Why do some people like books while others prefer movies?

Lots of people like both.

I like both if they're done well. But all the books are getting to be the same. Haven't found any good ones out there. Don't get me wrong there are a few that I will read. J.S. Frankel for instance I like his style of writing. He makes his own rules and follow them and the stories are great.

maxitoutwriter said:

Are readers more intelligent? That's a common stereotype, but I wonder if it is actually true.

Click to expand...

Dizzy Gillespie used to watch soap operas between jazz gigs.
(One of the greatest musicians of all times.)
So, so much for that stereotype ;-)

It has nothing to do with intelligence. It's basically down to story-telling preference and how individuals process. It's the same wrt learning: some people prefer watching someone else--either in real life where they can ask questions or via a video--while others prefer to read "how-to" instructions. And as Kuwi mentioned, many of us enjoy both reading and movie-going.

Lots of people like both. I prefer reading overall and spend more time doing it. But I also enjoy video games and movies sometimes.

Anecdotally, I've known a number of smart people who aren't big on reading, but I haven't met many people who like to read who aren't fairly smart. I suspect reading helps the brain develop its potential in certain ways, so it may reinforce the intelligence that's already there and possibly strengthen it. Or maybe reading well and nimbly enough to be able to get into prose requires a certain level of intellect to begin with. I think there were some studies a while back that showed that more parts of the brain are active while reading than when watching movies and also that children who read a lot develop empathy faster overall than children who don't (maybe it's the whole getting inside the head of people who aren't you).

Maybe it's upbringing and early environment, but I think there are innate things that play into it also. My parents were both huge readers, as am I, but my brother is not and never has been. He's always been one of those people who would rather be doing something. He's a workaholic who tends to spend even his free time doing active things, and when he has down time, he prefers TV. He gets a lot of his "reading" is via audiobooks during his daily commute.

He's smart, though.

More puzzling to me are people who once read a lot and lost their taste for it. My husband read almost as much as I did when we were first together, but over the years, he does less and less of it, and he pretty much only reads non fiction now (and plays a lot of video games). When I ask him why he doesn't like novels anymore he shrugs and says he's too tired from work, or that all the stories start to feel the same after a while, and the characters just don't feel as real to him as they once did. Conversely, he's also sid he gets annoyed by fiction sometimes because he feels like the writer's trying to manipulate or trick him into feeling something that's not real.

Well, duh. That's the point I was trying to explain to him yesterday how brilliant I think the author of the book I'm reading right now is. Why? Because she made me cry over the death of a character I didn't even like all that much. I could tell he was wondering why I thought that was a good thing.

He can't really say, though, what's changed in him to make him feel this way. From my perspective, he's the same caring, intelligent, empathetic, and kind person he's always been.

So... you're asking why different people like different things, correct?

Because they're different.

Me, I like both. But I also like apples as well as oranges. Sometimes I'm in an apple mood, sometimes an orange mood, and once in a while I go nuts and eat a grape.

As for the idea that preferring movies implies lower intelligence... barring some sort of credible study, I doubt it. There are high-brow and low-brow movies, just like there are high-brow and low-brow books. Is an arthouse film buff less intelligent than someone who reads, say, Archie comics? Maybe, maybe not.

And the question of whether reading is a dying art has, I believe, been discussed elsewhere. IIRC, the general consensus is "not yet."

maxitoutwriter said:

Is reading becoming a dying art?

Click to expand...

Has reading ever been an art?

guttersquid said:

Has reading ever been an art?

Click to expand...

I'd say reading aloud is an art.

I like some movies, and I like some books. There's stuff to like in each.

Example: I like Studio Ghibli's movies because of their gorgeous animation and well-developed worlds. I like Isaac Asimov's books. because of his colorful prose, interesting characters and well-thought-out sci-fi universe.

Personally, I prefer comic books to both, but that's just me.

Comic books. Gads. They're corrupting America's youth and undermining literacy!

maxitoutwriter said:

It is a question that interests me, greatly. Is it a certain personality trait that makes some people more interested in reading?

Why do some people prefer reading?

Click to expand...

