The Pros and Cons of Book to Movie Adaptions

From the paper to the big screen, books being adapted into movies are quite popular nowadays. There are so many times that I walk into a book store or some other, and pick up a book, only to see that it has the little sticker with the words: “Soon to be a major motion picture” on it. There’s a big difference between a book and a big screen, especially when it comes to book adaptions. It’s pretty much bookworms versus moviegoers in the book-to-movie adaptions. 

And though there are some book-lovers that despise when their favorite books are being adapted into movies, there are always pros and cons to book adaptions. 

One thing is that books have much more detail. In books, we’re actually inside the narrator’s head. With movies, we are watching from an outside point-of-view. We get more feeling, more depth, and we learn to connect with the characters more in books than in movies. In books we are able to feel exactly what the narrator is feeling; feelings such as sorrow, happiness, the experience of a death.

We understand the motivations of the characters more because it is thoroughly explained. Sometimes movies explain things, but they don’t go into extreme depth that books might. 

But one thing I love about books turned into movies is how we can see everything. Instead of using our imagination to whip up some crazy image while we are reading the book, we get to see it visually. And that’s pretty cool. We get to see the setting, the characters that match the book character’s description, and we get to experience it all with our eyes. It’s an amazing little pro to book adaptions. 

There are a few people I know that hate books being adapted into movies. Depending on how you look at book adaptions, you may or may not think this way. But some bookworms dislike when their favorite books are turned into a movie. The books might become a teen sensation or everyone starts to swarm because of how great the movie is. And it’s no longer as precious and personal to the reader as it once was, now that’s shared with everyone. 

Or they might worry that the movie will completely sink. The might think it will crash and burn if the movie doesn’t live up to the book’s expectation. And sometimes that’s true. Sometimes movies aren’t that great and don’t even compare to the book. So it’s reasonable if the movie sucks. 

Yet, there are some books that are adapted into movies, and they are absolutely perfect! The movie might not have all the details and it might be missing some scenes from the book, but sometimes the movies live up to its expectations. It just depends on how the book is taken and turned into a film.  

And then there’s something different. Instead of books being turned into movies, the movies get turned into books. For example, Snow White and the Huntsman. Originally that was a movie, and now it’s got a book. And the book is a nice read. And how about Disney’s Maleficent? The movie has a book now. It’s nice how after seeing the movie (or before) we can visit the story in a whole new perspective, deeper and in the form of words, not motion pictures. 

The pros and cons of book adaptions go on. But it depends on how the book is played out on the big screen that we can really judge if it’s really that bad. Book adaptions can be successful, or they can be not so successful. Either way, there are good things and bad things linked to book to movie adaptions.