Is the Book Really Better than the Movie?

Several years ago, I had a debate with a friend about whether books are better than movies. He strongly held the position that no book could be better than a movie. This left me curious, because most readers claim the book is always better, and I concur. I immediately became suspicious he’d never read a book-turned-movie before, and guess what? I was right. So how could he possibly make such a statement without actually knowing for sure? His reasoning? He couldn’t imagine how a book could ever be better than a multi-million-dollar production. It almost sounds as if he has a strong argument … but that’s only if you’ve never read a novel that's hit the big screen before.

So, what makes the book better?

With a book, you are able to crawl into the character’s head and get inside his (or her) thoughts. The character’s emotions become your own. There’s so much more detail and meaning to every scene. Add in your own imagination and you’re pretty much seeing what you want while living inside their head, experiencing their lives, passions, and desires right along with them.   

With a movie, the scenes are much quicker, losing a lot of details, resulting in a loss of emotion. The viewer isn’t really sure what’s going on in the character’s head because he’s not a part of their thoughts. A movie may have the power of visual stimulation and effects, but it’s limited when it comes to painting a picture using descriptive dialogue. In other words, thoughts and emotions get lost in the translation.

Additionally, movies don’t leave much room for the viewer’s imagination. The audience is limited to observing the characters and settings through the eyes of the filmmaker. The reader is never limited by Hollywood glam. A character or scene can be everything the reader wants it to be. Scenes in the movie version are too restricting because they don’t allow for imagination. Leaving the scenes and imagery in a book to the imagination of the reader is what makes a book such an exciting event.

Because a book takes hours, to days, to weeks to read (depending on how long one stretches it out), it tends to stay with the reader a lot longer. It becomes a part of the reader’s life during that time, and if it’s a good enough novel, even long after the reader has finished it. A movie is only a mere one to three hours long. Once it’s over, the viewer has moved on.

​Returning to my debate with my movie-watching friend, he was disqualified. Why? Because he was debating on a subject he knew very little about. He couldn’t very well give an honest opinion about something he’d never experienced. I informed him he needed to read the book before seeing the movie and then we could resume our debate.

I’m still waiting for that day!