Books V/S Their Movie Versions, Which Is Better?

Many of you would have read some very famous books which were later made into movies; to name some: Twilight, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The Host, Harry Potter, etc. Few would have been satisfied with the movies but generally, that is not the case. Many times, we are thoroughly disappointed with the movie as we tend to have certain expectations that are not met. Why does this happen? For this, we will need to consider both sides.

In Books, the story is built slowly as it spans over hundreds of pages. The only tool available for the authors is words, therefore they use these for the setting, mood, scenery, actions, expressions, etc. They have the ability to make the readers ‘Be One’ with the book and make them feel as if they are experiencing it themselves. Just using a few words, they can create anything from the mood to the feelings and expressions of the character; In this regard, it is a very convenient tool. They need not worry about how their words are perceived as they will be interpreted as they are written.

A Movie, on the other hand, is a 2-3 hrs long programme that has to showcase all the necessary details, scenes and turning points of the novel that is spread over a span of hundreds of pages in that short duration of time. There is also the added responsibility of picking out the important scenes that make up the skeleton of the story and at the same time not to miss out on anything that may break the flow of the same. They also have to be entertaining and understandable simultaneously. The biggest problem that could arise is matching the setting of the story to that of the movie. For example, if a book is set in an imaginary cave, then reproducing that same cave can be a hard nut to crack. There is also the need to consider how well the actors and actresses are able to portray the characters’ emotions.

Considering all these facts, it could be concluded that Both are good in their own aspects. Books are the best if you want to experience a story and movies are the best if you want a run-through of the same. Of course, if it comes down to watching the movie after reading the book, you would be disappointed. Your expectations would align themselves to how you imagined that story and surely a movie would never truly fulfill that as it is a by-product of how the director perceived the book.