Are Books Better Than Movies?

When you read a book, your imagination is running wild. That’s the amazing thing about the written word, you cannot simply look at  text as if it’s abstract squiggles.

Words have meaning and, more importantly, those meanings have the power to create images. The cool thing is that those images are always personal. So, when I saw “The flowers smell wonderful”, every single person will have a slightly different sensation. Those with a truly active imagination may even be able to smell them. Your imagination is a wonderful tool.

But hold on, what  is imagination? Well, the dictionary defines it as:

the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

So that very much applies to reading a book. After all, you only have a sheet of paper with some ink on it, yet it enables one to be transported to different times, different countries and even completely different scenarios.

Why is it good to stimulate one’s imagination?

Well, the human imagination is just like a muscle, so it’s a case of “use it or lose it”. Nobody has the choice to completely stop using their imagination, but they can become so reliant on crutches that they cannot walk on their own two feet. Many people have this experience when they go back to reading books again. At first they cannot seem to create a vivid picture and follow the storyline but with enough perseverance they find that their imagination can create a far more realistic and enjoyable experience than any movie.

Imagination is also the foundation of creativity. Creativity is all about forming new ideas and concepts, and you simply cannot do that without an active imagination. This doesn’t just mean that you have to read lots of books, you need to have lots of experiences.

This is where movies fall short, even with the advent of advanced CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). The problem is that everything is pretty much given to you on the a silver plate. You don’t have to imagine what the characters look or sound like or what the surroundings look like.

This can also can limit the scope of a movie, especially if the budget is somewhat limited. CGI can be incredibly expensive and so can on-location shooting so unless an ambitious movie has solid financial backing, it will not be made or, if it is made, it may be clearly a “budget flick”. Very good movies try and leave certain scenes to the imagination and the effect is always that much more powerful.

So I guess it comes down to the fact that watching is a passive pastime  while reading is an active pastime.