Book vs. Movie

I will be honest with you. I usually see the movie before the book. This is mostly due to accessibility. It's easy to see a two hour movie, while a book can take a few days to a week. I have yet to read the Harry Potter books, but look forward to them, as I hear they are better than the movies (which I love).

It seems that this is often the case--the books are typically better than their film adaptations. I have yet to see a film that lives up to the novel Jane Eyre. All adaptations seem ridiculous and inaccurate to me. I was unsatisfied with Shopgirl, which is strange considering the author produced, directed and starred in it. It was a fabulous novella, and a forgettable film. Some movies are just as good as their books. I love Sense & Sensibility (with Emma Thompson), Pride & Prejudice (with Keira Knightley),  White Oleander, Anne of Green Gables, Bleak House (recent BBC version). These are books I grew up reading (minus White Oleander and Bleak House, these are recent reads), and their film adaptations were spot on.

Sense & Sensibility

Anne Shirley



This brings me to a novel I am now reading after already seeing the movie. I saw the BBC movie of North & South last year and fell in love with it. I've watched it so many times that when I put it in for another view, my husband groans, "You're watching that again???". Well, I finally checked out the book by Elizabeth Gaskell from the library and as I've been reading it, I'm realizing how much more amazing it is as a book. It's fantastic. I get to see the characters much more clearly and as intended. And even though I love the movie, I love it even more knowing what the characters are thinking in each scene--something not always portrayed.



Well, I decided to pop in North & South while stitching up a hole in a shirt. As I was watching it, I came across a scene the screenwriters added to try and give more insight to one of the main characters. They aspects they were trying to get across are originally written as thoughts--something hard to put on camera. The thing is, it changes certain aspects of this characters personality. They've left out main elements that progress the relationship in the story. It made me sad (so I jumped on here to blog about it).



Anyway, moral of the story is, I will probably still occasionally see the movie before the book. I will also occasionally be let down by film adaptations of books I love. I would encourage you to do both and read the book along with seeing the movie. You may be blown away by how great one of them is. Also, if you happen to have similar tastes to anything that I have mentioned above, I strongly recommend reading North & South by Gaskell.