For those of you who don’t know me too well, understand that I am an avid follower of film. I truly admire the aesthetic that it is. It is my passion and my life. It brazenly entered my life as a child, and overwhelmed my sensibilities to such a degree that it eventually became my major in University. But, for all that film has done to enrich my life; it still embodies one major flaw. It is a visual medium.
There is no guessing, no assuming, no dreaming, and of course, there is no imagination. We are visually stimulated by images that need no explanation. In other words, we are shown all we need to be shown. The expressiveness of the filmic language is presented to us in all of its visual glory. So, for as much as film has redirected my ambitions in life, it still cannot match the intensity, nor the raw immaculate power of the written word.
When there is merely a blank canvas; there is then the possibility for imagination.When I read, I visualize and create characters, environments, situations, geographical locations and so on. The written word helps to describe, but it does not define what it is I am supposed to imagine. That is left to me, the reader. When I read, my imagination flourishes in so many alternate directions, and this happens because my brain creates and manipulates exuberant and vibrant images.
As I read, I design.
When a film is based on a book I have read, I am rarely enthralled with the final product (both visually and stylistically). You see, film rarely captures the vivid images I once created in my head. Film interprets differently then the individual. They understand it one way; I see it another.
Thus, I am forced to shed the confetti of my individualistic thoughts in favor of the constructed visuals embodied within the filmic medium.This is the key reason as to why I cannot read the book after watching the film. To me, there is no sensible reason to do so. The creative process of imagining has been stripped away. The book becomes utterly useless in my opinion.
So, I may love film to death, but it will never, ever, remove the potency of the written word.
