Books vs. Movies

"The book is always better than the movie."

That statement is what I firmly believed for most of my growing up years. As I got older and saw more movies and let go of the fact that each movie had to be a page-by-page adaptation of my beloved books, I began to enjoy both the book and the movie version. Indeed, at times I prefer the movie to the book. Granted, those times are few and far between but sometimes the movie fleshes out things that don't really come to life on the page, or makes a more coherent narrative. And I loved watching Gone With The Wind, simply to see the dresses, never mind that the filmmakers left out several of Scarlett O'Hara's children.

You can find a list on Goodreads titled "The Movie Was Better Than the Book". I disagree with many of them, but here are some I agree with:

• Fight Club
• Forrest Gump
• Big Fish
• Eddie and the Cruisers
• The Hours
• Starship Troopers
• The Natural

Sometimes I like both the movie and the book best because they both bring out good qualities in the story:

• Fried Green Tomatoes
• The Orchid Thief/Adaptation
• Atonement

That said, about 90% of the time the book is at least as good as the movie, but mostly better.