“The book was better than the movie.”

How many times have you said or heard someone else say this? Personally, I have heard this so many times that it makes me sick. Before you go novel-elitist on me, let me explain.

Books are not better than movies. Books are different than movies.

When reading/viewing:

Books are more engrossing. The take more time, they take more energy, and they take more imagination.

Movies are less engrossing. They take less time, they take less energy, and they take less imagination.

Now some of you are saying, “exactly, books are better than movies” and are missing the point: you can’t compare them. You have to compare movies with other movies and books with other books (there is a well known cliché that I could easily throw in here, but I prefer bananas and pineapples). You cannot be upset when your favorite 400 page book does not fit perfectly in a two hour movie, and then be upset when Peter Jackson’s latest adaptation is “too long.” There are so many ironies in that previous sentence that it might make your head explode.

Look, I love books, and like most of the world I wish I read more. However, I also love movies, and I love movies adapted from my favorite books. I just recognize that they are different mediums of entertainment, not to be confused as the same. I judge the movie on its own merit, and the book the same way.

When you say that the book is better than the movie, you are saying that your own idea of something is better than someone else’s. Now, there is a shock.

Next time, when you go to ramble about the movie not living up to the book, please, think again.