I got the most beautiful copy of The Chronicles of Narnia for Christmas…a blue cover adorned with metallic raised pictures all over it. It’s just awesome, and has a good feel to it (if you read at all you probably know what I mean).
Anyway, I’ve read the The Magician’s Nephew already and am almost through The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Can I just say that I forgot how much more enjoyable a book can be than a movie? Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy the movie, and I have always known that books are generally better in terms of description, characters, and overall plot (movies just leave too much out). But I forgot how BIG a difference there is between the two sometimes. Yes, the movie follows the story in the book quite well, and yes all the characters are present in the movie (don’t even get me started on Gone with the Wind leaving out entire CHARACTERS…Harry Potter did the same thing I think in a different way), but the book just lets you get it better. You become more involved in the intricacies of the story and you know what it means when the witch goes running or when Aslan inspires awe. You become closer to the characters and understand why they do things—not just what they do.
You get the freedom to picture the characters however you want. Sometimes I stick with the movie’s portrayal of the character if they did a good job—but sometimes I choose someone that looks completely different. Sometimes the characters in my head don’t even look like what the book describes them to be. The beauty of books is that I can do that freely, and often it makes the story better (in my humble opinion) because I enjoy my own character creation more.
I think people today don’t read as much because they are numbed a bit by movies. Their imaginations are not needed because, hello, it’s all right there imagined for them. No need to exert any effort whatsoever. Just sit down and let someone else’s imagination tell you what to see. (Now, I just want to say that I love movies—I think they are wonderful. But I think books are completely underrated nowadays.)
Why would I want to do that? I can make my own visuals and scene and movie in my head with a lot more description and that lasts a lot longer (at least, usually more than a couple of hours).
I can make the characters look anyway I please. I can make the scene look anyway I please. I can get more out of the story overall, simply because there is more information to get.
So what do you think? Which do you prefer?
1 comment:
I read a TON....well, I think it is a ton....hours and hours and hours a week. I read every single night....and a lot on the weekends. I DEFINITELY prefer books over the movies (but, I don't care for tv, so I'm biased). I would NEVER want to see a movie before I read a book because I LIKE to create the characters how I WANT in my head....they're always better in my head than they are on screen. There's my two cents : )
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