Don't judge a book by its cover - or its movie, for that matter

Recently, I literally felt pieces of my literature-loving soul shrivel and die as a friend noted that she had no interest in reading Pride and Prejudice because she didn't like the movie - actually, the first half of the movie, as she had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle. I was tempted to whack her with a copy of the offending novel. But alas, like the U.S., Austria has laws (not to mention social customs) that frown upon physically attacking one's friends in bookshops. In lieu of being arrested for assault and battery with a Jane Austen novel, I opted for a somewhat melodramatic hyperventilation, which succeeded just as well in alerting my friend that something was amiss. I quickly explained that the "I don't want to read the book because I didn't like the movie" excuse was absolutely against the rules. (I didn't specify which rules her declaration violated, but I'm pretty sure there are some standard Literature Statutes that all literate human beings are obligated to uphold.)

It's not that I find it inconceivable that anyone could not like P&P; what raised my hackles was the judgment of a book based solely upon its movie. Though there are numerous film versions of books that I love to watch, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a film version of a book with which I have been fully pleased. There is always some aspect of the plot that has been changed that I don't like, some key character left out, or some symbol that has been totally ignored. I suppose all of this is due to the fact that it is not a screenwriter's purpose to create a perfect rendering of a book in its film version. If you wanted a perfect rendering of the story contained within a book, you'd just read the book.

But therein lies the trouble. Do people read classic literature as much as they used to? It seems to me that these days people are getting their literary educations merely by passively viewing a 90-minute film version of a 300-page novel. When the film ends, they walk away and dispense of the story's beautiful truths and applications along with their empty popcorn containers and candy wrappers. Unless you're a crazy speed reader, you can't read a novel of significant size in 90 minutes. It takes several hours, usually over several days or weeks, to read and comprehend something like that, and it is during that extended period of time that the story and its themes, symbolism, and potential life applications can take root in your soul. Please note here that I am talking of true literature, not just any story that happens to be printed.

Perhaps I feel so strongly about this issue because I have experienced so many "aha" moments during the act of reading literature. I hate to think that we are becoming an illiterate society when it comes to literature (illiterate because we choose to be, not because we lack the ability to read) who are content to let filmmakers and actors interpret beautiful, classic stories for us. What a shame that would be.