Ladies and Gents, put your hands in the air! Are … you … readyyyyyyy …….? It’s time for another round of …
Book vs. Movie
In this corner we have the novel The Secret Life of Bees
Ok, now that we’ve introduced the contenders, let’s get down to business. I recently read and reviewed Kidd’s novel (more on that here) and I really enjoyed it.
Comparing books and movies is tough. Let’s say you read the book first, you love it, it is now one of your favorite books, so you decide to see the movie. You’ve already built up some pretty high expectations for the movie in your mind. Then you watch the movie and the setting isn’t quite right or they changed the story slightly. Then the characters are different than you imagined and it’s like watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Or … maybe you saw the movie first. It was a really great movie. You might even buy the DVD (do people still do that?). You find out that before the movie, there was a book. Now you go to read the book and it’s kind of slow. The main character has blonde hair? Pretty sure she was a redhead in the movie …
More often than not, the medium you experience first is most likely the one you will prefer. I usually try to read the book before seeing the movie. Does this give the book an unfair advantage? Maybe. But like mothers have been telling their kids since the beginning of time, “Who ever said life was fair?”
So how did this particular movie hold up? Well, the casting was amazing! I couldn’t have picked a more perfect cast to represent Kidd’s characters. Queen Latifah as August Boatwright was by far my favorite. She completely captured August’s nurturing, wise, mothering spirit.
Paul Bettany as T-Ray was a complete surprise. I never would have pictured him in that role. My husband, who watched the movie with me, commented sarcastically, “Where’s his cape and purple skin? Shouldn’t he be shooting laser beams from his forehead?” (insert eyeroll here). And while I too love Paul Bettany as one of the Avengers, I thought he was excellent as Lily’s father. He may be British, but his southern accent was impeccable.
In the movie version, there were very few changes to the plot. The film omitted only things that could be implied or inferred, and any direct changes to the story were presumably for time and did not interfere with the overall plot.
One of my favorite things about the reading The Secret Life of Bees was Kidd’s ability to transport me to the hot and humid honey house. You’ve heard of people looking at the world through rose colored glasses, right? Well, I imagined the world of Tiburon, South Carolina through honey colored glasses. When I was reading, the picture in my mind was tinted with a rich amber color and every mouth-watering, honey-dripping description was somehow in slow motion. It was so vividly clear in my mind.
Imagine my disappointment when I’m staring at the TV and everything about Tiburon looks so … well … regular. The rich amber glow was missing. Visually, the movie just didn’t measure up to Kidd’s verbal imagery.
I also felt that the book was far more evocative. Maybe you could chalk it up to the unfair factor of reading the book first, but I just wasn’t nearly as moved emotionally by the movie. It had its moments, but when I read the book, my heart ached for the characters and, I’m not gonna lie, there were a few tears shed. Again, maybe because I already knew what was going to happen, the newness of the story had worn off and my emotional connection to the characters wasn’t as deep as before, but it is what it is.
So, when it comes down to choosing between the book and the movie, this time I chose the book. I enjoyed the movie and it was worth watching, but I enjoyed the book more.
Until next time … Let’s Get Reading!