COLUMN: Books and movies are great, but please keep them separate
Since the "Hunger Games" came out last week, I have heard countless comparisons between the book and the movie.
I am sensing a trend that movies will never be as good as their book counterparts. However, I don’t understand why.
I read and enjoyed all three "Hunger Games" books and the movie.
Books and movies are completely different mediums and should be valued as such.
Books have the ability to let the reader understand what the main character is thinking. Without voiceovers, this feature is much more difficult to portray in movies.
Movies, on the other hand, are much more visual. While some authors are able to paint pictures with words, visual scenes are often done better in movies.
Books and movies have their own strengths and should be valued for each separate feature.
One concern about the "Hunger Games" I have heard multiple times is the lack of personality Katniss seems to have. While it probably could have been done, it would be much harder, because her personality comes mostly from her thoughts and interaction with her sister. Her sister was not in the movie very much, so her personality was not as evident.
The movie does, on the other hand, convey the hallucination better than the book. It was a visual scene, which is one of the strengths of motion pictures.
In addition, books and movies are the visions of two different people; authors and directors.
People get different things out of stories, so a director might feel connected to one aspect of the story, while the author may have gotten a certain point across in another part of the story.
In addition, book reading and movie watching are two separate experiences.
While reading the "Hunger Games," I felt as though I actually was Katniss fighting for my life.
With the movie, on the other hand, I felt like I was part of the Capitol society and could easily be watching the Games with my friends on television.
The personal connection with Katniss in the books is why so many fans feel as though the book was more relatable. In the book, her pain is much more evident, especially when certain characters are eliminated. This sorrow is directly translated into the reader’s life, making it feel as though the Games are actually happening to him or her.
This difference applies to other movies based on books, like Harry Potter and Twilight. I have heard many people discuss how much better the Twilight books were than the movies.
While I agree, they should be valued as completely separate works. Because they are.
In the end, however, it is up to the audience.
