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Obsolete: Book or Movie?

What do you like better?

  • Reading the book

    Votes: 12 66.7%

  • Watching the movie

    Votes: 6 33.3%
  • Total voters
    18
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BorgyDudeMan

BorgyDudeMan

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So.. yeah. Here, we just talk about which do you prefer. Reading the book or watching the movie.

In my case, I like to read the book. Mostly because in the book, it feels like as if you are the main character. That said, it also makes me feel as if I (the protagonist) is interacting with other characters, and in fight scenes, you are the one fighting.
 
Watching the movie. Most of time I'm too bored to actually get a book and finish reading it. With a movie I'm done in much less time. I understand all the advantages the book has, but the movie uses visual and auditory messages to pass the message more quickly than linguistic messages. A picture is worth a thousand words, they said :)
 
100% book. No questions asked, hands down.

First of all, books can go more into depth with their characters, and not every scene has to be jam packed with mindless action, CGI, or gooey romance.
More characters can be introduced, more plot lines and story arcs can be shown, and everything still gets it's fair share of time and attention.

Second of all, books I can read on my Sabbath, so long as Kindle doesn't become the "only" way to acquire books. I cannot watch movies during my Sabbath.
 
While I do like reading books because I can imagine how the scenes play out, I sometimes misunderstand certain scenes and end up getting the wrong idea of the book. The movies (given that they stay true to the books) help me understand better, and I don't have to deal with the stress of misunderstanding scenes.
 
I think it depends on the content. Some books make really great movies while others are best left to the imagination. Films like Lord of The Rings are such cinematic epics, helped along by a rich descriptive book content so they had a lot to work with to get the content up to a decent standard while not having to rely too much on making up things based on their own creative ideas which is where I think a lot of films go wrong.
 
CherubCookie said:
I think it depends on the content. Some books make really great movies while others are best left to the imagination. Films like Lord of The Rings are such cinematic epics, helped along by a rich descriptive book content so they had a lot to work with to get the content up to a decent standard while not having to rely too much on making up things based on their own creative ideas which is where I think a lot of films go wrong.
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Actually, I hated the LotR movies, because I had pictured Tolkien's world completely differently in my imagination. To this date, I still prefer to reread the books instead of watching the movies, and don't even get me started on the three Hobbit movies.
One of the biggest "sins" in "cinema" is the need for mindless action and constant battles.
For example, in the Hobbit book, Bilbo helping the dwarves escape from the wood elves in the barrels was perfect. It was quiet, it was stealthy, exactly as it should have been, considering they were trying to escape.
In the movie, it turned into a massive, and unnecessary, battle that completely undermined the purpose of that scene.
 
Considering the fact that my reading span has reduced significantly in the past two to three years, watching movies is a but obvious choice for me. ;)
 
I actually don't mind movie adaptations of books as long as it doesn't stray too far from the book itself. But I do like reading books more, especially since I get really creative with my mind around the characters and setting of a book.
 
I like doing both. In some cases, the movie adaption is more enjoyable in the movie. I think it depends on the changes from the source material.
 
Honestly I haven't read much at all lately. Because with books I don't know where to start, or what's good for my interests. Plus it's a bit harder for me personally to sample a book and to see if it's to my liking.

But when there's a movie I REALLY love, I seek out if it has a book or graphic novel. So I can experience whatever universe again but in a new light. So for me, it's movies.
 
Yeah, I'm in pretty much the same boat as Dolce - I don't really know if a book'll interest me, but if I see something I like a lot on a screen, I could always see if there's a book of it. Sometimes at least. Though I do tend to find it easier to get into comic books then the regular kind lately, just saying.
 
I love reading, and while I do like film adaptations, I usually prefer the books.

An example: The Harry Potter movies are by no means bad movies as stand alones, but as someone who read the books before watching the movies, I prefer the books. Movies rarely have time to include all the details and concepts the book introduces you to. At the same time I often find the main character more shallow in the movies, because you no longer get to know how they see the world. While reading a book, you get to imagine the world on your own, and at times it almost feel like I'm a part of said world, which is something I very rarely experience with movies.

There are also several adaptations that simply ruin everything I loved about the book, such as The Golden Compass, which is one of my favourites.
 
Like most people, I tend to agree that the book is indeed better. Books usually have more detail to them than movies. I can understand why movies change books, though - you can't possibly fit everything in a 600-page book into one movie.

There are occasional exceptions, though. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a good example - I enjoyed the movie, but I hated the book. (I was required to read the book in school, and then we saw the movie afterwards.) I cringed at how ridiculously naive Bruno (the main character) was, and it had too many historical inaccuracies to even go into detail about. The movie corrects many of the book's worst historical inaccuracies and makes Bruno much less naive.

One thing to keep in mind is that just because you prefer the book to the movie, it doesn't always mean that the movie is bad. I actually like the LOTR movies even though I prefer the books. Sometimes both the book and the movie are bad.
 
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I prefer reading the book.
 
Depends. There are some books I found better than the movies (Marathon Man), and there's some movies I actually found better than the books (The Shining). Sometimes I love both (The Godfather).

Marathon Man was a good movie, though. I'm not knocking it.
 
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I prefer watching the movie. I usually get bored with books, unless it is something super amazing.
 
I like both because I enjoy movies but also have long accepted they rarely follow the book. A good example is the How to Train Your Dragon series. The films are amazing yet they completely stray away from the books even though the books are excellent and don't get the attention they deserve.
 
Books are better no contest.

Movies very seldom outdo the book.
 
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