Book vs Movie: Which One was Better?
a guide to a few films that I’ve also read
Movies at the end of the day, are stories. We, humans, are social creatures and therefore love a good story. It’s what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. As human society expanded, so has the way we tell our stories. We no longer rely on paintings on a wall or a big scroll. We have performances and literature that can transport us anywhere we want when we want to.
Sometimes we love these stories so much that we adapt them into a different medium. Normally, the original medium was text (a book) and then transformed into a form of visual storytelling (a play, TV show, or movie). The most common adaption is the book-to-movie journey which has caused the never-ending debate: which one was better? Because one is always better than the other. Lucky for us, I have seen and read a lot of stories so here’s a list of some stories and my opinion on which medium is better suit (for that particular story).
1. The Hunger Games Seires
I got to start this list with the trilogy of my generation! It was that rare event in middle school when every single child was reading. That doesn’t happen! So if any of you guys are living under a rock, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was first published in 2008 and centers around a sixteen year old girl, Katniss, who lives in a dystopian society. Within this society every year there’s a child lottery for each district ( similar to a state) and those cihldren have to fight to the death for entertainment. The sequals for the book, Cathing Fire and Mockingjay, were published in 2009 and 2010 and casting for the movie was already underway. In 2012, the film adaption of The Hunger Games was released.
Now, we’re looking at three different parts of a whole story so I am going to divide the individual books and compare it to their movie counterpart.
The Hunger Games (2012) was directed (and written) by Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins also co-wrote the screenplay as well. As one would expect with a book-to-movie adaption, the movie took out a lot of details (getting to know the other tributes, Avoxes, Madge, etc) in order to tell the story while also attempting to build a world (becuase the studio wanted to make as many Hunger Games movies as possible). The film was also extremely concerned about keeping the PG-13 rating so the film wasn’t really violent. It was dark and grim but there was barely any bloodshed and the deaths looked like a student film. Personally, The Hunger Games was my favorite book in the trilogy. It established this strangly familiar world while keeping me, a twelve-year-old turning the page to see what comes next. In the movie, I was just watching an adaption, I wasn’t as engaged as I should have been.
Catching Fire (2013) on the other hand, is a whole other story. This is my least favorite book in the trilogy yet was my favorite movie. I just found it pretentious and boring. But with the help of new director Francis Lawerence and new writers (not Collins), this film turned out great. I was invested from the opening credits. This adaption was accurate but also engaging and challenged its young audience. It introduced its new characters extremely well while still focusing on their main character.
My issue with Mockingjay (2014 and 2015) is that there was no reason (other than money) for this book to be split up into two movies. The result is that the last film was just boring because it was only covering around 100 pages. Also, the cast and creative team was done with the film. It was four/five years of their lives and they wanted to move on and you as a view could tell that.
The Hunger Games: Book
Catching Fire: Film
Mockingjay: Book
Overall Story: Books
2. Room
Room (2010) is a book that I read in high school that I absolutely loved. It tells the story of a five-year-old boy named Jack who lives with his Ma. It isn’t until we are a couple pages in that we realize that Jack is the result of an child abduction and that he and his Ma (who was kidnaped as a child) are trapped in a tiny room meaning that Jack has never seen the outside world (or even knows it exists at all). What makes Room a great book is that it is narrated by Jack himself so we go on this journey of him trying to understand the world which is a beautiful story.
In 2015, the film adaption of Room came out and took the world by storm. It went on to be nominated loads of awards including best picutre at the Academy Awards that year. What made the film so great is that it committed to having the point of view be Jack. The film was dark and intense but also joyous and showed a child discovering the world while his mother was adjusting to freedom. The two leads (Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay) also had great chemistry and made me wish the film never ended.
Overall: Film
3. Never Let Me Go
This. Book. Changes. People. It is a beautiful novel that was published in 2005 and was named the Best Novel by Time Magazine. The story follows a young woman named Cathy who reflects upon her childhood and adolescence (I will only give you that synopsis but there is SO MUCH MORE TRUST ME). The film adaption was released in 2010 (staring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield) and also went on to be nominated for several awards.
The differences with this adaption is the normal inconsinties of a book-to-film adaption and that is that the movie tried to put too much plot into the film. The book goes through Cathy’s entire life and two hours isn’t enough time to tell that entire story. So director Mark Romanek had to cut scenes and quickly transition from act to act. The issue here is that the story is moves too fast that you don’t really root for the characters or understand what is going on at times. Even though you get the main theme of the story and feel for the characters, it never hit it home as it did with the book. Which is sad becuase this is a beautiful story.
Overall: Book
*if there is one book you must read that’s present on this list, it’s this one. Please read it. You’ll thank me later.
4. Twilight
Say what you want, but Twilight is actually a good book. It’s what got me really into reading so a piece of my heart will always belong to this book. This story is about a girl named Bella who falls in love with a vampire and the drama that comes with that. This book made vampires cool again and was a page turner (for my ten-year-old self at least). The movie on the other hand, wasn’t bad, it’s actually what you would expect it to be. A movie directed for tweens. It’s dramatic, cheesy, and a little goth. If that’s what you want in a movie, go for it. But for me…it was missing the magic (just a little bit though. Overall it was a good adpation).
Overall: Book (barely!!! If the movie is on TV, I’ll watch it)
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Another classic of my generation’s, even if it was originally published in 1999. This story follows a boy named Charlie who is an introvert and starting his freshman year of high school. The book is written in journal format as he writes to his ‘friend’ (we don’t know if the letters actually get sent out or are just his journal). The story follows Charlie’s freshman year and also figures out some of the skeletons in his closet along the way. After becoming a huge success with millennials and generation z, a film came out in 2012 with an all star cast (Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Erza Miller) for those generations. What the film (directed and written by author Stephen Chbosky) excelled at was fleshing out the characters and story. When I read the book, only Charlie and Sam were relevant, there wasn’t much emphasis on supporting characters like Candace and Susan. Here, we were able to really see and experience Charlie’s world, which really hits home.
Overall: Film
As you can see, the book is never the best medium a story can fall into. Some film adaptions can and do surpass the book. But some fail miserably. It all depends on the story (and director and screenwriter as well). So next time, someone tells you that the book is always better, take it with a grain of salt and read the book.
See for yourself because you might be surpised.
