Is it Better to Read the Book Before Watching the Movie or to Read the Book Afterwards

When you see that a movie is due for general release, and it sounds like it ought to be an interesting one for you to watch, do you rush out, buy the book and read it, so that you are familiar with the storyline for when you go to see the movie?

Some people do just that, preferring to know the story line in advance before they go and watch a movie, while others are just content to go and watch the movie first, blissfully unaware of the storyline, and as a result enjoying the surprises that the movie has in store for them.

In some ways, not knowing fully what a movie is about makes the movie more enjoyable, unless of course the story line is so horribly complex, you just can't figure out the plot.

I have seen a few movies myself where the plot is hard to follow, and I just end up frustrated and begin to lose my concentration. By the time I do begin to understand what the movie is about, it's too late, and my chance to enjoy it has been lost.

It's very hard to predict without having actually watched a movie, whether you would want to watch the movie or read the book first, but with some movies I personally do know which way around I would have it.

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy is a set of movies that were brilliantly produced by Peter Jackson, and were for the most part faithful to the storyline of The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkein. These movies were fairly clear to understand for mere mortals watching them for the first time, even if they had not read the books. For hard core fans of Tolkein's Middle Earth too, the movies also covered so much detail about the places and characters that would not be obvious to those who did not already know the complete story.

There are some movies, however, where reading the book first is a necessity, otherwise the viewer will probably never fully appreciate what is being depicted during certain scenes in the movie.

One movie where this is true for me in particular is 2001 A Space Odyssey. The movie begins with a rather psychedelic scene, showing ape men coming across a strange obelisk. It is not obvious to all viewers exactly what this represents. Later in the movie, an astronaut takes an escape capsule and heads off into the abyss, and the viewer is treated to psychedelic sequences, which I really didn't understand. Having spoken to friends about this, they recommended reading the book first, and said that this would have really helped me to understand the movie.

Then we come to another category of movies, where so much of the story line has been changed from that in the book on which the movie was based. Anyone who has read and loved the book ends up sadly disappointed in the movie, not because it is a bad movie, but because it is not true to the book.

One movie where I found this very evident is the 1993 film The Firm, which is based on the book by John Grisham, and stars Tom Cruise. While I really enjoyed the movie, there were some significant changes to the plot, including the ending. Having read the book as well, I was rather disappointed that the decision was made to change key parts of the story.

Another interesting case where I read the book first, was Forrest Gump. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and I greatly anticipated seeing the movie. I really enjoyed the movie, but at least a third of the story that was in the book was missing from the movie. I am guessing that to have included all of Forrest's adventures in the movie would have made this a four hour epic, and it would have been then criticized for being too long.

So what is your preference when you hear about a new movie that you would like to see. Do you prefer to read the book first and then go see the movie, or do you like to remain unaware of the full story and watch the movie first?

Are there any movies that you have seen where you have been disappointed to find that the story line varies from the book?

Please feel free to leave a comment and let other readers of this article know.

Sources:

Personal experience and opinion.