For centuries, books have been the center of human history, from ‘The Diamond Sutra,’ the oldest book recorded, to even books like the Harry Potter series which, despite coming out almost 20 years ago, still attract a steady stream of fans. As more popular books surface, more movies are created as adaptations.

Books are infinitely better than movies.

The biggest reason books are better is simply the health benefits. Reading can reduce stress, improve imagination, and improve focus, all without subjecting your eyes to blue light. For example, when Hagrid from Harry Potter is described in the books, “He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.” This is more immersive and descriptive than just seeing him on the screen. It also pushes imagination and focus, as you must fully comprehend the description to picture Hagrid. 

Books are also better because of the vast amounts of detail put into them. Movies are usually 2-3 hours long, while books can be hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of pages. The reader sees how the main character feels, the thought process put into every move, and even understanding how relationships blossom. People simply don’t get the details in adaptations. In a recent adaptation of a popular book series, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” many people were upset by the amount of parts cut to keep the episodes short, entire characters were cut out and many details were deemed unimportant when it is important. Even movies that have plenty of time to add well-loved scenes, cut these because they simply won’t make sense. Peeves from Harry Potter, Peeta losing a leg in Hunger Games, and much more.

Another big reason books are better is because, with movies, people will never be able to please everyone. The beauty of books is everyone interprets them differently. The reader can mold it to fit what they love, what their brain has perceived. When there is an adaptation, no matter how perfect and true to the book it is, someone will always be upset, as they did not envision it that way. And it is understandable. For many, books are their haven, they find themselves lost in the pages, in an unknown world with unknown people. And when an ‘honest adaptation’ is released, they are very excited, as they can finally see these people, the people who got them through rough times. But then it’s shown the movie isn’t at all what they saw, what they experienced. 

A common argument among people who believe movies are better is that they are easier to comprehend and that people with very little imagination have a hard time understanding. However, imagination can be trained, if people just try. Start small with short chapter books, and slowly get bigger, and you’ll start to notice the difference. Another big part is finding books that fit you. Everyone has a book out there. You just have to find it.

Due to health benefits, details and interpretations, books are much better than movies, and overall more enjoyable.

Stories come in various forms, whether it be from a book, a movie, a play or even told in person by someone, stories are always passed down and told to the world. One of the oldest forms of telling a story was by reading it off the smooth pages of a book, but as technology improves many of the written stories have been adapted into onscreen movies, creating a large debate about whether books or movies are better.

Movies are better than books for those who have trouble with imagination.

For those who have a hard time creating a mental image and picturing what the authors want the reader to picture, having technology and CGI programs create the scene helps the audience gain a better understanding of what the book’s ‘world’ looks like. Having a clear image of what the book’s ‘world’ is supposed to look like is crucial since it could be a major detail needed in the plot. An example of this would be the famous book series by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games. For readers who have trouble picturing a dystopian world where the world looks monotone and devoid of life or a futuristic building that houses diverse wildlife for a competition, technology can create those types of background scenes and help them see what the book describes. Not only does technology help create important background scenes, but CGI also allows people to see what mystical creatures look like in stories, such as the gnomes, griffins, ghouls, and other creatures that exist in the Harry Potter series.

Having actors portray characters can give the audience a better understanding of what the characters are supposed to look like and see important traits that are mentioned. For example, in Rick Riordan’s famous book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, one of the characters named Annabeth is said to have stormy gray eyes and those who have trouble picturing those types of eyes can see what they looked like in the movie adaptation. Actors can also portray their characters’ personalities on screen which allows the characters to seem more relatable and the audience can be able to connect with them. Movies can also give the audience a sense of emotion while watching the scene play out in front of them. Some people aren’t able to feel an emotional connection with the characters when they face something exciting or tragic and often don’t understand the meaning of what is happening. Movies allow those scenes to come to life and create an emotional scene to connect to the audience and help them understand the atmosphere the book wished to achieve. 

In some cases, movies change what happens in the book and create something different due to budgeting or change a character’s appearance to better fit the actor chosen for the role. Books are often agreed to be better because they usually have more descriptive detail when describing emotion, scenery, and action scenes, while movies can slack off and create the bare minimum. However, for those who have trouble understanding written literature, those details won’t get the author’s point across to the reader. The purpose of stories and literature is to get a point or message across to the respective audience to tell a story. 

For people who have a hard time with imagination, movies are undoubtedly better.