Book first?

[Thelma]

I heard that they are going to make a movie based on Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou ( Amelie ) in the leading roles. The thing is, I haven’t read the book yet and I usually see the film adaptations after reading the book. It’s not a rule, it just happened like that most of the times and I wonder, is it better to read the book first?

Is it better when you start comparing the book to the film and waiting for an ending you can easily predict? What do you prefer: book first or film first?

In my case, I think I’m going to buy the book and read it so it will be book first again. As it is…

 

[Ashlea]

I'm generally a book first kind of girl, but on crime/thrillers, I tend to just skip straight to the movie.

 

[Harry Gamblor]

I don't really have such a rule. Sometimes i read the book first, sometimes i see the movie first. Usually it doesn't matter for the quality of the book or movie.

 

[Wabbit]

I prefer to keep books and movies totally separate. If I have read the book, then normally I don't like to see the movie and visa versa. I just don't want my vision polluted by the other medium. There are a few exceptions to that. Lord of the rings was one exception to my rule. I didn't like the books and it had been many years since I read them so it didn't really matter. Plus, it helped that the movies were so damn good!

 

[Geenh]

I'm with SillyWabbit. I prefer to read the book. The movie is generally not as good to me as the book. Sometimes, they bastardise the movie so much it hardly resembles the original... take Lawnmower Man. Oh gawd!

 

[Anahorish]

I prefer to read the book first and then see the film. If I see the film first, I usually can't be arsed to read the book (sorry) unless the film was super-duper.

Also reading a book after seeing the film is kinda like... Well the best way to describe it is like doing a crossword that's already mostly completed. You can't form your own picture.

Having said that, I read the Stephen King novellas The Body, Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption, and the novel The Shining, after seeing the films, and I just loved them. Reading Shawshank Redemption was like having the film playing in my head (except for the Red character ) but with the other ones, the story as I saw it changed completely in my head.

 

[bobbyburns]

does the term "book" encompass written plays? because I've seen a streetcar named desire performed, yet I still think of brando as the quintessential stanley kowalski.

 

[sanyuja]

I agree with Sillywabbit and Geenh. I always read the book and prefer not to watch the movie. The only time I didnt do this was Harry Potter I and I was terribly dissapointed with the movie. When you read a book, you are free to visualise the characters and the scenes as you wish. But, when it comes to a movie, you have to accept the director's visions. And, somehow I am let down by that. I feel my visualisations were better than the director's in case of Harry Potter I. And for the same reason, I dont prefer illustrations in the book. Before I saw Harry Potter's picture in the book, 'Harry' that I had visualised was so different from the one in the picture. But, after seeing that picture, I dont even remember how 'my' Harry looked like