March 29, 2011

The Book Or The Movie?

 Jane Eyre


I LOVE old novels. I have 8 copies of Pride & Prejudice, because I love it so much. The beauty and danger of this is that now these lovely books are being made into movies. As with Pride & Prejudice, it could be done in the spirit intended by the story, or it could be chopped up and rewritten to better fit a 2-hour movie.

Most of the time, I am content to skip the movie and stay within my perfect novel fantasy. Books are far better than movies, simply because they develop the story better than it is possible to do in the constraints of a movie. The author of a novel can take as many pages as necessary to create the characters and tension to complete the story. A movie has constraints: time, budget, and the attension span of the audience. But the new Jane Eyre movie has basically been screaming "Watch Me, Erin!", and after reading the book again, I think I'll cave to the pressure and watch it.

I think the best way to watch a movie of this type is to first read the novel. But what about you? Do you like to let the movie spark your interest in reading the book?

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