Why The Book Is Better (Or Is It?)
It's a classic saying, one that you've no doubt heard before. A movie based on a book is released and without fail, someone will chime in and aver that "the book was better" with all the confidence in the world. The tendency to prefer the thing that comes chronologically first is ubiquitous among almost all forms of media, but nowhere is it expressed more fervently than when it comes to big screen adaptations of written works. Why is this? Is it merely a product of looking to the past with rose-colored glasses, in the same vein as every generation sneering at the amusements of those with the misfortune to be born after them? Is it a more cynical viewing of the forces at work behind the creation of licensed films? Or is there genuinely something to the notion that a novel will always outshine any attempt to adapt it to the visual medium? To answer this, or at least try to, I think it is pertinent to examine what the novel excels at, and why someone with an emotional c...