Do you prefer books or movies?

Beth Myers: I prefer books because I’m not good at watching movies.

Josh Bault: I prefer books generally because I feel like you get more detail and more of a cohesive look at the characters.

Nathan Hedrick: I think it depends on my focus level at the time. Movies are easier to enjoy than books but, books give me more stimulation.

Julien Gaumer: I enjoy both books and movies. However, if I were to compare both a book and a movie that was created from the book, then I would choose the book every time.

Which one do you think has more detail? 

Myers: In a book, you can only imagine what you know, and in a movie, they can bring in things that you might not have thought about. When I read “The Hobbit,” there was no movie at all. It took like 20 years for a movie to come out, and when I watched that movie, what I saw on the screen was not what I imagined in the book. It was awesome, so much better.  

Bault: I think books have more detail. You know it’s kinda hard to shove a 700-page book into an hour and a half.

Hedrick: Books have more detail. They have way more methods and ways they can communicate a story through narrating or description, but in movies, most of the detail has to come through dialogue and speech.

Gaumer: It is difficult for Hollywood to condense the details of a book into a short film. I have found a few films I have enjoyed the same as a book if I had read it first. An example is “All the Light You Cannot See.” Netflix released a series that seemed to follow the book very well. It probably is because it was developed into a series instead of just a condensed movie.

Which do you think is more educational? 

Myers: I think they are equally educational.

Bault: I think it depends on the movie. If it’s a documentary, it’s probably more educational, and you get a lot of that information over the course of reading a biography. Books are probably more educational depending on what it is. 

Hedrick: They are both educational in both ways. It depends on the educational topic. I think books involve more of your brain to understand the story than movies. 

Gaumer: When I see a movie that I am interested in watching that was developed from a book I haven’t read yet, then I try to read the book first. For instance, “The Boys in the Boat” came out on Christmas Day, and my family went and watched it the day after Christmas. I read the book beforehand to compare. Although the movie was a great “feel good” movie and inspirational, the book shared so much more detail about the protagonist and all of the members of the boat, which was even more inspiring. It showed people that positive perspectives and the desire to persevere despite circumstances is a choice people can acquire; indeed, it is a choice.