BOOK TO MOVIE...

I'm a slow one for watching all the big movies...in fact I usually wait till all the hype has gone down, and then quietly order it in from the library and watch it about six or seven months after it made it BIG.

I'm also not one for following 'what has to be seen'....(so often a let down)....which of course gives me ample time to read the book.

I'm still amused when people ask 'that was a book first?' In a lot of cases, yes it was. And a lot of readers have read it, loved it, lived it, cried and smiled over the characters. We invested in these people created from some author's imagination...and then we watch the movie.

And we cringe, we wail...we say 'but he's ' she's nothing like that'.....'you've missed this entire section out'....and 'what have you done!'



Sometimes they get it right....sometimes the movie adds an extra depth to the stories we have loved. But I personally feel that most times there has been so much missed, deliberately and cold heartedly left out.


And I know that this is due to how long a movie has to be, that you can't keep everything in a novel in the movie ...but....but you have to keep the heart of the story. There has to be integrity, you have to keep the essence of what was created. Otherwise it is an entirely new story just using the same characters.

 



So what to do? Do you read the book first then watch the movie...already knowing what is meant to happen? Although at times this doesn't help when the shock / horror/ heart-felt moment arrives.

Or do you watch the movie first, then read the book, waiting to be taken further? Willing to find out more. Delve deeper.

So which do you do?

Do you have to read the book...only sometimes read the book....or take faith and watch movies for their own sake?

Vicki