Novels vs Films

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The Webster's New World College dictionary (2005) defines novels as relatively long fictional prose narrative and films as a sequence of photographs projected on a screen in such a rapid succession that they create an optical illusion of movement (p.529 & p.988). These two genres have been the main topic of an age-old debate. The debate revolves around the question, which are better novels or films? People tend to have different opinions on whether books or movies tell a better story.The debate continues to grow due to Hollywood making more and more movies based on books. To illustrate my views on this debate, I will be comparing and contrasting the novel and film versions of William Golding's The Lord of the Flies and Toni Morrison's Beloved. While both novels and films provide their audience with a great form of entertainment, each genre has it’s pros and cons, and deciding whether a novel or film tells a better story is dependent on the audience’s particular preferences. Novels allow the reader to create the images, voices, and background of the story, using their imagination to visualize the story for themselves. On the other hand, a good director can take a great piece of literature and turn it into an amazing visual experience. However, the film is dependent on the director's vision and audience has little say on how the story is portrayed. I would rather read novels than watch films because novels provide better story experiences for their audiences through increased creative freedom through imagination, lack of time limits, increased exposure, and the social experience it provides. I will be using two novels turned films for my analysis of this topic. I will be using examples from Golding's The Lord of the Flies and Morrison's Beloved.... ... middle of paper ... ...Agnes, M. Ed. of the book. (2005). The 'Secondary' of Dictionary (Fourth Edition) -. Canada

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