Movies or Books?

David Clarkson
November 10, 2016
Personal Choice

Is it bad that this upcoming generation prefers good movies over books? If they portray roughly the same story and message are they basically the same? Take a series such as the Star Wars or Harry Potter series, two of the most popular series over the past 2 decades. Both were made exponentially more popular by their movies, not their books. Though the books in the Harry Potter series were exceptionally well written, the series as a whole received most of its fame from their movies, even though the movies fall well short of the books in almost every aspect. Even I remember reading the first Harry Potter book, and I really did plan to read them all, but as the movies started popping out, I quickly lost interested in reading anymore of the books at all. I'm sure the C.S Lewis series shows a similar trend, that people know it more frequently from the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe movie than do from reading the books. Honestly, I think that this is a problem, and it comes down to people just being lazy. The only aspects films are more proficient in are accessibility, and the fact that you can watch them and learn the story in 2 hours or less. Books make us smarter, books tell the story in full detail, and this trend should be the other way around. That is just the way it is, we are lazy, and unfortunately I don't think it will change any time soon.