Why a novel is better than a movie.
Journalism club
Nowadays many novels are turned into movies. For example, ‘Harry
Potter’, ‘Big Fish’, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and so on. They attract many people
since they are based on novels. Their structures are solid and they are well
known to people. However, novel-turned-movies often do not get good review as
much as the novels. We often feel disappointed after seeing movies. The reason
comes from the difference between the movie and the novel.
First, movies are affected by the conditions of real life. Unlike
novels, when we make movies we have to consider the real place, time and
people. Fantasy novels like ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ are
really hard to adapt into movies. In those novels, there are things or places
that don’t exist in reality. We use computer graphics to represent them.
So, accurate description like in the novel is nearly impossible in the
movie. In a novel, we can write anything. In contrast, in a movie, we need to
express ideas more clearly. We edit parts which are not related to the theme or
unimportant things. We can see the difference or missing parts, if we have read
the novel.
In addition, movies prevent us to think creatively. A novel is just
words so you can find it interesting to imagine in your own way. For instance,
we can imagine the figures of characters and the backgrounds. But, when we
watch a movie, we just accept everything without thinking. The chance of active
thinking and imagination become less.
Because of these three reasons, movies adapted from novels are not
always that popular and are prone to criticism. It guarantees success in some
degree but we need to take care so that the novel’s ideas are shown as what we imagined
it.
By - Kim Ji Won
