>

And a movie adaptation throws things under the bus. I love the percy Jackson books but the movies are just bad. 
I wad excited when a "truly faithful" series adaptation was announced by Disney but their casting is incorrect. The characters have detailed descriptions and Disney disregards that. Why even bother?
But with harry potter I had the opposite experience. Never read the books but I like the movies
This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >

That’s my theory on why movies made from books are often regarded as “not as good as the book”. Partially because movies leave some things out, but I feel like it’s mostly because reality of the movie is no match for your personalized imagination of the story. >

I think this is also the case with manga and anime. I often see people complain that a manga did a certain scene better than its anime. Many times when I check them side by side, the anime scene looks exactly the same, except with extra movement.
I figure that the issue is that they imagined a certain tone of voice and movement in the manga and are disappointed when it doesn't happen like that in the anime. >

Animation absolutely screws with frame details, especially when movement is involved. Add the effect of coloring and you can easily have a bunch of scenes that look better in manga form. >

Not if they saw the movie first.   Millions of people have one memory of Lord of the Rings from the movie.  They will see that when they read the novel. >

Came here for this comment. >

I too came here to say this >

I too came to here to say this >

I have Aphantasia, I have no idea what characters / scenes in books 'look' like. >

Same. Random question do you usually listen to music? While working or gaming?
And can you hear voices in your head? (have inner monologues) >

I also have aphantasia.  I usually do listen to music while gaming if i get tired of the games music (usually when playing roguelikes).  I also listen to music while doing pretty much anything i dont like doing to entertain myself. 
Also i got an inner monologue. >

Ok so I do not have inner monologues. Its quiet all the time for me on the head. Me myself I can't really lisen to music while playing games because I can't concentrate then.
I guess it's not connected with aphantasia. >

Yeah people with and without aphantasia can have a quiet mind or a inner monologue.
When youre really focused thinking about something do you think in words then? or is it some kind of other thought process?  Ive heard people usually think in images when they dont have an inner monologue but i guess that wouldn't be how you do it. >

It's the best part! My mind's version of "Jurassic Park" would've never made it past the censorship board 🦖 >

Oh God I want to watch it >

I often imagine some scenes from books as similar to certain places I know. A random neighborhood might be like my neighborhood, and I might imagine the layout of a character’s house as similar to my own. >

never have i seen such a relatable comment >

I love this! >

What did it say? >

That's why books to films can be tricky. You have to make thousands of people happy. >

And those will change if you reread the book at a different time/place in your life. >

Not if the face is blurry. I'm sure a lot of us imagine blurry faces. >

I work in advertising and this is the analogy I use when preparing a client for a creative project- that you have to decide whose vision you’re creating (typically businesses have many stakeholders in creative decisions). Every person will have a different vision of the outcome despite the same inputs and parameters. So similar to a movie- only the director will think “this is exactly what I envisioned”, everyone else will find that elements are “off” from what they imagined. But it’s impossible to realize everyone’s vision - whether you’re making a movie or any creative project. >

One word: graphic novels
P.S.
I'm being stupid for the funny factor. Don't think I'm serious. >

I am always so disappointed by any movie where I have read the book of first. They never get the faces right!! >

That's why books are better than the movie - YOUR imagination at play. >

I've seen several movies and shows where I hated an actor's voice because I was so different from the sound in my head.  More so once I realized I couldn't remember the original "voice" I had. >

Yes!! That’s why I get so nervous when a book I love becomes a movies bc I’m so scared it will mess up my mental image of everyone! >

I read “characters and scents” and was “yeah, that makes sense” >

I remember reading a study on this and they found most people imagine the characters to be remarkably similar. It really isn't that surprising to me either. Books can be quite descriptive of a characters physical features. So as long as the writing is detailed enough, readers should have some what similar image in their head of what characters look like. I'm currently unable to find the study again, but will update if I do.
Now as for the scenery you are probably correct. It's a lot harder to describe every detail of a scene. >

I hate it when I see a movie of a novel before reading the novel and the movie casting forever overrides how I picture the characters.z >

Likely. However, seeing as there is no way to definitely show the imagined image of the characters by the readers without outside influence, and impossible to definitely record all interpretations, this is indefinite. Although unlikely, it is possible for the imagined appearance of a character be the same for two separate readers. >

(besides the watching a movie then reading point many have pointed out) There are plenty of novels that have pictures, some of which are the characters (typically I've seen these portraits as chapter headers) >

Not true. Every single person who read Jack Reacher pictured Tom Cruise in their mind... right...?
/s >

This explains why most book to screen adaptations rarely appease or satisfy their reading audience. >

Hmm, try reading a Star Wars novel. My brain refuses to recast Han Solo….. even though fucking Disney did. >

When I read GOT I didn't have faces, I just kind of imagined every character in that 1800s style where they have all of their clothes but just an outline of their face. I guess my mind just didn't know what to put there. So thanks HBO for giving my characters faces. >

I realised this from how many different interpretations there are of Harry potter and lotr >

Even after seeing the movies first, when I read The Hobbit I had different images in my head regarding the appearances of characters and locations. >

Nope. I have aphantasia. I have no image at all. Bilbo is just the word Bilbo. >

That's the appeal of a book, it stretches your imagination. Example take a Bond book, the lead character could be any body, even any gender but the films have typecast the lead to being a white English male.