How I taught myself to be able to watch movies based on books
By syramoon
@syramoon (654)
United States
May 8, 2012 8:01pm CST
So often I hear people complaining that movies aren't as good as books, and my answer is of course they aren't. It would be impossible for a movie to have every little detail a book does, and so many other factors play into it. But since that's most likely been talked about a million times on mylot, I'll get to how I became able to watch movies based on some of my favorite books without being disturbed, angry, outraged, or right out disappointed.
We can train ourselves to think in different ways, reading teaches us the suspension of disbelief, I sort of apply that to movies. I tell myself that it's in a totally different universe, a different realm or some such thing like that, and it is not a representation of my favorite books, characters, writers, etc.
Now I know some people will find this silly, or may even think that I'm condoning what Hollywood does to our favorite books, but I'm not, I'd love to see movies following books closer, but I doubt that will happen, so I've developed my own coping mechanism that allows me to enjoy a different form of entertainment media.
2 people like this
5 responses
@vertu007 (683)
• Romania
9 May 12
I think your idea is pretty great. You found a way to enjoy both books and movies using your imagination. It really is something.
However I disagree with the fact that it's impossible to put every little detail from a book in a movie. In favor of my disagreement I shall come forth a dreadful quote :)): An image is worth a thousand words. So you can describe in just a scene of the movie things that would have taken the writer a lot of pages and words.
I started writing a book, fantasy, for the simple reason that I didn't find a book I wanted to read one day. And while writing it I often imagine the scene and then I write it down, and I think it takes some work to describe the best I can what I imagine.
@syramoon (654)
• United States
9 May 12
I often write too, and see as I write. I see as I read too, which I think many people do, and is most often why people are disappointed in movies. And I guess I read a lot of books where people are talking/thinking in their own heads, and to me that can never be fully displayed in a movie unless they're going to sit there saying things out loud by themselves or something, and that would make for a boring movie. lol
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
31 May 12
I'm from the opposite camp. I have seen more movies based on books than I have read. In fact I used a movie to get a B in English Lit! The story either grabs my attention or it doesn't. But I can see not wanting to see a film made out of my favorite book. It can't be like the book.The best film made from a book I saw was Tess (1979) based on Tess D'urbervilles. My English teacher played it in class and I took notes and got a B , without reading one page of it! The other film that is as close as you can get is the 1968 Romeo and Juliet. I saw it in my other English class. but this time I Did read the book, lol. For anyone who is new to Shakespeare , it is a good introduction.But these are the only books turned into movies I can think of where the film is just as good as the book. I wish there were more. I wish there were more teachers like mine who will bring in film into he classroom to help teach the text!
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
11 May 12
There was a time when I really loved watching films based on books. I watched Odessa file,The day of the Jackal,Murder on Orient express etc etc and found them all satisfactory.It is only, of late I have not found them really good.The Bourne series was good,and so also the Harry Potter series...
@thankucomeagain (280)
• India
11 May 12
Perhaps if we had more directors like David fincher, directing our fav books, we could actually enjoy them more
Also, what you are trying to say isn't silly at all, its the best way to think not to ruin our fav memories of our fav books
@TrinityDownpour (790)
• Liechtenstein
9 May 12
Depends on the movie itself. I don't mind if the movie is different from the story but what I will not tolerate is that Hollywood destroyed some of the best complex characters and made them two dimensional.