I think certain things could encourage one to have a preference for reading. If you're a highly verbal person who likes words, connects with words, then I think you'd be more likely to be a reader. Conversely, if you're a highly visual person films might be more your style. If you're someone who's more internally focused you might prefer reading while if you're externally focused you might prefer movies. If you prefer that your entertainment moves at your own pace, you might prefer books. Movies are a more guided experience that way. And of course if you have a learning disability or for some other reason have difficulty with reading, it would make sense you might prefer other entertainment. Which can also go the other way around. I find I have more difficulty focusing on movies than books. I don't know. Different people connect with different things.

maxitoutwriter said:

Are readers more intelligent? That's a common stereotype, but I wonder if it is actually true.

If reading 'does' indicate intelligence, then what is it about reading that makes a person more intelligent than if they were just watching movies and playing video games?

Click to expand...

I don't think readers are more intelligent than non readers. That said, readers are engaging in a very verbal/word based activity and might gain a better grasp of expressing themselves in words and this might make some people see them as more intelligent. Again that's speculation.

maxitoutwriter said:

Is reading becoming a dying art?

Click to expand...

I don't think so. Some of the forms in which people engage in reading are changing, as I think they always have. That doesn't mean reading or writing as activities are dying.

I have a similar situation like Roxx. I love to read. Pretty much dependent on it now, wasn't much as a kid. But now, I'll go out of my mind if I don't read and write a little bit each day. I also love movies too. It depends on my mood. But I prefer reading, more and more and only watch a movie or TV show when someone else is watching too. I don't like watching TV by myself too much. I'm big into music too.

My husband, who is most definitely smarter than me (okay so now he's got it in writing here) But he's gone to college, where I barely graduated high school. I was actually a poor reader and a poor student. So that stereo-type for my situation goes right out the window. My husband loves his movies, loves his "sleepers" (to help him sleep at night) it's a collection of about 30 different movies, all blockbuster hits, like Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, 300, Gladiator, Goodfellas (all those war and action, drama and mob stories) So basically what I'm trying to say is even what he watches is limited. But he's big into sports, and reads a lot online of sports, weather and news. And yes, he's a workaholic and super fly intelligent. Novels on the other hand, he says he just can't get into. Which leads me to think it's more a visual thing vs. a mental thing. Sometimes people can't picture it while reading, or don't believe it (like Roxx said). Reading can be challenging and much more so than watching TV. Sometimes just letting go and getting immersed in a movie feels wonderful too. It's a mood thing, and type of reading thing. Most people that don't like to read are glued to their phones and umm, reading anyway. It all just boils down to what interests you most at the time.

Just a personal viewpoint here. For me, movies and books seem to do different things. Different ways of expressing an idea or a character.

A movie is generally somewhere between 1½ hours and 3 hours long. You usually consume it in one sitting. This means that it has to be fairly compressed - characters have to be introduced, put in peril, do something interesting, finish - in very little time. Often (but not always) a movie describe action that takes place over a matter of hours or days.

By contrast a book takes several hours to read. You can get deeper into a character or a situation. You can meet secondary characters and spend some time with them. Its a deeper experience. Usually, but not always, a book will describe action that takes places over several days if not months and years.

Maybe it's a bit like a holiday. Back in July we took a five day break in Venice. When we came back we were talking about the city with a friend who had also been there. He had a very different impression of the city because he had visited as part of a cruise. This meant that his experience was based on a very quick one day visit, which had not included the evening or early morning. He had seen the main sites of St. Mark's square only, where we had been able to experience much more.

A movie is a day trip. A book is a longer holiday. Both have their place.

Some of us watch films and read novels and stories in some quantity, and there are always more of both I've yet to watch or read...

It's nothing to do with intelligence, as the spectrum from masterpiece to abject shite applies to both media.

I'm not into video games, but that's just me.

I would call myself intelligent. I have a degree. With honours (whatever the hell that's good for). I rarely watch films and read far less than I probably should. However, I am an avid gamer, watch a lot of stand-up and science fiction on tv and save the last half-hour or so of my day to listen to comedy on the radio. Does this automatically make me less intelligent than someone who's actually bothered to read Austen or Shakespeare? If we're talking in stereotypes, does being a gamer mean that I'm certain to snap and go on a killing spree?

As stated above, people are different. If we were all the same it would get pretty boring, pretty quickly. We'd also be lacking books and films, I expect.

I like both, and I think they're different experiences. They have different strengths.

For example, I think stories that span a number of years or have interwoven subplots can work better as books. And movies can bring action to life more vividly than books.

