The Perpetual Debate on the Book vs. the Film

As the Story Goes

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Does this time-honored axiom hold up in modern cinema? We have watched through the decades as film-making has advanced ten-fold with improved CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) and motion capture technologies. We have even seen classics such as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” remade and retold in movies countless times since its creation in 1818, but to what end? Surely if you could capture the imagery kindled by a readers imagination on the big screen, we would have done it by now, no?
On the other hand, isn’t it much simpler to experience a story in vibrant colors and imagery without the tedious perusal of paragraphs on paragraphs of visual depictions and adjectives – not to mention keeping track of all of the names and references listed in longer novels?

The Bibliophile or the Cinephile

The Bibliophile

If you have read the book before you’ve seen the movie, already you’ve created a universe of your own imagining, and soared through the narrative arc creating personal meaning and memories of the tale. Each character’s name brings a face and a story of its own; the tragedy, adventure, or turmoil ascribed to them is the reader’s own. You walked with the hobbits through every step of the journey to Mordor, you stood in the court room alongside Atticus Finch, and you rode the dragons with Eragon. How can the experience of a theater buff possibly compare?

The Cinephile

From the movie-goers perspective, though, how could one enjoy a book if they’ve seen the story in IMAX 3D? You could spend a hundred pages to detail one frame of the final confrontation in Avengers: Endgame or almost any moment in James Cameron’s Avatar. The pace of the silver screen is much faster too – you can watch 3 movies in under 4.5 hours, but reading a novel can take days, and the book becomes less of a page-turner when you can see the twists coming (plus you don’t get the convenience of pre-popped popcorn and a large soda in your recliner at home). In addition, the farsighted demographic may have a bias in favor of the cinema

The Conclusion

Undoubtedly, the experience can be left up to the preference of the individual; though it seems more likely for an avid reader to go to see the movie than it is for a theater buff to pick the book up off the shelf. Directors of the silver screen are allowed to impart their own interpretation of a story to the viewer through the various scenes in a movie (whether including or excluding details of events), while novelists leave subjective context for the reader to create their own explication. So which do you prefer? Are you an avid filmaholic or a die-hard bibliomaniac?

Hilarious Books – More than Meet the Eye

Hilarious Books Inspire Insight


Avid readers whose favorite genre is light-hearted comedy often find the hilarious plot offers a realistic drama readers relate to easily. Authors who write books in this genre do so knowing the comedic plot builds to a dramatic climax that holds reader interest to the last page.

The Drama in Funny Books


The seemingly insignificant, vignettes found in funny books with plots based on everyday life create the landscape from which readers draw dramatic conclusions. For example, murder mysteries are not without their funny moments.

Perhaps, the murder has multiple suspects as characters who may unwittingly place a spotlight on their connection to the murder by the simple act of inexplicable, yet humorous whereabouts.

Nearly all characters in funny books are described to meet a cohesive plot. Even police investigating a murder can be portrayed in ways that make their characters appear to be hilarious while they are employing high investigatory drama.

How Hilarity and Drama Work Together


The scene at the funeral of a prominent celebrity is cloaked in drama until tearful mourners arrive graveside and pallbearers with shaking hands accidentally dump the deceased’s coffin upside down into the open grave. Mourners struggle to stifle their laughter while red faced pall bearers grope to right the coffin.

This is funny drama that works for those with a ready sense of humor. There are relatively few life episodes that do not provoke laughter through high drama. Authors who are skilled in blending drama and funny situations understand the delicate balance that exists between these two literary mediums.

A simple trip to market can blend drama and comedy when a grocer uncovers a pilferer loading his pockets with goods. The pilferer hurries for the door just as his pockets empty stolen goods all over the floor and police arrive on the scene to witness the crime.

Reader Visualization


Readers imagine funny characters based on author description. A vicar at a church may be visualized by readers as a rotund, mustached cleric even when the author alluded otherwise simply due to the vicar’s name or his actions.

Children characterized dramatically in hilarious novels fall prey to whims of their interactions with their parents, siblings and playmates.

Readers pick up certain childish nuances that combine drams and funny situations. When seven year old Tommy gets his head stuck in a narrow fence rail as a result of a dare from playmates, the situation is highly dramatic until he recounts the episode to his parents and siblings years later. Drama thus becomes a funny childhood memory readers enjoy and helps remind them of their own childhood and dramatically hilarious experiences.

The Lessons Learned


Of the many benefits of drama and humor blended in books, readers find it easy to see the lessons drama and humor in literature teach. What begins as an enjoyable, funny story for readers provides drama that implies a moral to the story contained within the pages of the book.

This is proof that a well written hilarious book weaves drama and humor with intentional insight into human nature.