With a few notable exceptions, I'm looking at you, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the book is pretty much always superior to the movie adaptation. (Really though, that book was kind of a bore, J.K. Rowling.) Everyone who has ever read a book and then spent $11 dollars on a ticket to see it played out on the silver screen and left the theater saying, "The book was better," knows the feeling. For those who merely watch the movie and then can't understand why your friend who read the story first has an air of superiority, this is your time to understand where he's coming from. It's not that your friend didn't like the movie, it's just that 120 minutes isn't enough time.
1. The cast isn't your characters
No matter how good of a job the casting directors do, actors can't perfectly match the author's descriptions and the resulting images you get in your head. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, but it's never quite as perfect as what you can create in your head. They couldn't even get a yellow cat to be Buttercup in "The Hunger Games." *This was later remedied, but the cat in the first movie definitely wasn't yellow.*
2. Characters lose backstories
Inner monologues and things that are introduced as memories often can't be translated seamlessly into the movie version and are then cut. Most recently, I missed the story of Lou's wardrobe and her past (I won't give too much away, but if you know the book, I'm referring to the maze) from "Me Before You," but there are a million others that I've missed, too.
3. Plot points are left out
They have to be. There's no way to incorporate hours or days worth of reading into a two-hour movie, but that's not to say I didn't miss S.P.E.W. in the "Harry Potter" movies or Peeta losing his leg in "The Hunger Games." It's completely understandable, but you should also understand why we readers like to have more.
4. Characters are missing
You know how in "Gossip Girl," Dan combines Nate and Eric into a single character in his book? It's kind of like that. There are minor characters in a bunch of books who do important tasks, but are left out of the movie because the company can't cast that many people. Madge Undersee gives Katniss her Mockingjay pin in the books, but if you haven't read them, you probably were lost after "Madge." There are tons of Hogwarts students you will never know, and character's siblings you'll never see if you don't crack open the pages.
5. Timing is everything
Time is the reason for actual plot points being left out, but it also causes time to be left out. Every fight scene or relationship that seemed rushed in theaters was much more timely under the reading lamp. If movies were days long, they would make more sense, but everyone involved would be out of money and that could be a problem.
6. We just want more
So next time you hear your favorite reader say, "the book was better," don't take it as a complaint. Take it as a suggestion, to experience more for yourself, and to look deeper into this world you have just discovered, because it's worth it.
