Today Annie from MamaDweeb.com is stopping by. I was thrilled when she agreed to do a guest post here at Crazy Book Slut, and what an awesome topic she picked. Can't wait to hear where other's lie on this topic! Come on give the comment love to Annie and head over to her fantastic blog, you won't be sorry!
Why I prefer to watch the movie first:
Reading is my first love. I remember being a very young girl - 7 or 8 years old - and running away to a quiet room in my grandparent's house with my Laura Ingalls Wilder book, ready for another adventure in the big woods. As I grew older I began to fall in love with words. Poetry attracted me in my melodramatic pre teen years and you could find me holed away in a room, pen in hand as I tried to express the longings of my soul. (Told you I was melodramatic!) Every day in high school I had a thick novel in my backpack, ready to read when the moment was free enough.
Naturally as I started to become interested in movies not of the Disney genre I started with those based on books. After my first few experiences with them (I think "Sara Plain and Tall" was one of my first) I vowed to always watch the movie before reading the book.
So why do I prefer to watch the movie first? If I love books so much, shouldn't I want that primarily over any visual presentation?
Cause the books are better, and for me the movie always ruin it. There has only been a selective few movies that followed even the basic plot line of the book it was based on, and this infuriates me. Take "The Count of Monte Cristo" for example. From the middle of that movie on it is night and day different from the book. The ending is entirely different - the only similarities are the names of the characters. If I read the book first (as I did here) I become disgusted at the movie makers and the magic of my book is shattered.
However, if I watch the movie first I set myself up for a mystery of sorts. I already know that the two will deviate from one another and when I have the movie fresh in my mind it is exciting for me to read through the book and discover how it really happened. What did the author originally intend?
Another benefit of watching the movie first is the visual aspect. I struggle with imagining how characters look and what they are wearing as I read. Sometimes I even have to put the book down and google the time period to get an idea before I can move on. I am a very visual person and love to see the book act out in my mind. If I watch the movie first I have the costumes and characters already depicted. That is one aspect of the movies that has not let me down yet - the costumes and the scenery. And there have been some breathtaking ones - "Pride and Prejudice" being a superb example!
I will forever watch the movie first. What about you? I know I am in the minority here, so why do you prefer to read the book before watching the movie?
Dying to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I have always been a book first than movie, but Annie brings up some awesome points!
Until next time...
Happy Reading!
Happy Reading!
2 comments:
I never thought of it like that. I generally enjoy the movie, but have to remind myself to seperate it from the book. The movie is never as good and so it has to be evaluated as a seperate entity. I like to read a book, then imagine who I would cast as the characters.
Yes, you are so right Angelia - you really do have to seperate them entirely. I really don't watch nearly enough tv or movies to be able to visualize who I would cast, so that is why I couldn't do that :) But I like that idea a lot!
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