Book to Movie Adaptations

Disclaimer: all the following opinions are entirely my own. I am not saying that I am right. This is simply just my opinion.

The ongoing debate about book to movie adaptations has really caught my eye recently.

Especially the “you aren’t a true fan of the movie unless you have read the book first” opinion.

As a self-confessed bibliophile, I prefer to read the books first. This is because I feel as though by reading the book, I spend a longer period of time with the characters. For example, it took me about a week to read The Fault In Our Stars whereas the movie took me less than two hours to watch. Uncovering new things about the characters over a longer period of time causes me to develop an immense attachment to them that I feel is lost when books are made into movies.
However, this does not mean that a book is more emotional than the film (I cried way more at the TFIOS movie than I did at the book). I am just saying I feel as though the stories of books stick with a person for longer than a movie and therefore have greater impacts.

In films we are a third party. We watch the characters from the outside. Whereas, in a book, we are more likely to place ourselves in the position of the characters and see things as they do. I do suppose that this is more true for fictitious worlds written in first person. However, my point is, is that in my opinion, we get a richer experience from experiencing things for ourselves than we do from observing others doing it. Therefore, the act of reading the book first provides a far more valuable experience than watching the movie as we are placing ourselves directly into the situation rather than being on the outside looking in.

However, in contrast to all of the above, I am very glad that I chose to watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower before I went out and purchased the book. This is because I believe that if I'd read the book first, I wouldn't have been able to picture the characters and got into the story as much. And, as a result, I probably would not have made the effort to see the movie.

Maybe my opinions are all based on writing style.. I'm not all too sure.

I am curious to hear other people's opinions on book to movie adaptations so please feel free to leave comments or tweet me
I HAVE A NEW TWITTER NAME! I AM NO LONGER @ALEX_THECOOLEST 
I AM NOW @SCHMIRFLE