Bibliophiles Vs. Cinephiles. A war going on for decades.

It is hard to choose one over another since both of them are different forms of Art. When a particular story is presented in both forms, we have no choice but to compare them. Words/letters are merely an evolution of pictographs ( Picture writing system from early 3500 BCE ). Movies and motion videos are a sequence of frames/pictures. In essence, both are similar but their roots have different histories. The core purpose of both of them is to put forward some information. Now, there are fans of the way this information is presented and this has initiated a debate. The argument being…

Which one is better, books or movies? Should we read first or watch first?

I will answer these and other such types of questions by stating some interesting facts, figures, and examples. So let’s get right to it!

What a Book makes me feel.

I do not know how I started reading books. All I know is that I’ve always liked stories. I guess, I just picked a book one day because I saw my sister reading. I do not want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that maybe she inspired me and made me a reader. But hey! I chose the stories and books for myself, and I am so proud that I picked up Enid Blyton. Growing up with “The Secret Seven”, “The Famous Five”, and R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” is something I wouldn’t trade for anything. So, for me ever since then, books have been a companion.

I felt excited whenever I saw a new book, enlightened when I read it, and content when I finished it. I felt what it was to get lost in pages of a fictional world, and I don’t even have to mention how the smell of an old book makes you feel. It even has a word: Bibliosmia. I can’t help but think that even after books being so special to me, why have I watched more movies than I have read books?

What a Movie makes me feel.

So you cannot smell movies. That’s a bummer. But, your other senses are at work when you watch one. You can see and hear all it has to show and say. Like books, I do not know how I got into watching movies. I guess my sister just switched to Star World/HBO, and I let her do that once instead of snatching the TV remote and switching back to Nickelodeon. NO! She doesn’t have anything to do with me being a cinephile because I chose the movies and shows I watch.

I digress. So, Hollywood came as a surprise for me. The story, cinematography, dialogues were something that I had never seen before. Today, I watch movies made by people from all walks of life. The language barrier has not stopped me from experiencing cinema. I feel films have a way of engrossing you within it in such a small amount of time. The visual and the background music come together perfectly if it’s made right. Films feel somewhat closer to reality than books since it unfolds right in front of your eyes and not just in your mind. Then why is it that the most popular movies are adaptations of novels?

The Comparison

Books have depth and it gives it’s the reader the liberty of being creative. No matter how precise the descriptions are, every reader visualizes them differently. We go places beyond the pages of the book and subconsciously play the story around something we have already witnessed in our lives. For example, an author describes an “apartment”, and we might add the details that aren’t described in the book, from the details of our own apartment. With books, both the author and reader are being creative. Words are the most powerful thing in this world. This power doesn’t come easily. There should be enough words for a full-fledged novel and also properly used. Reading novels might always seem intimidating because of their length. It is a time-consuming task, and it will always feel like a drag if it’s not engaging enough.

Movies, on the other hand, make their viewers nothing but silent spectators. They limit us to just the screen and nothing beyond. Film-making is a collaborative process and takes teamwork unlike writing a book. If a book is you sitting at home and thinking something then the movies are a bunch of guys out there doing that. There are a lot of movies that get adapted from a novel, but there is hardly any book that is inspired by a movie. This just goes onto imply that movies are a ‘step up’ from books. It just seems logical to watch instead of reading. This brings us to the question I promised to answer before…

To read first or to watch first?

The argument above might be in favor of the movies, but there is more to it. Books have always been better at fleshing out character details. Since we invest more time into books, we get to know the characters better. I have watched the Harry Potter movies before I read all the books. I didn’t think reading the books will feel any different. I saw it as an extension to get into the fandom, and boy was I wrong!

When I read the books, I understood things better. It’s almost as if a new movie is playing in your mind. There is just so much material in the books that gets kind of lost in the movies.

I think if a movie is getting made from a book then the book certainly has some good stuff. In that case, watching the movie first makes sense. If you like the movie then you will surely like the book and if you don’t like the movie then you have the option to give that plot a chance by reading the book. Reading first will almost always make you feel that the movie is missing something.

Which one is better? Books or Movies?

Both Books and Movies have the potential to outperform one another. Dan Brown’s “Inferno” was a book that I liked so much and was excited about the movie. When it came out, I went to the theatre to watch it and it turned out to be a disappointment. Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” is an example of a book being outperformed by the movie. This doesn’t mean the book is bad, but the movie is so widespread and well-known today that the talks about the original novel have diminished.

Movies are better at action scenes and books at character depth. Both have elements that suit and amplify their form. It is hard to generalize which one is better because both movies and books have a history of violence.

Books better than the Movies: Inferno, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Movies better than the books: Jaws, Psycho, The Shawshank Redemption

In Defence of Letters

In 1937, a French author named Georges Duhamel wrote “Défense des Lettres” where he introduced the idea that the rapid increase in technology and the use of radio or television will bring a stop to people reading books. He lashed out and wrote against the use of radio and movies, promoting only printed books as a means to maintain culture.

Today, in 2021, I feel we are closer to his theory about people starting to read fewer books, but he was wrong about the movies. Movies have brought together people from all around the world. It is in itself a huge culture. The increase in technology maybe have some effect on the publishing industry but they caught on and invented e-books and kindle and audiobooks. All of these are widely accepted and used by millions.

A lot has changed but I encourage you all to keep reading books and keep watching films. These art forms might be the best thing that has happened in human history, so let us enjoy them.

Thank you for reading. 😉