With the release of several book-to-movie interpretations this year there comes about a toss up of what seems to be an immortal battle within each of us when such a time arises. It's that insurmountable question when the movie is released in theaters: which should I endeavor to do first, the read the book or watch to movie?I think with books, the writer puts the reader in position to let their imagination run wild and see in their minds eye what action and drama the many different characters go through throughout the story.
Now, in this day and age of storytelling through visualization in movies has allowed writers and producers to manifest their ideas through spectacular visuals on the big screen. Novels that were written in the past that couldn't previously been made possible due to certain physical constraints have been given new life through new technological improvements, i.e.: the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
However as always the old attach still remains, the book is always better than the movie, which indeed has certainly been the case in previous generations. Many film interpretation of people's favorite novels have often failed to live up to the original's shadow, for example the horrendous effort made by the overly hyped DaVinci Code movie, which, although highlighted the flaws of the novel, failed to compensate for it or gain the viewers praise.
The tide may be turning, though, for in recent months, several films have arisen, to which have been credited for being based off of novels that have turned out to be blockbuster hits. This may be due in part to the fact that these movies are taking the exact material from the novels and instead of like in the past where directors and producers would create their own interpretation of the given work, would now take scenes and dialogue verbatim from the novel and placing them directly into the film.
Two prime examples of this being the Mark Miller graphic novel movie interpretations Sin City and 300. Both of these stories were taken straight off of the page and onto the screen, creating often surreal moments for fans of the two graphic pieces, where moments mirror scenes from the novels almost perfectly.
Continuing forward there will still be that back and forth between the good and bad screen interpretations of novels and stories brought to the screen. For one man's Beowulf will be another's Bourne Supremacy. There may even come a time when a novel is written specifically for the purpose of becoming a movie. Or quite possibly the other way around; there have been television shows that have done better as movies, movies that have gained slight notoriety as book series. One can only sit back and wait for the future to come.
But for now, this is a new day and age for the contemporary reader where prolific works of literature are now making the jump respectfully into great works of visual artistry that may finally be appreciated by the readers and fans of the novels they love.
This is my opinion and I am sticking to it!