Jul 16, 2011 / Topic Ideas

Can a movie be better than the book it was based on?

Topic #190:

Can a movie be better than the book it was based on? What examples come to mind? Or is it sometimes just a matter of which version you see first, as that will define the story for you, regardless of which version was made first?

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  1. When I taught 8th grade, I created a unit called
    “You’ve seen the Movie, now Read the Book.” Kids read classics they might never have read and other titles that had been made into movies. It’s a great assignment- they learned how to compare and contrast and really analyze what worked best in each media. I took a rather random poll of friends I saw this weekend.. most couldn’t think of a movie that was better than the book.

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  2. If I’ve already read the book and I totally loved it, and later the movie comes up I don’t even attempt to watch it. On the other hand, if I see a movie base on a book and I like the story I usully get the book. One movie I recall now that seemed to me better than the book’s P.S I love you. And there’s this movie The red violin, that’s fantastic and it seems based upon a book, but in fact is not.

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  6. Yes a movie can be better than the book. Take all the Harry Potter  movies for example. The books didn’t have as much…action as the movies did. I mean when u read it, you can picture it, but the movie is always better because u can actually know what’s going on

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  8. yes, for example, a japanese movie: 告白Confessions, it’s much more excellent than the novel it bases on.

    have you guys watched it ?

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  10. I think that reading it is way better that watching but in one case i did like the movie better! the “Notebook” was both a great movie and book but i have to say I liked the movie better! the “Lord of the Rings” movies were so close to the book and i was Glade for that because the reason books are usually better are because the movie is so far away from the book!

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  11. it can ‘t be, the book is always better than the movie, when you read you brain creates a world of fantasy, that is something the movies can ‘t do. When we see a movie, we are limited to watch just what the screen show.

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  13. So far I have NEVER encountered a movie that has been better than the book, and I don’t believe I will.

    P.S. I have to get this out of my system. Harry Potter 6th was THE SHIT and the movie was SHIT. -___-. I’m still so mad at that.

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  14. The two movies that come to mind (for being better than the book) are “The Hours” and “Fight Club.” I felt both were able to visually capture the changes in perspective that simply couldn’t be communicated with the written word. Fight Club also had cool, little visual clues leading up to the revelation of Tyler Durden – again, the book just couldn’t quite capture something like that.

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