Book, movie, or both?

Book, movie, or both?

Within the fantasy genre, you have people who prefer to read the book first and then watch the movie adaptation. There are also people who prefer to only watch the movie, and then there’s me.

I enjoy reading the book either before or after watching the movie. I really don’t mind, because in my head, the main characters look different from the ones in the movie.

I can’t really explain it, but to me, they are like two separate stories that just happen to be similar. So, if the characters in the movie have a certain look, my mind translates them differently when I read the book. And the other way around, if I read the book first, I don’t mind when the actors in the movie look different from the way I had imagined them in my head.

For me, it’s always about the feeling. The feeling of the story, of what happens and what needs to happen to reach the ending. Preferably a happy ending, of course.

But regardless of what you prefer, or which order works best for you, I think there is one thought behind it all:

“Is the journey exciting enough to make my everyday life disappear?”

Another thing I love is that after reading the book or watching the movie, the story stays with you. Maybe for a little while, maybe for the rest of your life. And that feeling of connection can happen with both.

I think we can all agree on this, you can bring that feeling back without reading or watching the story again, and that’s what we do it for.

Right?