Say it with me, “it is not a crime to like movie adaptations over books!!”

I love books. That goes without saying, considering I'm writing for a Non-Profit organization that gives books to schools. But, what I love specifically about books is that they can be left up to interpretation most of the time. Whether it's about a message, a theme, or even what a character looks like. Interpretation can be a very useful tool when it comes to books, even adaptations of books. Yes, the infamous book-to-movie adaption. From Harry Potter to No Country for Old Men, book adaptations range in genre–but also accuracy. 

The main critique of movie adaptations is that they fail to capture the original feeling of the book. Maybe a character is different than expected, a place and time has been changed, or the mood just seems off. 

I hate to crush most people's dreams; but books are simply a whole different beast than movies. 

Books have the ability to go into copious amounts of detail, analyzing every single detail and passage until it makes the reader's mind explode. Let's take the Great Gatsby for example, there are words oozing out of the pages. A simple brush of skin, twinkle in the eye, a pop of champagne is described in exquisite detail. It is meant to be woven into a particular pattern. Movies are different, they are meant to entertain, not have every line read off the script then analyzed (though you could do that…if you really wanted to). 

Let's take the same Gatsby example. The movie is explosive and glamorous, it projects the mood of the novel. However, we get almost none of Nick’s inner thoughts. We don’t get any of the nitty-gritty language used to describe events in the novel. Why? Because they are playing out right in front of us. Movies are a whole different medium, that is why some of the best scenes are built off of dialogue projecting the story, not describing it. People hate exposition in movies for a reason. 

So what exactly does this tell us? It is okay to like movie adaptations over books, because it is a completely different way to tell a story. It is okay to like one version of a story over another. Imagine you had two teachers, they both tell the same story but you obviously would prefer one version being told over another. That is the same thing with movies and books, sometimes you just like one version of something over the other! 

However, I personally like being able to draw my own conclusions based on reading the book and seeing the movie! Spotting the differences between the two is always an entertaining thing, and at least you get a good read out of it! But in conclusion, obviously let's not judge each other based on our various literary and cinematic preferences. Let's rejoice–as both movie lovers, and book enjoyers.