Even when it comes to movies that are adapted from books, sometimes the film and the book stand on their own as distinct entities. For example, I like Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Everything is Illuminated. The novel have parallel plotlines and employs some narrative techniques that don't transfer over to film very well. Yet, I like the film adaptation of the book, too. It's different, and it's not a wholly faithful adaptation of the book, but it plays to the strengths of the medium.

I've been toying with the thought of trying to write an idea of mine as a screenplay instead of a novel because I think it would be a good story to tell visually, and because music is a big part of the story. But of course, the downside is that the chances of my screenplay ever being made into a movie are probably slim, and if it did happen, there's no guarantee that the people who bought it would share my vision or have the resources to make it happen.

After watching Interview with a Vampire for the first time, it got me heavy into Anne Rice books. I argued to my husband that Queen of the Damned was a much better book, than it was a movie. And he disagrees of course. But here's the thing, he never read the book so he can't even compare it. Some things will never compare to others. But Queen of the Damned is one of his "sleepers" as I mentioned, one of his favorites. And it was a favorite book of mine too, so it's the story that counts most.

I must say, I was heavy into Atari and Play Station years ago, several years ago (the Lion King and Alladdin game were my favorite) I was obsessed for a while too. Like unhealthy obsessed. So I can see how gaming would be super fun and entertaining to do too. I'm just not into that kinda thing anymore. But that's just me.

To Picnic, I love comedy too! Stand up the most. But again with that too, I gotta be in the mood for it, otherwise it goes in one ear and out the other.

AndreF said:

I like both if they're done well. But all the books are getting to be the same. Haven't found any good ones out there.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry - was that joke?

Either you develop the habit of reading or you don't. Books are a much bigger time investment than movies.

Undercover said:

After watching Interview with a Vampire for the first time, it got me heavy into Anne Rice books. I argued to my husband that Queen of the Damned was a much better book, than it was a movie. And he disagrees of course. But here's the thing, he never read the book so he can't even compare it. Some things will never compare to others. But Queen of the Damned is one of his "sleepers" as I mentioned, one of his favorites. And it was a favorite book of mine too, so it's the story that counts most.

I must say, I was heavy into Atari and Play Station years ago, several years ago (the Lion King and Alladdin game were my favorite) I was obsessed for a while too. Like unhealthy obsessed. So I can see how gaming would be super fun and entertaining to do too. I'm just not into that kinda thing anymore. But that's just me.

To Picnic, I love comedy too! Stand up the most. But again with that too, I gotta be in the mood for it, otherwise it goes in one ear and out the other.

Click to expand...

Eee! Queen of The Damned! Much more nuanced as a book, much more. For one, they got rid of Mekare and seriously downplayed Maharet's importance. And there's no baby Jenna. Good movie despite that, even if them cutting Mekare pisses me off.

Once! said:

A movie is a day trip. A book is a longer holiday. Both have their place.

Click to expand...

This is very true. And books tend to be read over several days, sometimes even over weeks, depending on the person's reading speed and the amount of time they have to devote to reading. You can read for 15 minutes a day or hours a day. Or you can spend hours reading one day, put a book down, and come back to it a week later if that's what your schedule allows.

Though the really good books grab you and force you to stay up past your bedtime.

But because of this, they have more natural pauses in the narrative than movies do, perhaps.

Now video games are interesting, because they can be set--something you play though and finish, or they can have repeated scenarios, or even be (like many MMOs) be totally open ended with new content being added.

They let you manipulate the world as you discover it, though of course only in small ways. And a good video game often has dozens, even hundreds, of hours of pay time. There was a counter that let you see how much time you'd spent playing WoW, and I stopped looking, because it was depressing. Weeks and months of our lives gone.

Was it a waste? I don't know. I had fun and made some good friends (who I'm mostly not in touch with now that I don't play anymore, aside from a few on FB). Speaking of social media, how much time do many of us spend on that?

For some reason, I don't get as depressed when I think of how many months or years of my life I've spent reading books

Roxxsmom said:

Though the really good books grab you and force you to stay up past your bedtime.

Click to expand...

And sometimes the really good books force you to read slowly and carefully and you find yourself needing take breaks to ruminate or recover from what you just read.

I'm reading one like that right now. Strangely gripping, even though not much is actually being done. But I need to recover emotionally between reading sessions, because it's so intense in that way.