The question of “Which is better: books or movies?” has been a big argument. Today, I’m going to be settling this debate.
To start, “coming of age” novels are given to students throughout high school. And for some, reading about the characters in these novels going through their life and experiencing all sorts of changes can be very impactful. Reading the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson was just one of those novels for me.
Watching the movie adaptation of that novel wasn’t everything I was expecting. The book is able to voice the main character’s, Melinda’s, internal thoughts and feelings. The film was able to depict the story of the book pretty well. However, it wasn’t able to completely capture her emotional journey or portray some of the characters thoroughly.
Books of all kinds are a combination of the author’s writing skills and visionary and the reader’s imagination and their willingness to read. Put together, these pieces behind the story can create narratives so grand that they are thought provoking and can evoke all sorts of emotions. They are able to change people’s perspectives on almost everything, along with expanding the reader’s imagination.
One of my favorite things about reading books is having the ability to live so many lives through the characters.
Finding a book that has the ability to bring you into a new world is hard to come by most times. But when you find one, to be able to feel the character’s feelings and feel like you are truly in the story is the best experience.
What I love about books the most is that I can imagine the characters in my unique way. Whenever I watch a movie that was depicted from a book, the characters aren’t how I had imagined them. This is why books are superior to movies, our vision isn’t the same as the directors most of the time. Movies won’t live up to our full expectations.
Before a lot of movies, there were the books they were based on. For instance, the whole Marvel franchise was written before being adapted into films. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, and the “Harry Potter” books by J.K. Rowling were also all made into movies.
With movies, the audience is removed from the fine details of the story. We watch the story progress and unfold. Novels dive a lot deeper into a character’s thoughts and we are able to see them and understand them a lot clearer.
If you have never sat down and fully experienced a good book, I’d advise you to. There’s nothing better and more fulfilling than sitting in the sun with that book. Everyone has their preferences, but I wholeheartedly think that books are better than movies.
