The mental distinction between reading books and watching movies
2015 ж. 2 Қаз.
68 726 Рет қаралды
It's surprising to me how many people love movies and spend no time reading books. It's especially surprising when you consider how many movies are based on popular books. One of the very sharp distinctions between books and movies, and one of the experiences that books offer that movies do not, is that novels allow readers to participate in the telling of the story in ways that moviegoers cannot. Allow me to explain.
The more I read, the less interest I have had in movies.
I wish more people could understand that. The world of imagination is just beautiful.
indeed
@@gabrieljacobi6873 correct
I want to start reading now, I've never read a book in my life lol.
Omg the dark tower series. Wish I'd read more as a child.
This reminded me of Willy Wonka one of my favourite characters.
This is very single video on KZhead about this topic, thank you
Exactly
I have experienced the activation of dormant parts of my brain when reading fiction books. Reading is an active experience and requires a lot of mental energy. On the other hand i can easily watch a netflix series passively for 10 hours lying down on bed which requires no mental enegry and also it leaves you depressed at the end. I would encourage everyone to read epic fantasy books such as Ship of magic, Game of thrones . Thank you for this.
I’d avoid Game of Thrones until George finishes the books tho.
You learn a lot more from the internet than from reading books. Plus, for most people of this age, reading is not that mentally satisfying as watching TV too.
@@QueenJeremy depends on what you read in the internet, most people spend their time in social networks and chatting with peers in whatsapp, and even if they read it has been proved that actual books are better in terms of comprehension and memory.
i have started reading recently
Netflix is expert in making you feel depressed
Reading creates suspense and anticipation and imagination naturally comes and plays its part.
I love movies but rarely get emotionally attached to the characters. I engage with the characters on the page, grow to love (or loathe) them, and follow them through the journey(predetermined through the writer's imagination). I find characters on-page to be more relatable than on screen because you're there with them. You see what makes them tick (in many cases), unlike movies where you get about an hour and a half with them as a whole. I like movies as an independent platform, but I don't like seeing books interpreted on screen. They feel force-fed. Some movies, not all, can also lose the soul of the book in translation.
Very nice video and I appreciate that you didn't say books are superior to movies because I recently had the opportunity to write a piece of fiction and I became lost at a certain point when I wanted to show a specific emotion in the eye of a character and the smile that played on his lips. So, even as an avid reader, I think both mediums are important for different types of expressions. (Before writing myself, I really thought books were superior.)
Reading engages us. We experience emotional responses to the story in a way as though it's happening to us. A movie is watched, we are moved to feelings but from point of view of a viewer. The lack of mental energy required makes the mind disregard a film as less important and why a lot of movies are easily forgettable
Very good points!
I experience more emotional response from movies than books... the book is almost always better than the movie though, in my opinion.
I would disagree, seeing and hearing things increases the depth of a story. I do agree books require more imagination than movies. But movies make you feal more like your in the scene.
No it doesn't. Entire point is incorrect. If movies are so forgetful, how come ppl always talk about them. I have hear ppl talk about ANH, A Movie that came out in 1977
@@notjeff7833 movies are low brow popular art or mostly just easy entertainment, literature is high elevated profound Art form for inteligent people, food for the soul. You can cry all you want, thats the way it is.
I like books more than movies overall. I get bored quickly, but engaging my imagination is one of the best ways I mitigate that. It's why Sims and RPGs are my favorite genres of video games, too. Why do I like books more than movies? If I start getting bored or tired while reading, I put the book down for a while and return to it later. That's the beautiful thing about video games with save points, too. While it's technically not impossible to do that with a movie, it seems wrong. They're designed to be consumed in one gulp. Not so with books. I prefer to take time with media pieces rather than binging things in one go. I like to think deeply about things, not consume one piece of media after another. Not to mention, I get dizzy and sick from shaky cam effects, zooming in and out too much, and 3D (with the glasses) movies. I never get sick while reading words on a page. Words don't move. Only my eyes do. In fact, I strongly prefer books; however, it's not fair to argue that movie lovers are less intelligent than book lovers, or that movies are worse than books, or vice versa. I believe wholeheartedly those claims are BS. Why can't everyone admit that they have a preference and leave it at that? That's what intelligent, mature adults would do, as opposed to egotistical know-it-alls.
thank you for the point, needed it!
great explanation !!
Fluent reading requires a lot of practice. A fluent reader can read and understand ideas 5 - 10 times faster than watching a video. The information density is very high in a written text.
I love books. In that way I get to 'create' my own movie in my mind, I can even be the main character.
Yes!
Ha ha ha
narcissism.......
Excellent explanation!!!! :)
Wow, great video👍 📝 "Reading is more mentally engaging" "Reading requires imagination."
to me watching movies has always felt kind of empty in a sense.
