3 Reasons Why The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie

I love movies. I think that some are exceptional and absolutely blow my mind, but if the movie was originally a book, the book was probably better. It is extremely rare for a movie to outshine the gravity that a book has. Take Harry Potter for example, they cut out relationships, certain family conflicts, manipulated the dialogue and ages of Harry's parents to make it all seem more relatable to mainstream society. I mean, Ron Weasley was a good friend to Harry in the books, but in the movie he is just some hungry ginger that is terrible at sports. Now, before this becomes a Harry Potter rant, here are three reasons why books are always better than the movie.

1. The Characters

Oh my gosh, the characters. They really are quite the game changer in books and movies, so when you change the personality or morals of a character from how it was originally intended to be, you loose complexity and rationale from the storyline. Take the Percy Jackson series for example, the movies were very much anticipated by many people and readers, but they completely changed the original ending in the first movie so the entire franchise just tanked! Also in books you can always get the main characters full perspective on a choice or event.

In movies, they do not have the time to have a full deep scene where the audience can really get to know what the main character is thinking/feeling; you lose the full narrative and get long pauses or quick shots around the scene to show that the main character is having inner turmoil over the situation. The awkward movie franchise Twilight is another victim of book-to-movie-adaptation. In the books, main character, Bella, always seems to have a lot running through her mind, but in the movies it is just many (what feel to be) long shots of her just staring to display her contemplating the room.

So at the end of the day, if you hate a character in a book adaptation movie, they probably were not originally meant to be so annoying.

2. The Plot

In Western society, movies are typically 1.5 hours to 2 hours long. In that short amount of time, producers and directors have to fill in a lot of comedy, action, romance, suspense, or whatever their marketing team says will sell the best that year, into that movie. So, to make sales, they create simple relatable decently scripted movies. In books there is no real limit to how many pages it has to be. Thus, there is more room to wiggle around in the plot.

3. Benefits the Brain

Reading is basically like a workout for your brain. Research has shown that spatial awareness is improved from reading because, "when you hold a book physically in your hands and can see where you are in the story. You can also easily flick between parts of the book to recap; your brain will naturally guide your hand to the right place in the book."*

It has also been noted that it avid reading helps you to improve attention span and ability to identify patterns. This is because when you read, you are subconsciously following and looking for a beginning, middle, and end. You search to find the cause and effect of something without evening realizing that you are. Of course in movies, you're trying to understand why everything is happening, but it is not the same effect. Movies cut along at a quicker pace than books do and you do not see the language of the movie so your brain is not developing and stimulating it's sense. No matter how many subtitled movies you watch, it is not the same as reading.

*Psychological and Cognitive Benefits of Reading Actual Books. (2015, September 03). Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca/psychological-and-cognitive-benefits-of-reading-actual-books/