BOOKS VS. MOVIES – IS THERE A WINNER?

by the CINE-BOOKS blogger

My wife and I are always arguing about how to entertain our child. I claim there’s nothing better than a good movie. What’s more satisfying than watching “King Arthur” or the new “Alien” movie with a tub of popcorn, anyway? At the same time, while reading so many books, I would nearly fall asleep. My wife argues back there’s nothing good in movies. They slow your brain down, make your language and cognition processes poorer.

This brought me to the pros and cons of books and movies. I’ve searched for some opinions on the web, so here are the points that I consider important.  

3 KEY PROS OF BOOKS:

1. Books train our brain and develop thinking processes.

There’s a wide-spread and motivated belief that books make you smarter, broaden your outlook, and enhance cognitive performance. Books fall to the intellectuals’ lot, as people who rule the world are usually avid readers.  

Scientists at Stanford University proved that the process of reading trains the cognitive abilities of the brain. This effect doesn’t occur when watching TV or playing computer games.

This is supported by the opinions of so many successful people who praise books, such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Oprah Winfrey. So, if you want to be successful, you definitely shouldn’t give up on books!    

2. Books have more potential to enrich your experience.

Arguably, words are much more powerful than movie images. This is especially true if we talk about a narration created by a marvelous writer. The piece of art as a whole work might be incredibly influential.

It’s sufficed to remember that so many sacred books (e.g. the Bible, Koran, Torah) and even secular ones have been constantly changing people’s outlook throughout history.

Words give a lot of room for your interpretation and imagination, which potentially can evoke more emotions within you and enrich your experience while movies construe a plot and often change the original narrative.

 3. Books are irreplaceable for diving into the culture.

If you want to know a certain people’s culture better, you’d better read their books. Watching movies would be not preferable in this case. As the outstanding author Ray Bradbury claims:

“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” 

That is, we are deeply rooted in our culture and books are irreplaceable. Reading is often a more habitual and accessible form of leisure. Therefore, books are like our business cards.

3 KEY PROS OF MOVIES:

1. Movies are more alluring, visually appealing, and considered by many as more enjoyable.

Let’s be frank—most of us just love movies. To a greater degree, films are a part of popular culture, which functions partly to reduce stress. Here’s what Carmen Gaming posted on debate.com:  

"Movies just have that vibe everyone loves. It’s more relaxing, too! In movies, you can tell if a character is mad, sad, happy, drunk, and more. In books, you only read words."

Sometimes, it’s even plausible to enjoy movie adaptations. Even intellectual readers love to go to the movies once in a while. So, movies are not all that bad.

2. Movies can unite people socially, books are rarely read in a group. 

Nothing much to add here. Watching a movie is the perfect activity for a party. For example, people would rarely go on a date to read a book. They would more likely go to the movies.

3. Movies are helpful for those who can’t or aren’t very good at reading.

There are quite a lot of people who just can’t read books. They have conditions such as ADHD or dyslexia. Here’s another post from debate.com: 

"I am dyslexic; therefore, I find it very hard to read books. However, movies are simple for me to understand and consume. Like you cannot see the Hunger Games girl’s raw beauty through the book: well, I'm assuming this."

Besides, some authors are just not friendly with narratives. If we remove the topic of conditions, it’s worth noting that so many people in the world have “mosaic thinking”, Meaning we’re overwhelmed by the information thrown at us. As a result, we restrain from perceiving extra information.

This all brought me to a thought that we might need a new format that combines the advantages of both books and movies.

CINE-BOOK might work very well for these purposes

• We carefully stick to the original text
• We add visual images and special effects to create a work of art
• We supply a professional soundtrack.

We create a unique experience — you can read, listen to, and watch the cine-books.

Books have never been so alive before!

As Stephen King once wrote, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” 

I bet the Master of Horror might have said the same about our CINE-BOOKS!