I think it is because someone else may have a different vision than what you took from the book, so it is hard to live up to what you thought things were in your mind when someone else has a different take on things.Originally Posted by RedTeamGo!
Personally, I will save myself hours and hours of time and enjoy the movie.
Chip R (07-09-2013)
I worded that wrong, I meant a main reason for myself. Obviously there are many reasons books are better than their follow-up movies, but the fact of the matter is the vast majority of books are far and away better than the movies/shows based on them.
World War Z is a recent example of a book being far superior to the movie loosely based on the book (takes the term "loosely" to an all new level). People that have not read the excellent work by Max Brooks have no idea how much different the movie is and I just feel bad for them.
Just out of curiosity can you give me some examples of movies based off books you enjoy?
TSJ55 (07-10-2013)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Books are generally better (in my opinion) b/c they have the freedom to expand the author's thoughts as deeply as the author would like to go. A movie is aiming to fit those thoughts into a convinent 2 hour time window. A TV series like Game of Thrones or Pillars of the Earth can dive deeper into the author's orginal thoughts, b/c they expand from that 2 hour time slot to a 10 or 12 hour time frame, which gives significantly more room for diving into the detail. Even something as simple as the wall in Game of thrones is described more vividly in the book than its ever presented in the series. In the series, they pick up a sword for the first time, say how much they like it and cut to the next scene. In the books, George Martin describes how the various swords feel in his character's hands, how they shimmer or how they were made, the backstory of the sword, etc... Its all minutia in the grand scheme of the story, but its the little things that make a book significantly bettr than the movie version 99% of the time.
Perhaps Doug does the triple lindy as well.
Last edited by medford; 07-10-2013 at 08:49 AM.
coachpipe (07-10-2013),RedTeamGo! (07-10-2013),TSJ55 (07-10-2013)
As you noted, World War Z is vastly different from the book, so much so that they really aren't even the same story other than they involve zombies and the world.
I think there is some romanticism in reading a book that gives people the impression it is so much better once they are done with it, especially if they read the book first and don't know where it is going. Since you probably aren't reading a book in one sitting you have time to think about what is next, to question things.... you don't get that in a movie because there is constantly something going on. Books are more like a TV show, where you get breaks. Excitement builds up over longer periods of time because there are breaks. I don't think that makes it better, it just makes you feel like it was.
As for movies I enjoyed that were based off of a book, I have no clue. I don't read books for entertainment value. Haven't done that since I was 10. Too time consuming for entertainment. I couldn't name a best selling book outside of The Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter that was even written in the last 15 years. I pay no attention to books that aren't providing educational purposes for me.
I read fight club and fear and loathing well after the movies came out. Still isnt even close on which were better. But to each his own
So let me get this straight, you haven't read a book for entertainment purposes in the last 20 years, yet you're convinced the movie version of a book is every bit as good at the book itself.
How the hell would you know either way????
coachpipe (07-11-2013),HeatherC1212 (07-12-2013),killcat (07-14-2013),RedTeamGo! (07-12-2013),TSJ55 (07-11-2013)
A great author has the ability to stoke the imagination, provoke thought, and conjure up a world with rich characters, whether fiction or nonfiction. When done properly, there's almost nothing that can be put on a screen to match the words and images that the author and the reader's imagination have conspired to create together. In my opinion, of course.
"I can make all the stadiums rock."
-Air Supply
coachpipe (07-11-2013),HeatherC1212 (07-12-2013),TSJ55 (07-11-2013)
Easy Medford, no need to get testy. You only "felt" that the book was better than the movie. In reality, it wasn't. Your perception of your own personal experience is null and void.
Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.
All the dishes rattle in the cupboards when the elephants arrive
I'm convinced that the trade off for a few missed details here or there is well worth the trade off in hours saved of my free time to do other things.
Assuming the story remains true to the book, unlike a World War Z which basically just borrowed the name of the book and also had people and a zombie epidemic going on, there simply can't be enough extra going on in the book to make a difference to me. If it were that important to the story, it would have been in the movie or tv show.
An example here that was given was about Game of Thrones, which admittedly I don't watch and doubt I ever will, that in the book it is described about how the sword felt in the users hand. That is great and all, but to me it doesn't really add to the story. For some it may. For me, it seems like wasted space. I care more about what is going to be done with the sword than how it feels. It was also noted how it glimmered. I can see that on a tv show or in a movie if it is deemed needed to be added.
There may have really been a place for a description in sci-fi types of books 20-30+ years ago because they simply couldn't replicate on film what they wanted to describe and have it show up in a way that the viewer could have a true vision of what they were describing. Those days are gone though. The special effects are up to par now to have things translate to my eyes to match what is being described from a visual standpoint.
This is exactly why I believe people feel movies are never as good as the book though. Someone else has a different imagination than you do and then you feel the movie doesn't stand up to what you had built up in your mind that a character was like or the scene was like. If I read a book and you read the exact same book and we both made a movie about it, with no time constraints, our movies would be quite a bit different because your imagination and my imagination are going to build things differently.
Reading a book is a very personal experience. Movies aren't necessarily that way. Holding a movie to the standard of a book is unfair. Their goals are different, their methods are different, they are completely different media. It would be like comparing bourbon with an orange. I always try to treat them as their own entity.
Also, 9:00 tonight (Thursday). ScyFy. Tara Reid. Ian Ziering. Sharks. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Chainsaws. Sharknado. Sold?
Variatio delectat - Cicero
Sharknado. Sharknado. Sharknado.
Rented The Call with Halle Berry the other night. Decent flick but what appears to me to be a tacked on 30 second alternate ending takes away some of the enjoyment.
Books and films are just drastically different mediums for storytelling and it's really unfair to judge one by the standards of the other.
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*BaseClogger* (07-15-2013)
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