. I enjoy both movies and books, and this is just my opinion on the topic.

Personally for me, I think the book is always better. For one, in most books, you don’t get pictures. So that means that it’s up to you to decide what the characters and setting looks like based on the author’s writing. You could ask ten different people to read the same book, and chances are, they will each have a slightly different version of the characters and setting in their mind. Maybe I’m just picky, but I get really annoyed when the movie characters, or even the characters on a cover or something, doesn’t quite match up with what I had in mind.

Another thing is that I’m usually pretty terrified when I hear that a favourite book of mine is being made into a T.V show or movie. One part of that is what I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, but another part is that when I read a book, I really connect to it. It’s like a part of me is connected to the book, if you know what I mean. I start to get attached to the characters and everything, and I really invest myself in the world. So it’s almost heartbreaking and gut wrenching when a movie adaptation screws up, and ruins my entire perception of the book. I wish I could forget a bad movie, but I can’t. So a bad adaptation ruins everything, and I can’t read the book the same way again.

Building onto that, there’s just something about reading that is just so special. Authors really pour a bit of themselves into whatever they’re writing, and as a result, you get a wonderful book with personality and dimension. Unfortunately, much of the film industry revolves around viewership and how to please the viewer. Because of that, movies typically have the same plot, and they reuse it over and over because it’s “safe” and something they know will cater to lots of people. And that sucks because you get a bland plot, and the characters are so two dimensional and flat.

An example of a book to movie adaptation I didn’t enjoy so much was The Giver. I actually read this in school last year as a novel study, and we got to see the movie too. The worst thing was the casting. In the book, the main character is supposed to be eleven years old. In the movie, he’s SIXTEEN. Jonas (the main character) is supposed to be this young and innocent boy, stuck in the middle of this dystopian society. But instead, he’s the sixteen year old dude, who’s like all muscly and he kisses the female love interest, and he’s too good looking for the plot line. They also changed up the ending, making everything really confusing. The book was basically given the “Hollywood young adult movie treatment,” completely losing the essence of the story, and instead making it into some typical romantic action movie that doesn't quite fit with the book.

This isn’t to say that all movie adaptations are bad though. I loved the Harry Potter movies, and the movie adaptation for The Perks of Being a Wallflower was really good too. Each of them kept the essence of the books, and didn’t distract from the message. The movies enhanced the books. In my opinion, movies should always accompany the book, and highlight certain parts, and that would be it. Of course, I still prefer the book version of both movies mentioned above, and I still think that the Harry Potter movies have plenty of room for improvement.

I guess that at the end of the day, none of this really matters. What matters is that authors and filmmakers put so much effort and time into their work to create something amazing for everyone. I think that's really special and deserves to be appreciated more. I think it's pretty cool that there are people out there that are willing to tell their stories to the world, and the world could always use more stories.

Links to the movies I mentioned:

The Giver

Harry Potter

The Perks of Being a Wallflower