Why Books Are Better Than Movies!

This is the second installment of why I believe books are superior to any other thing on Earth. My first comparison was how books are better than people. Today, I am going to explain how books blow their movie counterparts out of the water.  

Non-readers just don't understand that while movies are an enjoyable form of entertainment, it is far better to actually read the book. There are a few notable exceptions to this statement, which I will cover at the end. Every time I assign a new book for my students to read, they always ask "Miss, is there a movie for this book?" I respond as follows: Either "yes", "no", or "I don't know" and follow up with "but as we will never be watching a movie in this class, it doesn't make a difference". My students cannot comprehend why I will not watch any movie version of books that I assign them. In their minds, if we watch the movie then reading the text becomes unnecessary. <sigh> I explain further that when they get to college, they can take a film class, but until they learn to pick up a book and read it, getting into college will be difficult.

Here is why I believe that books are superior to the movie versions:

1. Better plot development: Plots make more sense in book form because the point of a book is to tell a story, not be visually spectacular. Additionally, most movies have to cut much of the plot in order to fit within a couple of hours. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a perfect example.  The novel had quite a lot of action in it already and yet when the movie was released huge chunks of the story were removed and replaced with even more action. There is a dragon chase sequence around the school, ending with Harry crashing into the roof, which did not exist in the book!  It didn’t add a single thing to the story. Due to this lengthy sequence, the movie dragged on and key pieces of information were never revealed.
2. Better character development:  Books allow us to look inside the mind of a character, particularly when a book is written in first person POV. Character action and motivation just makes more sense in a book. Instead of a character running through the dark and then for some reason veering toward the deserted and creepy building, we can hear the character's thoughts as s/he explains and justifies their logic behind the actions.
3. Better characterization: When you read a book, there are no shiny, beautiful, nearly perfect people distracting you from how the characters should look.  Even ugly characters, when transferred to the screen, are usually played by some beautiful person who has had a bit of dirt scrubbed on their face to make them look dowdy.  It doesn’t really work and it takes away from the character.
4. Books are completely portable: Both traditional books and E-readers are something that you can easily slip into a handbag, backpack, luggage, etc. Compare that with carting around a television set. And yes, we can watch movies on laptops, smartphones, and/or portable DVD players but when the picture is that small, I have to wonder what the point is.
5. No power required: Traditional books don’t need batteries or a power source to run. You open them, you read them. (Clearly E-readers do not fit in with this category, which will be the subject of my next post on this topic.)
6. Leisurely enjoyment: Reading books takes longer than watching a movie. Some people would argue that this point isn’t an advantage. However, in terms of the cost to enjoyment ratio, I would very much like my enjoyment to go for more than an hour or two. ("That's what she said.")
7. Use of imagination: There are never bad special effects in books because you create the images in your own head and they come out flawlessly. Additionally, reading a book is much more active. Movies are a passive activity because all the work has been done for you and with another person's vision.
8. Perfect performances: In books, the characters are never destroyed by bad acting (though bad writing is another story).
9. No annoying music: The soundtrack is whatever you want it to be and you aren’t being constantly forewarned of any actual tension by a spike in the music so you can genuinely be surprised by the next plot twist.
10. Books are comforting: Curl up on the couch with a DVD case in your hand and see how relaxed it makes you feel.

Now, I noted earlier that there are the rare cases of movies being as good or even superior to the novels. Examples of such movies are: To Kill a Mockingbird (equal), Misery (equal), Sense and Sensibility (equal), Lord of the Rings trilogy (ever so slightly superior), Bridget Jones's Diary (far superior), The Princess Bride (equal), and The Shawshank Redemption (equal). But beyond these movies and a handful of others, books are always the better choice for storytelling. I actually feel sad for people who do not read because they do not know what they are missing out on. Although they themselves do not usually feel sad about not reading. (One friend once mentioned that he wished he could read but because he has ADHD, reading is hard for him.)

Need a visual representation of why books are better than movies? Below is a very clever ad for Sebo Museu do Livro in Brazil and shows a book cut to the shape of a DVD. The leftover parts of the book are what's lost in translation when you just watch the movie. These ads explain it rather perfectly - saying, "a big part of the story is lost when it becomes a movie". I recommend the following: go to a library/bookstore, get a book, and read! I promise you, you'll be better for it.