To read or not to read...does it even matter?

Movies based on books can a tricky subject, being not so much a question of whether or not the filmmakers did a good job of translating the story to the screen, but one of when to read the book being made into said movie.  Should you read it before you go?  After?  Should it even matter?  Should you wait until they’ve finished the movie series before reading the book series?  And if you do, does that make you somehow less dedicated?  Somehow less of a fan?  Opinions vary, and in the end, I think it comes down to personal preference and chance.


For me, if I haven't read the series and was planning to eventually, the fact that a movie is coming out isn't going to get me reading.  Frankly, I've a rather large backlog of things to read and that just won't be enough to bring something from the back to the front.  Because of this, I’ve played the game of not reading before seeing the movie twice now, once for Harry Potter and once for The Lord of the Rings, and I don't regret it.  With Potter, I had a reason.  I didn't want to get reading the series before it had been finished, and by the time it was finished, the movies had long since started and I didn't want to start reading before I'd finished watching.  (It made sense to me then, and still does, I swear.)  With the Rings, I just never got around to it, though I knew the general story, and besides, I was already in the middle of reading other things that I didn't want to drop.  After everything was said and done, I did end up reading the books for both series, and even after all that, I still stand by my initial decision.


Sure, not reading the books might have meant that I somehow missed the phenomenon, as so often was the word associated with Mr. Potter, but it was my choice and I still consider myself a fan.  I don’t think that doing it the way I did ruined the experience of either the books or the movies.  True, it might have changed a few things, like how I heard some of the voices or words in my head, but for the most part, the images I saw in my head reading the book bore only a passing resemblance to what I saw on screen, and in fact, many things appeared completely different.  As for the revelations that should have hit so hard, well, those tended to be revealed before I even saw the movie or read the books, in some instances, years before, so I don’t think that they were necessarily a great loss.  (And frankly, I'd already figured out some of them, much like that twist at the end of The Sixth Sense.)  


In a way, I believe that experiencing them in the order in which I did gave me a greater appreciation for both.  Reading the books after, I could see the decisions, many of them I would imagine to have been hard, that had to be made to fit the world onto film in the time allotted, and frankly, there were parts of the books that annoyed me and parts of the films that annoyed me, sometimes the same and sometimes different, and sometimes there were parts I was glad to see had been shortened (or sometimes lengthened, though not as often) because reading them, I found myself thinking, "You really didn't need to spend that many pages on this."  


In fact, if I want to be honest and possibly cause a little trouble by taking the “I’m glad I didn’t read the books first” stance (not that I already haven't), I can even see how knowing everything that was going to happen might have even ruined things when, over the course of filming and production, things had to be changed and scenes that I really liked or felt were powerful, or that just created a lot of questions that weren’t necessarily ever answered, were cut or altered.  And if I want to be really truthful, just as there are parts of the books that I like better than the movies, there are parts of the movies that I like better than the books.  There are also scenes in the books that work, and seem perfectly reasonable that, when I really think about it, would have ended up looking horrible, and even unintentionally funny, when presented on the screen.


This inevitably leads me to my next conundrum: The Hobbit.  I read it, albeit years ago, so there are things I remember, but I'm sure there are a lot of things I've forgotten, and some things that might have gotten mixed together in my mind with the events from The Lord of the Rings and who knows what other books I've read between then and now.  I suppose that I could read it again and refresh myself before I go see the films when they come out, but really, I think I'll probably just leave the book on the shelf and see the movie for what it is: a movie adaptation of a book that I sort of remember.  Oh, I'll probably read it sometime after, but for now the plan is to go to the movies and watch them as movies and view them and the books as separate, but vaguely connected, stories.  Once they're done, there'll be time enough to crack the book open again and see what had been changed, and how what I’d always pictured in my mind appeared differently on the screen.  Besides, I've got far too many other books in the pipeline to drop everything right now.


In the end, however you view the divide between book and movie is your opinion.  This is simply mine.  I hold nothing against those who only read the books and never see the movies, those who see the movies and never read the books, those who have to read the book right before the movie, those who have to read it right after, and those who, like me, wait for everything to end before diving into one or the other.  It’s all a matter of opinion and preference and I'll respect it just so long as you don't try to lord it over me.  When I do finally get around to watching and reading, I’ll probably look upon them both as two separate entities, tied by story, one the first and original, the other a loving tribute and interpretation of the first by someone who hopefully loves the story as much as I do.


(I would have gotten into some books that I read before they became movies, but this was already getting too long, and for the most part, those movies really weren't very good, and I'm still kind of sad about it, so I'm not going to say anything about The Dark is Rising, though I recommend you read the series.)