No Shelf Control

Hello fellow readers!! Today I’ll be talking about a very common debate in the reading community, watching the movie before reading the book. This is something I am guilty of, so here’s my thoughts!!

It can be okay to watch the movie first… but only under some very certain circumstances.

When I believe it’s okay to watch the movie first

If watching the movie makes you read a book you wouldn’t have read otherwise, it’s definitely okay to watch the movie!! Maybe the book didn’t interest you at first, or maybe you just don’t read that much! Either way, if watching the movie makes you interested in the book, and makes you read, watching the movie first is an amazing thing! I’m all for people reading more, and if watching the movie gets you to do that, just watch it!

Sometimes, we are unaware of the book that the movie was based off of… So, sometimes we watch a movie or a show, but it’s only afterwards we realize that a book exists. While this is more uncommon it can still happen! For me, it happened with Crazy Rich Asians! Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how I didn’t know this was a book first, but I didn’t! And led to me watching the movie, loving it, and then reading the book!

At the time you may not have been interested in the book! This happened to me with The Fault in Our Stars! I knew the book existed, but I hadn’t read it because it didn’t interest me. In this case, I ended up reading the book (and loving it!) because I watched the movie! I feel like in this case it can be okay, even though I am a little sad that I didn’t read the book first.

When I believe it’s not okay to watch the movie first

My philosophy here is quite simple! If you want to read the book, and it’s already on your TBR, don’t watch the movie. If it’s not on your TBR, and you have no interest reading the book, watch the movie.

Those are my thoughts on watching the movie before reading the book!! What do you do? Let me know below!!!