The cognitive benefits of reading a paper book are well known and outweigh the watching of TV. This is a proven fact. I have friends who argue the opposite, however I related that I watched the film, "Shindlers List" before I read the book and the difference to me was obvious. I challenged them to read the book as well but they declined which for me was a self fulfilling prophesy. People who have strong opinions but who do not read are basically lazy and form their opinions on the objectivity of others instead of forming their own. Reading allows you to pause, ponder, and objectify and spot flaws in arguments far easier than watching tv presentations. Films often exclude much information that the written word presents leaving the watcher less informed and easier to manipulate. Dictators and elitists hate a well informed and educated proletariat as they are easier to control. Joseph Stalin once said If you can control what people believe, you can control how they act. Hence Tv is a friend of a dictator.
Which is why propaganda like Schindler's List is so effective at brainwashing people.
Cinema is everything that books are and so much more. As an art form, there are just so many more factors that come into play in addition to the writing.
@@mitramargapuri664 Exactly. I've always loved animation because its only límites by your imagination. Its everything that writing is and so much more. Its one thing to read words on paper, its a different experience to watch those characters come to life, to hear the music, to hear the voice acting, etc
@@friedfrog5447 i bet you never finished a book in your whole life,your immagination keep improving the more you read the more you can watch the whole scene described in the book in your mind,also It helps your creativity and inventive,2 of the 4 most important human traits (the others 2 are empathy and adaptabilty)
@@Pj-hv3nw Great argument there..... I disagree with you, so I must have never finished a book. And yes I have finished a book and I still enjoy cinema way more.
Now I understand why the new Final Fantasy series are a failure. They used to offer the book experience but now they’re more like movies.
I love books and movies
Thanks for giving clarify...I thought the same
I watched Harry Potter first and then read the books. While reading my brain could not imagine the characters I always went back to the movie on my head. That is horrible
maybe we should read first right?
for this exact reason "Gabriel Garcia Marquez"(a noble prize novelist) , refused to sell his novels to be films , so the readers can imagine the characters as they like .
This really depends on each person. There are people who is visual.. who understand things if its being shown.
i dont like movies, im bookworm. i need to mentally participate not just watch others imaginations
So true. A book is so much better than a movie!
Video games and tv cannot compete with books i love it. I feel like im there like im a hologram watching everything takes place
I prefer being part of the story like you do in video games
I think that feeling of being a hologram is far better experienced in video games.
@@muhammadhussain4952 Video games aren't as bad as tv as they require some of cognitive engagement .
you are just great ..! I like your vids
+عماد هارن Appreciate the kind words. Thank you for watching.
Also the music does a lot to color the story in a movie
There is a real you chose to produce a video to explain this rather than writing it out and sending it to the public.
have a hard time watching an entire movie. I have a harder time putting a book down before I'm finished.
While books are prob more healthier than films, at least for me, films have more impact on me than books because there's a big difference between just imagining an image and actually seeing it. I don't think my mind can ever produce image as detailed as visuals of films and because of that, film's way of telling stories is more impactful for me than books - visuals and audio are simply superior to quite limited imagination. Sure, maybe books are more detailed, but that doesn't really bother me since I think any good story can work in any length and I don't need to see someone's thoughts in order to understand them (in fact, I'd want to discover and interpret their emotions by myself rather than just being given to me in not so effective way)
Know this, books expand the mind, they make you smarter, they give you knowledge, understanding, different perspective, they teach what the art of poetry is, what the art of oratory is. Obviously this happens because: not only the mind is engaged and doing a lot of work, but also because books are much more complex to understand than watching a movie.
@@ignacioclerici5341 you're over exaggerating. Books are healthy, sure, but "expanding minds" is giving them too much credit (not to mention that a lot of the things you credit books for can be achieved differently, including by watching films)
@@user-wy3ow4yc6e false, just read about it. It's obvious. Great books require much more mental engagement and effort than movies. Specially long complex books. They teach you how to think and express yourself better. And i'm not even talking about philosophy or scientific or historical books, but art books. Novels, literature. And obviously books require a much longer time, sharper memory, and better attention span than movies. There is no comparison. Books are just infinitely better for you. They engage your imagination and curiosity more than any movie possibly could. Movies are completely mind dumbing most of the times.
great video, but the problem is i want to enjoy books , i really do but i can't seem to feel the jolt of excitement when i am reading a book. for example i have watched all the tv series and movies of sherlock holmes (kind of obsessed) but when i tried to read the books it didn't feel that good, i couldn't feel the thrill of the pursuit of clues or any other emotion. have any idea to resolve my problem.
Explore more and more books! There's nothing like u can't feel the jolt of excitement...u just need to pick the right book to make u a reader and u will find it soon...good luck!
Immersive background music could be the difference.
