should you read the book or watch the movie first?

 This is a question which I take rather seriously. Now, it would be blatantly hypocritical to say that you should watch the movie first, as this blog is called Long Live Linguistics, but I think there are levels to this question; widely accepted to result in the book being picked up first. 

For a while, I myself was a firm believer that the book should be read first because it provides more insight on the story- but, what if that is the reason that you should watch the movie first? Meaning that the movie provides the story as a whole, but the book reads the details. So, this resulted in utter confusion in my head, which made me understand that this question is really a question of choice. 

I watched the Harry Potter movies before reading the book, which is something I regret doing because of how much better I think the books are compared to the movies, and if I had not watched the movies prior to reading it, I presume I would have enjoyed the books certainly better- because I am a reader. On the other hand, some fans of the series go on without reading the books at all, because they may not care enough to read it; or, some may watch the movies and decide to read it after watching it because they found delight in the movies that they want to gain more knowledge of the franchise- and vice versa. 

So, my conclusion and answer for this question is that if you are a reader, read the books first, and if you are a cinephile, watch the movie first, and if you really like it, read the book after. But if you are neither, I recommend you read the book first, because you can create your own point of view on a story without anyone else's imagination penetrating your perspective.

Catch you next Wednesday when you flip the page!