The Thing About Movies Made From Books…

The thing about movies that are made from books is that they never quite measure up to the book or are very different from the book. People sometimes wonder why this is. I think that this happens for two major reasons: 1. nothing can match a person’s imagination and 2. while a lot of a book can be shown visually to an audience, you can’t show everything that is in a book or you would end up sitting in the theatre for 4 or 5 hours.

The last one is common sense, but apparently, the first one isn’t. When you read, it allows your mind to create an entire world. This world is created by you and the author in order to achieve entertainment that is uniquely you. When you watch a movie, you’re watching someone else’s interpretation of something that you have already interpreted for yourself. While the world of the movie may be beautiful, creepy, freaky, etc. it is not the world that you created for yourself.

Personally, I love books and I love movies. I just see them as two totally separate things. It’s why I get annoyed when people complain, “It was different from the book” in that really whiney voice. Well, of course it’s different. It’s a completely different medium and it didn’t come from your head, it came from somebody else’s head. Apparently, this is something that isn’t commonly thought of though. Weird, huh? Seems like someone should think of that other than me, and yet, as much as I love my friends, they don’t seem to.