Which do YOU find harder to do?
Read a book and then watch the movie
Or
See a movie, then read the (original) book?
I’ve noticed that most movies aren’t as good as the original book or story it was based on, or are sometimes so different as to only have the title in common. But if I’ve seen the movie based on the book first, I think it taints my reading and I may not appreciate the book as much as I might have if I’d read it before seeing the movie.
However, I hate reading the book first on a movie that looks really interesting, not wanting to ruin any surprises ahead of time.
How about you?
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4 users responded in this post
I don’t find either direction especially hard. Books and movies are very different things even if they are telling the same story.
I do both quit often, and usually enjoy seeing the different ways the story is put together in the different media. I almost always prefer the book.
Personally, I prefer to read the book before watching the movie. Most often the book is far better than the movie. When I read a book I form my own vision of the characters in my mind. Most of the time, the movie character does not match that vision, and I don’t want that characters face ruining my preconceived notions. I have found one exception to this rule and that is Edward in the upcoming Twilight movie. From what I have seen of the previews he is almost exactly the character I had in my head.
I also get the opposite – I find if I watch the movie (or TV show) first, I get those actors’ faces in mind as the characters and then when reading the book, it’s jarring when the descriptions don’t jibe with my mental image. In the DRESDEN FILES TV Show, Lt. Murphy is a brunette who isn’t that much shorter than the lead actor who’s over 6 ft tall. In the book, the character’s a “5 nothing petite blond”…
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