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Film & TV

Film & TV
JB

Personally I would always say the novels are OG and therefore considered the best form. What the movies do though is help bring the work to a wider audience as they aren't necessarily the easiest of books to follow, with extensive lore and a deep plot.

After seeing the original version of the movie a few years ago, which while still watchable, was very dated and had a huge plot crammed in to just the over 2 hours run time, I feel the new iterations have really done the work of Frank Herbert justice.

They are well written, with a great cast and the visuals and score make the movies appealing to a mass audience. While still very complex movies, that are a lot more accessible now and for most this will probably be the best way to experience Herbert's work

Sturmer's avatar

For me, the age-old debate isn’t about choosing between reading a book or watching its movie adaptation; it’s about deciding which to experience first. I often lean towards watching the movie first, and my reasoning is twofold:

  1. Firstly, movies are concise. In about 90 minutes, they provide a comprehensive introduction to the universe, characters, and plot, allowing me to quickly decide if I'm drawn to the story as a whole.

  2. Movies, being inherently shorter, often omit minor details or even entire subplots present in the books. So, when I do read the book after watching the movie, I'm treated to a depth of information that enriches my understanding and appreciation of the story.

However, this approach has its downsides:

  1. The movie's casting and visuals can heavily influence my imagination, somewhat hindering my ability to visualize the story independently when I read the book.

  2. Secondly, if a movie adaptation is poorly executed and fails to capture my interest, I might unjustly dismiss the book, missing out on potentially engaging literature.

Regarding Villeneuve’s “Dune” movies, they have only raised the priority in my reading list. Each film increases my eagerness to dive into the books, confident (in a good way) that the novels have much more to offer.

Alex Sinclair's avatar

It's a difficult dilemma, and I agree it can go both ways. Your first downside - having it influence your imagination - is my main concern with going show-first. I struggled with the LOTR books after watching the films for that reason. But conversely, the Dune movies have lit a flame under me to go and read the novels.

Emilia's avatar

I think the value of literature in its original form can never be under-stated. You receive a merit in reading a book that is so rarely captured in film or other forms of media. Dune, as a long and somewhat unaccessible book for most can surely be captured in essence in film, but I am unsure if you can ever wholly capture the essence of literature in film, particularly as someone who studies literature :)

FirestormGamingTeam's avatar

So, with this, you cannot compare books to movies, obviously in such things as The Witcher there are similarities, however, this being said, the issue with Books vs. movies, is the detail.

For instance.

  1. Game Of Thrones - Whilst the film does follow the books closely, the amount of information missing from the TV series is quite profound.

  2. Harry Potter - This was a classic case of the studio not putting enough effort into making the films and making three of the Potter films "love stories" instead of about Harry's journey.

Now with Dune, I think it's fairly easy to supplant the information from the books into the TV series and previous films. The general principle or journey of Dune can be easily adapted into a show or film.

Book, personally, I will always prefer books of animated/TV/movies - That's just personal preference.

mar1gold 's avatar

I think there's always merit in reading the books of any screen-adaptation. Since you can get some wider context and world building that's not able to be in the film due to time constraints.

However, Dune is a bit of a separate case since it is such a long, wordy book. I think most people can just enjoy the films since they are so good :) It's more of an accessible way to experience the story.

Sturmer's avatar

Book VS Movie VS Book-then-Movies VS Movie-then-Book.... eeh FIGHT? =)

Sturmer's avatar

Missed the submit button =)

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