As a writer, I always want to say that the book was better than the movie. I can think of several instances off the top of my head where I feel this way: Harry Potter, Silver Linings Playbook, The Cider House Rules, etc. But I can also think of one or two instances where I liked the movie better. The one I always come back to is the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I thought I’d add a segment where my readersĀ can debate me on these topics. As I see movie’s that I’ve previously enjoyed as books, I’ll post one or two points and let the reader take over the discussion in the comments. Let’s see how this works.
My first post is about Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I read the book over the summer and I saw the movie last week. I’ll set my argument up here. Feel free to take any form you want if you choose to disagree or agree with me.
The Book
Pros: Development of Ender through his childhood, ability to take the ending far into the future, subplot of Peter and Val’s political work on Earth.
Cons: Showed Ender as almost superhuman in strength and intelligence at a young age (6), unable to show too much action when Ender was not narrating (limited to the first part of the chapters when Anderson and Graff talk).
Image from impawards.com
The Movie
Pros: Amazing depiction of Battle School, concentrated Ender’s journey into a short time so his mental exhaustion was even more plausible.
Cons: Compressed timing took away from Ender’s character development (Thank you The Wanna-Be Writer for this), had to leave out sub-plot of his siblings back on Earth, left out colonies at the end.
So, what’s my end opinion? I liked the movie visually, but the story in the book was much better. In the end, that’s what we’re going for. The book was better.
What did you think? I’d love to hear other opinions. Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought.
Until next time, write on.
Taking On a World of Words 