Books Take A Back Seat To Major Motion Pictures

By Lauren Maceri

When the titles Harry Potter, Twilight, and Lord of the Rings are thrown around, the immediate association with them lies in the blockbuster hits they have become. 

 But before these movies made their way onto the silver screen, they were mass-produced and sold in bookstores. That’s right, these exceedingly popular stories first became books but are quickly finding their way to the backseat of their fabricated widescreen versions. 

Many people all over are subsequently replacing literature with the alternative. It is rare to find students and adults indulging themselves in a good read purely for the sake of enjoyment and maybe to expand their intellectual minds. 

The issue of time has become such a factor that there are other things people feel they can be doing instead of spending one or two hours on a novel. 

But when we take a closer look at how free time is spent among consumers, television and video games play an integral part in entertainment purposes. 

There are plenty of students who would rather spend hours upon hours playing mind-numbing video games or watching marathons of their favorite reality shows than opening up a book and simply reading.

A lot of this has aided to the decline in book sales over the years. Is it because students are associating literature with school? 

General education courses and many English courses require some type of study in literature. 

Albeit, having to read five to eight books throughout the course of a semester can become pretty stressful, that I will agree with, but is this why students don’t want to take the time to read books of interest themselves outside of the confines of course requirements? 

Reading can be a completely enriching experience for those who embrace the creative mind. Being able to muster up your own idea of a character, setting or plot based on the descriptions in a novel adds a sense of imaginative creativity that you aren’t offered though movies. 

The images are made for you and your whole conception of the book can become skewed. 

Avid book readers will argue that movies take a lot away from the quality of the book itself, and it’s true. For the sake of time, and probably money, production companies will alter the story to fit a specific time slot. There is no telling what kinds of information will be absent from the original and so the outcome of the film and its success is all up in the air. 

But maybe having books made into movies isn’t such a terrible thing. There have been movies I’ve watched that I would find out later had been based off of a novel. If the movie is good enough, my immediate thought is, “Now I want to read the book.” 

But what is to be done about all of the other fascinating and well-written novels that have yet to be touched by the young minds of our generation? 

Books are rarely seen as a fun activity to do if bored or if time permits, but reading for pure enjoyment can really benefit individuals. It helps in practicing the skill of focus. 

To fully comprehend and understand a novel, you must immerse yourself in the text. This kind of skill can be helpful in the classroom. 

By reading, you can learn to teach yourself to pay more attention to the important information and even gain better comprehending skills. 

But aside from the academic benefits of reading, there is so much more personality in novels that many of us take for granted. 

So instead of waiting until the next big book-turned-movie comes out, go out and actually read the book. You might find it to be more enjoyable, and beneficial, in the long run.