If you’ve been following the issue of books vs. television with any interest, you’ll know that it’s a contentious subject, and there are a lot of opinions out there!
There are plenty of people who think television is taking over our minds, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
In this post, we’re going to break down what two major facets books and televisions have in common. It might surprise you!
Here is the answer for, what are two major facets of the relationship between books and television?
First, TV is a highly visual medium. That means the actors are on the screen rather than in front of it, which limits the kind of storytelling that can be done.
As you’ll see, here there are some specific differences in formats that will affect how many voices can be heard.
Second, books and television both allow for storytelling that is ultimately individualistic.
You can tell your own story! There are bound to be some restrictions, but so far I’ve seen very few instances of commercial networks staying true to their books.
It’s hard to stay true to an entire book if you only have three hours per week to try and share its life with viewers.
Here are some major facets of the relationship between books and television–
1. The Visual
If you’re telling a book on tv, you’re telling it as a visual as well as an audio medium. There’s really no getting around this.
I think that part of the issue with some people is that some television shows are stories about books!
They want those storylines to stay true to the books, but that makes sense only to the extent that the actual material allows for it.
You can’t tell an entire Lord of the Rings in two hours because there are simply too many characters and conflicts to fit into one season.
2. The Individual
There’s a certain degree of individualism in television that I think is pretty cool. TV isn’t about an entire nation in one story like in Les Miserables, and it’s not about a person and her immediate surroundings and how they influence and affect her creations.
On television, you have the opportunity to tell your own story, but on screen with someone else telling their own story.
They aren’t necessarily going to be the same story, but they’ll be related. In the case of television shows based on books, there may be a smaller cast of characters because otherwise it would get confusing! One of my favorite examples of this is Big Little Lies.
3. The Personal Experience
Books are very much an individual experience, and you can read them as slowly as you like. If you finish a book on Monday and start a new one on Wednesday, it’s not going to be too hard to switch between them and enjoy both.
You can do that with some shows these days as well, but some shows (like Big Little Lies) make it really hard because they’re so intense! I had to watch those episodes at the end of the day when I was already pretty exhausted if I didn’t want to worry about my sleep!
This is also different from video games or movies because those often require fairly specific actions of the user. Sure, you can read the books of either one, but you can’t necessarily control things in the same way.
If you want to change the story of a book, with books or television it’s easy. That being said, there are major limitations with TV because it’s so visual.
4. The Long Run
While with books people will often time travel into the past or future, there is still a bigger picture that is fixed for them unless they’re reading fantasy.
Again, with books there are also historical texts that tell someone else’s story, but the reader is still uniquely an individual part of that greater tale–the same can’t necessarily be said for history on television.
5. The Experience
You go to the movies one time, and you can’t stop watching them on repeat for years on end like you can with books. You can’t always finish a book in one sitting like you can with television.
When I decided to read The Year of the Rat , I was very excited because it was about food poisoning! I also wanted to read this wonderful new memoir called The Teacher Next Door .
It’s about how the world is ending, but that didn’t mean that I had to read it all at once (although that would have probably worked!).
Television is more cohesive, but if you love these stories, reading them all at once is also an option.
