# Which do you prefer - the book or movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243 "2002-07-22T17:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243/21 "2002-08-02T14:58:26Z")
I gotta disagree with you on the Stephen King issue. _The Shining_ and _Stand By Me_ are great films, but King isn’t a great writer. i agree with \*_lissener_, generally. they’re two different things, and it’s pointless to compare them most of the time. For instance are _Blade Runner_ and _Do Androids Dream…_ are both good works of art. But it’s pointless to try and compare them - one’s a good book, the other is a good movie. That’s not to say that I didn’t think that the Harry Potter movie was a two hour plus shite fest - there are times when the book is better because the movie just _sucked_ (or vice versa). ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243/22 "2002-08-02T15:17:18Z")
**The Bridge on the River Kwai** is a good book but became a masterpiece as a movie. **To Kill a Mockingbird** loses something in translation from book to screen, but how could it not? Great book; great, if lesser, movie. **Matilda** perfectly captures the tone of the book upon which it is based. Roald Dahl’s books have consistently been captured well on screen: **Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory** , **James and the Giant Peach** , and to a lesser extent, **The Witches** all do a good job of capturing the essense of the stories on which they are based without being slavish recreations of the movies plots. In each case, I slightly prefer the book. **Rosemary’s Baby** , **The Exorcist** , and **Carrie** , all top notch horror novels, were improved in their translation to the big screen. And I suppose I’ll be the lone voice of dissent in saying that I liked the movie version of **Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone**. I’m not a big fan of the book, though I do like it, but I think the movie does a convincing job of showing us on screen what was described in the book, and is visually interesting in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243/23 "2002-08-02T20:38:17Z")
A Beautiful Mind was a very good book, about John Nash. The film was very good also. There was aspects and things about Nash’s life left out of the movie. Russell Crowe played Nash, exactly as he was written about in the book. The mannerisms, the way Nash speaks, RC should have won the Best Actor Oscar. But, both were very good, no complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243/24 "2002-08-02T20:57:24Z")
Just to throw another [set of] example[s] into the mix: Most of Hitchcock’s movies were adaptations of books. Good movies, no? But from what I’ve heard (haven’t read any of them) all of the books were horrible. There are some things that work well as movies. There are some things that work well as books. If you take something that works well in a movie, and try to make a book out of it, you’re likely to make a bad book. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243/25 "2002-08-05T15:27:59Z")
I agree with **Rilchiam** , that the book **Forrest Gump** was pretty bad. I like the movie **The Natural** better than the book. But then, the two have very different tones–the movie is much more idealistic about the game of baseball, and the book isn’t. Roy Hobbs is so much more of a bastard in the book, too. FWIW, I saw the film way before I read the book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-do-you-prefer-the-book-or-movie/120243.md?page=1)