Movies or Books?

Books or Movies?

A heated discussion!

Hello everyone, I am sure we have all dealt with those non readers in our lives who have told us that the movies/TV shows are better than the books that they represent. I am here to refute this claim with a fervor that this community has yet to see! I will admit I enjoy some adaptations immensely, I do not think that they could every be considered better than the source materials. I know there are many who enjoy movies and TV shows regardless of what they are adapted from, which I will let them like what they like but if you want to claim a book is worse off than the show they better have read the book to back up their claims!

The Issues/Claims: 

• Claiming that adaptations are better without having read the source material.
• This drives me insane when I hear people complaining about the poor quality of a book in comparison to its adaptation though they have yet to experience both! What gives us the jurisdiction to judge a material, movie or book having not experienced it? I do not think that we have the authority to judge and critique something if we have not seen/read it; correct me if I am wrong but to me discriminating and demeaning a creator without giving them a chance is fundamentally horrific!
• The book is always better. 
• This happens to be my opinion most times, however we all need to think about this in a logical way when we even try to compare an adaptation and its source material. They are not created for the same audiences, movie watchers often will appreciate and enjoy different things such as camera angle and special effects, where the reader appreciates descriptive and conscience passages giving us the information to imagine a scene. A book is leaving the imagery and sensations to be felt by the reader with the words that they read from the page, where the movie is able to show you exactly how they interpreted the materials.
• The movie is better regardless. 
• This is something that I can say with a biased view is almost a lazy way to consume a story! You wait to have a picture projected in front of you and you will sit down and watch as the story is laid out instead of actively reading and seeking the story and the words that will allow you to imagine every scene. I am guilty of just watching a movie some days for a fun and relaxing afternoon, however if the movie has source material I will often read that before tackling the movie so I can see how the creator has intended me to experience it, and how it was interpreted. This is how I feel we should enjoy books and movies, reading/ experiencing both sides before we judge either medium. 

Movies & Book Combinations that Work Well:

• The Hunger Games
• Book By: Suzanne Collins 
• Movie directed By: Gary Ross
• I really felt that all of the movies, but the second three in particular have captured the suspense and action into some of the most iconic movies of our time! The casting was spot on, and the special effects allow the viewers to live the thrill of the Games! I absolutely adore these movies.

• Harry Potter Movies 1-3 
• Book By: JK Rowling 
• Movie Directed By: David Yates 
• These first three movies are the only ones I have seen because I am an awful book nerd and have yet to complete the Harry Potter series; do not kill me please or spoil me. I am hoping to get to these eventually but right now I have so many other books that I would like to get to while they are current. I am so happy to have seen the first three as they came out with the books, because to me they capture the essence of the Hogwarts world!