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The Book and The Movie

In most cases when a movie is made from a book, the general consensus is that the book is better.  There are many reasons for this but the main one is that a book uses words that the reader must employ to create pictures in his mind.  Books may be written in black and white but they exist in the world of imagination.  The writer’s words are a map that reader uses to create a world without compromise.  I love this medium because of its limitations being based only on the mind of the reader.

As I have mentioned before, I am also a huge movie guy.  The experience is completely different because it happens in “real” time.  The emotions caused by the combination of director, actors, scenery and etc. are much closer to the surface.  Everyone in the room can have a simultaneous reaction to the sights and sounds on display.  Movies inch closer toward reality because we are visual creatures.

The disappointment of the adapted book comes from expectation and compromise.  The viewer wants to see the pictures from their head come to life on the screen.  Movies have several limitations which cause compromises.  If the viewer goes in with the expectation that the movie will be different, it leads to less disappointment and an appreciation for each in their own right.  In all honesty they are two very different things.

Now the point.

We all have this war of Book vs. Movie going on inside of us.  The book is our thoughts.  The way that we envision that our life will go.  The movie is the reality of how things actually go.  In this situation, the same factors cause most of the upset: expectation and compromise.  Your life will almost never match your mental picture perfectly.  As soon as you add in other actors and their interpretations of the script, the movie is bound to stray.  Finding your own balance of expectation and compromise is the way to be satisfied with the movie version of your mental book

.Shakespeare