by Ron Cook
- There once were two goats that happened to wander behind the Universal Studios in Hollywood. While they were rummaging through the trash, the first goat found a tasty piece of pizza cardboard. The second goat found some old film from a reel and started eating that. The first goat says, “Don’t tell me you like eating that?” To which the second goat replies … “It’s not bad, but the book was better!”
I claim the male gender a bit advanced along the spectrum of age; mature yet not quite geriatric (geriatric: an older person who needs special care); just a tad older than ten in dog years. In life I have been somewhat of a gypsy. Michigan was home as a child into early adulthood. Vietnam drafted me into the service, but thankfully, not to Vietnam. Junior and senior years of high school were spent in the seminary studying to become a Catholic priest. I thoroughly enjoyed the seminary experience yet yielded to the lay life and had a wonderful family. This was during the Vatican II years featuring the Santa Claus Pope, John XXIII. Great stories took place within those cloistered seminary walls. We’ll talk about that during the main course … Let’s leave off there for now and move on to the subject at hand … books and movies.
Some writers like to lay out an organized path, and then follow it. I prefer to take the idea at hand and go with that, the path less traveled? Didn’t Yogi Berra say, “If you see a fork in the road … take it? Perhaps you’ll find a spoon and a knife later!”
I grew up during some of the Golden Age of movies. The 1950’s and 60’s powerfully enlarged the scope of movie-going. Color came into movies during the 1930’s with films like the Wizard of Oz and others. The Wizard was adopted from the rights of a book by Frank Baum. It took several years to get funding, and several more to make the film. Oz did not really take off until the late 1940’s when it was re-released. Television gave it much more exposure. I remember seeing this film every Thanksgiving, starting in 1956, on television for many years of my childhood. Of course, you had to have a color television to get the full impact. The film resembles the book, but like most films, cannot contain the vast number of details of the book. Oz was a great film but lost in the awards the year it was released to Gone with the Wind, also a film based on a book written by Margaret Mitchell.
I don’t remember many memorable books during my school years save Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, and Elliot’s Silas Marner. While in the seminary current books from the secular world flew around like wildfire! Catcher in the Rye, and all of Ian Fleming’s 007 books were the most popular. During the two mandatory study halls each day we would diligently hide a novel in a larger textbook making it much easier to stay awake. More great films based on books came out during my high school years. Who can forget Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and Camelot among others? What happened later in book history found books written based on movies! I’m not sure I get that one …
How often have you said, “I’m sure glad I read the book before I saw the movie.” Books have so much more detail than film could ever contain. Films would run six or eight hours or so if they faithfully followed the book. Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code would have been lost on me without the book’s details I already knew! I go to movies to see the artistry. I go to see what others (professional artists in their fields) can do to bring to life the words from the written page. I always stay until all the end credits have run. So many skills/people are needed to create the magic of the cinema. It is amazing to realize that one author of a book gave so many film production people and actors jobs!! I respect and admire that. My brother is a professional photographer by trade and skill. I can’t do what he does, but I sure enjoy seeing what he sees!!
So why read a book instead of watching a film? The simple answer is that a film uses someone else’s view of what a book or a script sees. Films are passive; all the work is done; you just passively watch. Your eyes, your ears, your mind are all fed the story. Reading … is completely active. You must use your eyes, (or braille if you are blind), to first interpret the symbols, letters, and numbers to then translate the message of each word, sentence, paragraph and chapter into some sort of sense. Now, that is just the beginning … the order of each word, sentence, etc. then must be recreated in your mind’s eyes into shapes, colors, scenes, and characters. All of this happens simultaneously as you actively engage in the book and its story. At Saint Joe’s Seminary we all enjoyed the Sean Connery 007 films, but we had already lived those stories through the books we passed around in study hall. The films gave life to our imagination … we got to enjoy the story twice!!
When given the choice between reading a book or seeing a movie, the common selection is the movie. This easy choice brings us an end to the story quickly, but leaves out the active use of the eyes, brain, and the rest of our creative juices. Sure, it’s easier to watch a film. I love great films. Today Independent film companies tell some interesting stories. I like to watch foreign films to hear the language. Reading the subtitles is an additional bonus! More sequels of DC and Marvel comics and action films are taking over this money-making industry. This is the trend that may reduce the artistic value of film storytelling. I hope not. The Avatar series is interesting.
Reading takes more work. Weeding a garden takes more work, but then the garden feeds you. So too with a great book. I love to hold a book in my hands. It’s fun to bookmark the page and look forward to the next chapter. It’s great to look up a new word from the story and adding it to my spoken or written vocabulary. These are all perks of reading the book versus seeing the movie. And one more thought … not all great books are made into films.
Thanks for reading!!
Here’s a poem to let your senses and imagination bring alive…
Rock Me
By Jeanine Renee
We are the walkers –
Lonely souls walking alleys,
Ditch banks and rail tracks –
Poetry and songs heaving
From the dirt beneath our feet.
Searching for answers to questions
Our lips have not yet formed,
Our quest eternally elusive
Pulling us onward
Even as we rest –
Rocked by the rhythm of our steps,
The repetition of the rails.
(printed with permission from the author)
PHOTO CREDIT: Roger The Artful Dodger