Movie debates #1: Movies vs Books - Changes are justified

I hope it is fun. The first round was for acceptance, but since my opponent has jumped in so will I. I urge voters not to worry about this slight breach in the stated outline. Since he will now have a round up on me I will place some rebuttals in my opening. Opening StatementI would like to start by talking about how books and movies differ in the way they tell a story. I will not be debating that movies are necessarily better than books. I think that they are completely different types of medium for telling a story. Most often there is one complaint about movies based on books. That complaint is changes I will justify most of these changes. And hopefully show show that they usually for the better. Better in regards to the way they tell a story. Essentially, I feel that movies are typically as good as the books they are based on. BooksAt this point I am going to exclude comic books. Later we can remerge them. But for now I want to focus primarily on books - novels, short stories, novellas, etc. I want to do this because there are more movies based off novels than comics. Because of this we will more than likely be referring novels or the sort more often than comic books. Novels all fall under the category of Literature. Which basically means they are written works. What this means is that when we read a novel, we depend on the author to describe to us what is happening. That is the purpose of a novel. To tell a story. This is done primarily by narrative. . http://en.wikipedia.org...http://en.wikipedia.org...https://en.wikipedia.org......https://en.wikipedia.org......https://en.wikipedia.org...https://en.wikipedia.org...http://www.thefreedictionary.com......Comic BooksComic books are a bit different. They tell a story, but also show aspects of it via story panels. These story panels are stills. However it is still a printed medium. We can now remerge, kind of. . http://en.wikipedia.org...MoviesMovies, also known as films, are a visual medium. I challenge anyone that reads this to pick up a book about writing a screen play. What you will see very early on is a reminder that the purpose of a movie is to show the audience the story. Show. Don't tell. (To illustrate this I will include a couple of links to sites that give advice to beginner screen writers). . https://en.wikipedia.org......http://www.screenwriting.info......https://thescriptlab.com......It's apples and oranges, folks. We do not go to a movie to be told a story. We go to a movie to see a story being told. Novels and movies are two completely different mediums. Not only that, but these two mediums have different purposes. If one goes to a movie expecting to be told a story then they are going with a misunderstanding of the purpose of movies. One should be going with the expectation of seeing a story. One more time folks, apples and oranges. My opponent starts by saying, "Books help us understand, what's going on. In books it is easier to see what is going on in the characters heads. This actually makes character action and motivation make more sense. Instead of just running through the dark and then for some reason veering toward the deserted and creepy building we can sometimes hear their thoughts and the character can explain and justify their logic. "This illustrates the differences in the way the two mediums tell the story. In a movie it is the responsibility of the actor to portray what they are feeling. If they are angry we should see it. The dialogue should help explain it. But more importantly, we should be shown why. We should especially be shown why if the character is hiding his/her actions. This is the first justification of why changes are needed in adapting book to movie. .. Showing thoughts or emotions that were in the book. To understand why this is a justification, I must discuss this in some depth. I hate to use the example I am about to use. I am racking my brain. I am sure there is another obvious example. But I am in a Hunger Games debate also, so this example is in my fore thoughts. The Mocking Jay Pin. How did Katniss get it? At this point I would like to say that I will be quoting directly from either the novel or movie. But I will provide links to over views. BookEach district is allowed a symbol of their district. Katniss receives the pin from Madge Undersee. We find out in the next movie that it was originally her aunts. Her aunt had worn it in the 50th Hunger Games. She had been killed. . http://en.wikipedia.org...http://thehungergames.wikia.com...MovieMany people that don't like this change say that Katniss got the pin from Greasy Sae. This is kind of true, but not. When she was at the Hub selling what she had killed earlier, she was also looking for something to give Prim, her sister. She asked Greasy Sae how much. Greasy Sae, knowing it was Reaping Day, let her have it. But the entire purpose was to give it to Prim. She does that and tells her it will protect her. After volunteering, Prim gives it back to Katniss to protect her. Katniss actually gets the pin from Prim. . http://en.wikipedia.org...(movie)Why is this a justified change? Here is another thing that any Screenwriting 101 book will tell you. One page of writing equals one minute of film time. Films should fall between 90-120 minutes. Every scene must advance plot. Changing the way Katniss gets the pin cuts two unimportant characters out of the film. And saves film time. But it does much more. It ties Prim to the pin and makes it mean more to Katniss. This is an improvement over the book. That was a lot of typing to say the following: The movie made a change to better tell the story the way a movie is intended to. .. .by showing us the attachment between Katniss and Prim. . http://www.scriptdoctoreric.com...http://www.scriptwritingsecrets.com...http://www.scribendi.com... "Movies are bad, because some of the scenes are not intended for kids like sexual harassment, inappropriate languages and bloody content. "If that is the measure of bad, then books are bad as well. Many books have these same scenes in them. "While movies can provide terrific acting and visuals, books require more of an intimate connection between book and reader. "A movie can easily achieve this connection. That is why some movies make us cry. Some make us laugh. It is why we get angry at some scenes. There has to be a connection for that to happen. "A good book is better than a good movie. "I disagree. I think that we are comparing two different things. I think that a good movie is equally good as a good book. The are just good in different ways.