Quote:
Originally Posted by yvanleterrible
A story has the capacity to stir up images long buried in the psyche of a reader. The same story will inevitably be viewed differently from one person to the next. A movie is the representation of images from a group of people coupled to existing sets and geographies.
When you see a movie made from a book you've already read, it is possible that it will not meet expectations.
As an example, I saw the first two Harry Potter movies before reading the books from which they were inspired. I say inspired because it's the best movie translation from text one can expect. I loved them. My children who brought me to see the movies persuaded their jaded, prejudgemental father to read the series.
As I read through them, I thought that the rythm written in the stories was much more human and credible than the one imposed by the movies.(Why do movies go at such frenetic velocities) Now that I have my mental images from the books, the latest movies were far less appealing.
The opposite is also true, as I kept reading the coming sequels I was made to see the faces of the actors portraying what I read in my mind.
In conclusion, I rather see the movie or read the book but not both.
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That's an interesting point you bring up, about having a mental picture of the characters in your head. I feel the same way about book covers that have photographs or realistic illustrations of the main characters. I hate the imposition of having that mental picture in my head while reading, and will avoid a lot of books because of those front covers.