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....
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...Agnes, M. Ed. of the book. (2005). The 'Secondary' of Dictionary (Fourth Edition) -. Canada
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?
"William Golding's Lord of the FLies: Man's Capacity for Evil." Teen Ink. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
From a structural perspective, movies and novels appear as polar opposites. A film uses actors, scripts, and a set in order to create a visual that can grab and keep the attention of their viewers. However, an author strives to incorporate deeper meaning into their books. Despite these differences in media, 1984 and The Hunger Games present unique, yet similar ideas.
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema." Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden and Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
The PBS article on film adaptation points out the difference between written text and film, and the struggle of adapting a book into a movie. Some novels are written in third person and require a narrator. Filmmakers have to be able to replace third person with more dialogue and some first person thinking. Filmmakers also struggle by removing the visual interpretation and imagination by those who read the novel. As some novels take many days to read, filmmakers must also reduce the length of the film to keep the viewers attention. Some of these additions only can be applied by “using tools to recreate and refashion scenes”. With “refashioned scenes”, comes new themes. For example, the reader and viewer notice this in Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” which seems to show that the advancement in technology could possibly pose as a threat to future society.
In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the representation of childhood as times of tribulation and terror along with the community accepted portrayal of innocence shapes the theme of civilization vs savagery.
In the past century, many classic books, short stories, and novella have been adapted into on-screen versions. This is because some people may find that watching a story unfold in front of their eyes more enticing than reading from a book. Others enjoy being able to see and compare a story they may have read come to life on screen. Since there are so many aspects that have to be altered in order to make the movie appeal to the audience, the faithfulness, or lack of, to the original work can cause readers to dislike the cinematic version. However, a true work of fidelity is unreachable because “it sets up an unreliable standard for evaluation” (pg. Naremore). Films and the stories they are derived from cannot be compared because of how different
Salam Rushdie, author of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, once claimed that seeing the classic movie The Wizard of Oz “made a writer of [him] (London: Palgrave-Macmillian, 1992).” He continued on to explain how the movie later influenced the novel, because it provided the “right voice” as he attempted to create a story that could transcend the boundary that typically “ghettoizes children’s books from adult literature” (London: Palgrave-Macmillian, 1992). While adult readers did tend to shun and avoid children’s literature, movie adaptations of children’s books (such as The Wizard of Oz) were able to attract audiences of all ages. As Rushdie himself states, the movie’s influence on the text is not subtle on any level. In both cases, a pre-adolescent
Literature }is a writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life~. Rees (1984, p. 2). Whereas the novel, as a precised particular genre of literature, is a narrative prose of considerable length,which merges reality with fantasy and imagination to imbue its characters and actions with a sense of fiction. In answer to the second part of the question, Nin (1972, p.168) argues that }the function of the novel is to give you an emotional experience....
Books will give the readers a look into a world full of color, with details that movies can never provide. Many times stories will be all about the details, details that pull the story together.
Also, books usually have more characters and give continued suspense so that the reader will be hooked or addicted to finish the book to find out the story. On the other hand, movie producers need to eliminate so many details about the story in order to squeeze everything into one to two hours. Due to this, those people who love detail information about stories usually prefer books than movies as movies does not have a detailed information about the story. Furthermore, reading books can not only enhance the reader’s vocabulary and creativity, but also increase their reading and writing skills, while watching movies only provides entertainment (Lee, wordpress.com).