Our class was broken up into groups of four to complete this assignment whereby we answered possible questions that would come out in our oral examination. My job was to compile my group mates' answers and woah timothy's answer to his question totally expresses I feel with regards to the tfios film (and perks of being a wallflower...etc;)

b) Many books are made into films. Would you rather read the book or watch the film?

As one who enjoys reading, I would rather read the book than watch the film. For the most part, books are much more detailed; one can spend several weeks, ever months reading a book. Whereas a film is different, the maximum length of a film is at most 3 to 4 hours long and as Alfred Hitchcock once said: "The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder." But that is not my only reason, I believe that the book is the superior medium as a form of story-telling as it does not restrict the audience to a particular image and instead allows them to use their imagination and view the story in their own way, whereas a film is merely telling the audience the director's view of the story which restricts and in some way, kills the imagination of the audience. An example would be the brilliant science fiction story, Dune, written by Frank Herbert. It was later adapted into a movie by David Lynch, who despite being a superb director -directing Eraserhead, one of the scariest horror films of all time- was limited by the film medium. The film's pacing was a huge mess and the subtleness of the book had been omitted.

However, not all books-adapted films are not worth watching. In special circumstances, the movie does not necessarily follow the book and instead creates an interesting view of the book. One of my favourite directors of all time, Stanley Kubrick, adapts most of his films from books. From the black comedy Lolita to the horrifying Shining, he creates a unique vision in film with the aim of surpassing the standards set by the book. The books and his films are comparably different and I would gladly watch both to compare our different views of the story.

In the science fiction film, Clockwork Orange, the film is entirely different from the book. Both tell a different story despite the similar plot.

I guess, in conclusion, I prefer to read the book but in some circumstances, the film may be superior to the book.

insightful