@@nani9102 thanks
First of all read books that you havent seen in film, second of all stop watching movies during all the time that you're learning and getting into books. Read diferent kinds of books. Read the classics, the great works of literature of all time. They are unique experiences much more profound and imaginative and beautiful than average books. Also read poetry. Try writing things.
@@ignacioclerici5341 Do you have an Instagram?!
Thank you
I do not like reading novels because all I ever get is my own rendition of the events. I get bored with this singular perspective. Movies on the other hand can show me what is inside someone else's mind. "THAT is what you thought up? I never would have imagined anything like it." We need to experience other perspectives if our own imagination is really going to grow.
You don't always know what the person is thinking or felt at the moment by just his/her acting. Books provide all their thoughts and mind. So reading a book is more beneficial than watching movies or videos.
As good as SFX are these days, there is no frakkin' way it can come close to what imagination gives me. After reading, I can only be disappointed by the visuals of video versions of, say, Ringworld, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Rendezvous With Rama, etc.
SFX?
English teacher: when you write you need to make your audience feel like they are there, like they are watching a movie. “When you read a book you need to use you’re own mind to figure out what is happening” so why the fuck are the best authors so discriptive? I’d rather enjoy and be inspired by visual creativity and quickly consume a lot of that and then go make something amazing than wasting time potentially reading something that is horrible and out of date
Do whatever you say,but it will not be worth it if you don't read the good books that the good old authors had gifted us these good knowledge and good values and even good morals written in their book.
You missed the whole point of what a book does, that a film can't. Picture yourself meeting a person: In a film, you can see the character more clearly, but like meeting each other in passing, you usually only get to know them on the surface. You are left guessing with most things of who they are and why. You might still admire them, but you two are somewhat unfamiliar. In a book, you get to know the character on a deeper level. Their thoughts are yours. They open up and share their darkest secrets with you. It is as if you have the deep bond to tell each other what you really need and desire. It's when it's 2 AM and you are both sitting on the porch of your house on a summer's night and she confides in you. They are also different narrative structures. Films are usually short, some books are 15k pages long. They both have limits. They both have gifts. You can watch a film with a group of people and you can take turns reading to each other in a group. That's the experience I cherish most. I appreciate them both. I will advise you to read older books. Films didn't exist two centuries ago. And the whole narrative human experience through the lenses of that society were written on ink in those words.
Yuri Plantagenet thank you for replying with something that is actually a good point and required some thought. Most comments are just “fuck you and your opinion.”
@@a.y.8294 Anytime. Thank you as well.
@@JJDvorshak wow!
This is one of the reasons I have zero interest in reading fiction.
What about comics/manga?
You can imagine the drawings in motion and imagine what their voices are like etc. And for many manga, imagine the colors etc.
The point regarding spending more mental energy while reading a book is true, but only when referring to popular films, which are usually more entertainment oriented. The same energy is required for more creatively engaging films, and the lack of the same energy is often felt as boredom while watching any particular film. If any of the points in this video seem to resonate with you, then I'd encourage you to expand your film pallette.
what about manga?
Mang, is from your Brian
It still takes away the visual imagination aspect away as opposed to a text based book. But of course, all of this assumes you're doing active reading anyway, and not just letting your brain be lazy and hovering your eyes over the text.
Try light novels of your favorite mang
All fine unless you have anxiety, which will make it harder to focus on reading because your brain might be scanning for threats in the background. Hypervigilance makes it difficult to muster attention. See also: ADHD: there will be challenges there. It’s easier to lose yourself in a book if there are others in your life who will “mind the store”, whereas the accumulated responsibilities of adulthood and the “interesting” (ha) world we live in can make this more difficult. Hence why many people who read voraciously as children and adolescents can find this harder as they get older. Audiobooks are an interesting hinterland well worth exploring if reading is challenging. And yes, the more complex tv and cinematic artworks will provide cognitive/aesthetic experiences of equivalent value to that produced by reading. Soundtracks alone are hugely nourishing to the imagination.
Please stop whining
I READ TO WORKOUT MY MIND! BUT EVERYONE TELLS WHATS THE POINT IF YOU DONT APPLY
pero gusto ko paren manood ng movies kasi nakikita ko paren kung ano ang nangyayare malawak imagination ko pero sa pag do drawing heheheeheh
Reading is better
So so true, I completely get lost most often watching movies while in reading I am always there
You need to tell people how reading benefits them tho. Else this video is useless. You just tell them the differences which might be (for some at least) obvious. I still thank you for the effort put into making this video friendly men in a green shirt. (sry for bad english)
the book is always better mabe bcuz im d final director
Movies have choreography, CGI, vfx, sfx and beautiful soundtrack. Topped off with cinematography, they'll always be better
This is such a good example of why reading is way better than tv 🙂
I started reading dune
Did you finish it?
Reading is a art
What about writing?
