Essays: Reading a book versus watching a movie

How often I've heard people say that the book was nothing like the movie. I suppose that watching films or videos that were based on a books seems much more entertaining and visually stimulating to viewers than perusing printed pages. Books, however, are much more stimulating intellectually than films. Films have their own special charms, but I've never known anyone to say that they've learned all they know from watching films, as opposed to reading books.

Human societies are much more in tune with visual and auditory stimulations than they are with translating written words on sheets of paper into conscious thoughts. The acts of translating words to mental imagery requires a bit more concentration, focus, and creativity than viewing films or videos.

Viewing films, though much more entertaining than books to the human senses, offers much less to ordinary people in the development of intellectual skills than reading or writing does. Reading builds vocabulary skills and improves brain functions, because we, as readers, must make judgements about the vivid descriptions of scenes and actions that authors have written and then, utilize our imaginations to recreate the words in our minds, the way the authors intended them to be translated by the readers.

The more extensively we use our thought processes, the more rapidly that information is transmitted by neurotransmitters in the brain. The process of increasing the speed of transmitting or synapsing messages in our brains, inevitably, improves our intellectual, creative, and cognitive functions. Ultimately, our intelligence increases, as well as our knowledge and language skills when we read books instead of watching films.

Writers, are in fact, the teachers, mentors, and historians of man. They do much to educate the masses in the arts, sciences, and philosophies of mankind. Writers are caretakers and distributors of man's knowledge and wisdom. This wisdom and knowledge are passed on to succeeding generations encompassing the past, the present, and the future.

Film makers do much to enhance man's vision of the world, but certainly not as much as writers do. Films recreate scenes, stories, and characters for their viewers. Films, are usually the directors or filmmakers own translations of the stories or characters the films depict, not the viewers. Readers must think when reading. They must use all of their innate intellectual abilities to bring characters printed on blank pages to life. Filmakers allow their viewers to see and hear stories unfold on the silver screen. Writers, however, force their readers to create their own screens, or mental images, to bring stories, characters, and plots to life, using only the words written so artfully by authors of books on beautifully bound paper.

Learn more about this author, Danette M. Scott.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Essays: Reading a book vs. watching a movie?
We want to hear your view. Write now!