Movie or book first

[DaCoSim]

Whether it’s a movie or a series or a series of movies, if it is based off of the book, which order do you prefer? Reading and then watching or watching and then reading?

 

[Seastar]

I can't get myself to read anymore but if a book I read a long time ago suddenly gets adapted that will sometimes interest me.
Otherwise I will probably just watch it without the book.

 

[Midoriya]

I don't read books anymore really, so movie/series it is.

 

[Belle T]

If I already know that it's based on a book, then I'd probably prefer to read the book and then watch the film. Movies tend to have a way of biasing your reading in a way that I feel isn't necessarily true for the reverse. However, with contemporary media, it's more likely that watching the movie will be the thing that prompts me to check out the book in the first place. So unless it's based on a book that's been in the public domain for over a hundred years, it's very rare that I ever actually do the order of "book first, then movie."

 

[seliph]

i prefer to watch the movie first since it takes up way less of my time, and then if i enjoyed the movie enough i'll read the book. i don't personally find that anything is ruined for me either way.

 

[Halloqueen]

While I would ideally read the source material before watching the film or series adaptation, more often than not I end up watching movies/series before checking out the books they're based on. As a creative myself, I'm interested in consuming the work as it was constructed and intended by its author. Movies and series are simply more easily accessible so it's just how things tend to go for me.

 

[S.J.]

I prefer reading the books, though I would rather only read the book or only watch the film, but not both. I find that after watching the films, I slowly lose the imagery that I had created through the descriptions in the book, and I think that's kind of sad!

As a kid, I read the first four or so Harry Potter books, the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, and the first Twilight book, and then watched the films later. While I'm not a fan of any of them now, none of the films lived up to the books in my opinion.

I also read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and watched the associated films. I don't think the LotR films live up to the books, but I did enjoy them a lot! I have strong opinions about The Hobbit films, so I won't get into that lol.

I watched The Wheel of Time series, and haven't read the books. I've enjoyed the series a lot so far! I don't see much reason to read the books at this stage unfortunately, as I'd find it hard to dissociate the actors/scenery in the series from what was described in the books (and therefore wouldn't be able to imagine it for myself).

Overall, I prefer reading, and I'd generally rather read the book than watch the film, though I guess it depends how much it interests me/draws me in!

 

[LadyDestani]

I prefer to watch the movie or series first and then read the book. Sometimes I do run into a problem with that because I carry the image of the actor over and a different description can be jarring. But that's usually only a minor complaint.

If I do it the other way aound, though, I'm setting myself up for major disappointment. The movie/series will never be as good or include as much detail as the book.

Watching the movie first gives me a glimpse into the world and story which I can later fill in by reading the book. The only instance where I've done it book first then movie and still enjoyed the movies was The Lord of the Rings, and it had been a few years since I'd read the books so they weren't fresh in my mind.

 

[duckvely]

i prefer to watch the movies first! if i like the series enough then i start reading the books

 

[Lancelot]

Movie, then book imo. Simply for the fact that I’d rather not know what’s going to happen when I watch a film, whereas I don’t really care when I read a book

 

[JellyBeans]

I think it depends! as a general rule I prefer to read the book first but only if it’s one I’ve been intending on reading or a very well known one. sometimes i just don’t have the time to read it first though

 

[Roxxy]

I would normally read the book before watching a movie. It does sometimes spoil it if you have your own mental picture built up and the movies vision is different.

 

[Xara]

I’ve always preferred to watch the movie/series adaptation first! Despite how much I like to imagine and daydream, I’ve never really liked imagining what characters, places etc look like based on their descriptions in the book. I like to watch the movie/series first to have a general idea of the visuals, and then I’ll read the book to compare, see if anything’s different in either adaptation etc.

 

[SkyKnight03]

I watch way more movies, but I enjoy reading more. Movies are just less of a commitment. Even if I'm not enjoying a movie, it's only an hour or two lost, and I get the benefit of being able to talk about it afterwards. Sometimes I won't watch a movie series until I've read the book. (Such as The Hobbit).

 

[Aniko]

Movie first and if I like it, I read the book, the book is always better than the movie. If I like the book and then watch the movie I'm often disappointed.

 

[Goldi Locks]

Usually watch the film first so I'm not disappointed by how bad the film is in comparison. There are some exceptions though, including most of Stephen King's work, since a lot of his earlier stuff was written whilst completely off his nut. And it shows. And it wouldn't translate well to screen at all. But then there's some stuff you will sit there during the film, really worrying it might be shown and Stephen King will be as cancelled as JK Rowling and we shall never even get to see more of these lovely palatable adaptations that people love so much again.

 

[Zane]

I just watch the movie/series and if I really like it I’ll read the book. I don’t tend to watch a lot of things based on books besides Stephen King though, because I’ve already read all the books and I enjoy the cheese of the original film adaptations.

 

[DaCoSim]

lol I actually forgot to give my opinion on this. So, in a lot of cases, I will watch the movie first, or the first movie in a series of movies first and if I like it, I will read the book. Of course in a few cases, I read the book 1st before the movie came out, and I would say honestly Seven out of 10 times-ish I will be disappointed in the movie or series.

Some examples I guess just because I feel like going into it. Ha ha ha I watched the first and second Harry Potter movies before I started on the books. I honestly loved both pretty equally, and think they were very well done. There are a few things of course that bothered me that they left out or what they concentrated on versus the book but for the most part, I would honestly give the movies a nine out of 10. I’ve always had all of the Harry Potter books, physically, but after having spinal surgery, and having really bad carpal tunnel syndrome, reading, a physical book is extremely hard for me now and my mom just sent me a birthday card with a Kindle card to put the whole series on my Kindle. I just started reading them again and I am loving it because it’s been years since I’ve reread them. I refused to watch Game of Thrones forever even though my dad absolutely begged me to watch and read them, but finally I decided to watch it, and I was sucked in immediately, while waiting for one of the seasons I got into the books and read all of them as well.

Stephen King is whole other life in itself. When I was young I watched the movies first, and as I got older I got into reading his work, and for the most part, I loved everything he’s written that I have read, except for Carrie which I kinda thought was a boring read.

I loved the hunger games series, books, and movies. I also did become kind of a twilight junkie for a bit though I did like the books better and I remember almost throwing my remote at the TV at the end of the last movie when everything happened that did not happen in the book until I realized it was her vision, and I’m sure a lot of people were on the same page as me on that one.

 

[Goldi Locks]

Stephen King is whole other life in itself. When I was young I watched the movies first, and as I got older I got into reading his work, and for the most part, I loved everything he’s written that I have read, except for Carrie which I kinda thought was a boring read.

And it didn't even have the iconic scene that made the original film so unsettling.

 

[Zane]

Stephen King is whole other life in itself. When I was young I watched the movies first, and as I got older I got into reading his work, and for the most part, I loved everything he’s written that I have read, except for Carrie which I kinda thought was a boring read.

Fun fact Carrie was actually his first novel. I found that out because I also felt it was very rough and not as good as his other works lol