No, the author doesn't "offer" you the opportunity to create the characters yourself. It's a matter of NOT offering something. Really? the book-over-video people are gonna sell this as a positive now?? A book is a script for a movie dude. in this world, we call this WORSE.
Books are not just a script or ''worse''. It's fine to not like reading. But books do often feature alot more context and things that happen, that movies has to cut out. Since a movie has a limited run-time. Even Lord of the rings could not even fit the entire book in a movie that was 3 hours long.
@@MeldinX2 They couldn't fit the content of two books (The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings) into six very long movies. There's whole chapters and characters missing from the movies and most of the scenes are simplified.
I am opening a new restaurant that "offers" you the chance to choose your own meal and not only pick your own ingredients but go buy them as well. Bye!
Books are definitely superior to movies most of the movies are created from reading books
Let´s try a good rule of thumb? If you arrive tired of your job and can´t read Tolkien, this is a bad lifestyle.
Are the books as brain-numbingly boring as the movies?
Watching is passive, reading is more active and you participate more.
Have you ever read a good book. Then the movie of the book. The books great. Then the movie is complete trash. Because they ruined the original story.
Translation: I like my interpretation of the original story better than someone else's interpretation of it. Much intellectual many smart
I love movies and books. But movies have more to them than books. They can use audio, visuals and story writing to create complex stories. Books can't use visuals and sound. Thats why i find movies to be more brilliant than books and entertaining.
Audio books are (in my opinion) a middle ground of sorts. But I'd still choose reading 80% of the time.
Keep strong. Dont forget that despite the evil in this world, God is full of justice, mercy and love. Justice said we broke His perfect law - causing the world's previous perfection to be destroyed - and therefore we deserve Hell (like a punishment in any legal system but this is eternal as His perfect law is eternal too). Don't think you fit in that category? Ever done one of these?: lying, stealing - regardless of how small the object EVER, hating others - which is murder in God's perfect law, lusting (plus God sees our entire thought life). Justice says "the soul that sins shall die". BUT, mercy said "I dont want to give them what they deserve. I don't want them to be cut off from Me. I love them despite all they have done/will do against Me. I want to give My children another chance. I want them to come home and live in My love again". And love said "Jesus, God's Son, came down as a Man, our representative, suffering every temptation, pain and struggle we have ever faced, yet without sin. He took all our sins (past/present/ even future) to the cross and then crucified EVERY ONE on our behalf. Justice was paid on the cross so that we can be free from Hell's punishment, experience Gods mercy of forgiveness of sin and live in His love. If we turn from the sins we have committed and repent (turn away from our sin and pursue the opposite direction of love through Christ) He will, overtime, recreate us back into that previously perfect image through The Holy Spirit which Jesus sends to all who accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior of their life. He is in Heaven right now preparing a place for us so that He can take His faithful, believing children home with Him when He returns. He will ressurrect us from death when He returns, giving mercy to those who accept His love, instruction and teachings in their life, and give justice to those who refuse it. He doesn't want ANY of us to go to Hell and die for continuing in evil and rejecting His way to life, thats why He died FOR us. He wants us to be His and begin to follow His life of love and service through Him (not ourselves as it's impossible without depending on His power and instruction). So long as we keep our hearts near to Christ through His strength, strive to obey His will of perfect love revealed in the Bible, and ask Him to help us in the midst of (very certain) pitfalls and struggles, we will, in time, win the victory over sin, pain and DEATH through Christ. Even if you are willing to be made willing, or struggling or doubtful, simply be honest and tell Him that. He is not intimidated by ANY sin or struggle you are facing. ANY. He hears and will answer. If we pray for Him to come in, regardless of the condition, then He will. NOTE: You are NEVER too sinful or messed up that God cannot turn your life around through Jesus. EVER. If you have any questions let me know Xx
Creepy cult recruitment attempt.
A rather superficial understanding of neuropsychology. But rigid perceptions are inherent in the decreasing adaptive function. In order not to offend anyone, I will say it subtly using a quote from Stephen Hawking - "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." Make your child read about what the Earth is, the desert, the forest, the animals look like. To read about Davinci's paintings, to read about Mozart's symphonies... He will become closed and cowardly. New information, images, emotions enter through the films. Reading only handles already available resources and can only regroup and link them. Images through our eyes are non-linear information fields that enter directly into the emotional brain center and 7 times faster than information perceived by reading. I don't deny the written words, I don't glorify the movies. They are part of the world, but the world cannot fit into them.
also, novels are indeed more mentaly engaging than say, movies, but what does that has to do with anything? We are debating fun and joy here. Please stop finding stuff that books got more than movies, or the opposite, if they dont matter. its like saying books have more paper than movies and being proud of it. Btw next time I wanna see a movie, I'll stare at a black screen and imagine the movie. Now you are talking mentally engaging! no one to dictate the movie for me!
Silly comment.
Books are the future. Movies and TV are dying industries.