Gone With the Wind: On Paper and On Screen

Nearly all Americans have seen Gone With the Wind. The film is an American classic, like Singin' in the Rain or The Sound of Music. Interestingly, the book by Margaret Mitchell is not nearly as often talked about. The book lies in the shadow of the iconic movie.

So, in my research on Gone With the Wind, I really had no choice but to re-watch the film. The last time I watched it was right after I had first read the book, and I could hardly watch it all the way through. It seemed so petty and childish compared to the novel, no more than a weak attempt to imitate the deep emotion of the original story. I couldn't understand why the movie is so famous. 

But this time I felt differently. My last post was a pretty good segue into this topic because the question of Book vs. Movie is extremely important in the conversation about Gone With the Wind. This time, I could really enjoy and appreciate the film version. I tried to look at it with the same views I expressed in the last post, remembering that the film and the paper versions ought to be very different. 

So which is better: the book or the movie? 

Books vs. Movies

With the recent release of the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, the age-old (well, cinema-old) question is returning: Which is better, the book or the movie?

Two of my classmates have given really good answers to this question (click here and here). I also really enjoy this guy's take on it:

Now, let's get one thing straight: I am definitely a "book person." I don't believe I've ever read a book, seen a film adaptation, and liked the film adaptation better. But I think that we all--including myself--need to look at the situation of books and movies with a different paradigm.