Would you rather Watch it in a Movie or Read it from a Novel?

@incus99 (1083)
Philippines
July 30, 2010 5:08am CST
Many good movies were derived from novels like Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring etc. As for me, these depiction are quite satisfactory for me although many of those who have read the novels before seeing the movies often times comment that the movie is under represents the novel. Many important scenes were deleted. One must understand that a novel of hundreds of pages that might take you a day or two to read must be fused into a 1-2 hours cinematic for our convenience. I feel that the movie equivalent is doing us a great favor in saving a lot of precious time without compromising the thought or the message of the novel. What do you think about this? Is the reading experience really different?
3 people like this
11 responses
• Philippines
21 Aug 10
I prefer reading the book and differentiating it from the movie.I don't want to go to the theater and read the book with expectations.when Angels and Demons was released,I feel ok with the movie even if the background stories of characters were changed.I rea dthe book several time.I watched the movie to see how Ron Howard will cramp a hundred-page book into a 2 hour film.for me,the movie isn't really stellar,but it is not disappointing either.
• Philippines
13 Aug 10
id rather watch a movie,specially if it has alot of episodes.like harry potter or lord of the ring.
• Philippines
2 Aug 10
i love to read and i do prefer reading novel than watching it in movie. it is very true that some important scenes are being deleted and compromised. like the book "gone with the wind", i am so fascinated with the book, i read it a lot of times, but when i see the movie, i could tell the big difference of presenting it. for me, i prefer book over movie. it makes me used my mind and imagination, while giving me the kind of story which really satisfies me.
• India
2 Aug 10
I like to do both. I like to read books, then I like to watch the movie. thanks for your sharing.
@sadsad75 (96)
• Philippines
5 Aug 10
I really don't like reading books. I prefer watching it.
@Bieter (7)
• United States
11 Aug 10
When a movie is based on a book, the book is almost always better as movies cannot always capture the depth and length of detail that book depicts.
@grayxenon (1313)
• Philippines
31 Jul 10
If have time I would prefer both to see the best of both worlds and compare, But now I am quite lazy to read books so I rely on movies more, its multi-media easily presented and not time consuming, and at most economical.
• Philippines
2 Aug 10
i love to read and i do prefer reading novel than watching it in movie. it is very true that some important scenes are being deleted and compromised. like the book "gone with the wind", i am so fascinated with the book, i read it a lot of times, but when i see the movie, i could tell the big difference of presenting it. for me, i prefer book over movie. it makes me used my mind and imagination, while giving me the kind of story which really satisfies me.
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
30 Jul 10
I like to do both. i like to read the novel first if available. Then i like to watch the movie. I like to compare the similarities and the contrasts in doing both.
• United States
1 Aug 10
As an avid reader I almost always prefer to read the novel prior to watching the movie. Reading the novel I can conjure up in my imagination what the characters look like, the settings and the pace of the novel itself. If I see the movie before I read the novel, reading the novel loses some of the imagination. However there are a few exceptions. In the past I've read novels which were very difficult for me to get into, and in frustration I would put it down. When I would watch the movie based on such a novel I would gain a better understanding of the novel and then I could read it and thoroughly enjoy it.
@mspitot (3824)
• Philippines
30 Jul 10
Hmmmm...It's good to watch them in movies cause of the effects but I find it more exciting to have it read first and then watch it in a movie. I just like the feeling of getting excited cause you can anticipate for the next scenes cause you have read it already. It's like you know what will happen but you are excited to see how the actors portray their roles to make it more beautiful.