Film vs. Book -- Which was better?

[Flyboy]

1st post in this thread. I was moved by the short story (Book) which I read in the New Yorker way back when, I just never thought it was long enough for a screenplay. I read the book later, and then when this blog and forum exploded, I thought, well, better check out the film. Saw it three times total, and simply was not moved at all by it. Not sure why, because it's an excellent film all around. I see by the poll I'm not in the majority here, but that's fine. Films rarely if ever 'move' me as well as the written word can, that's just me........

[Ministering angel]

Flyboy, this is interesting. The story is written in quite a cool, flat fashion (although I assure you it moves me to tears - usually after I've read it through I end up hugging the book to me and crying) so in what way does it move you more than the film?

I think they are equally brilliant but I saw the film first.

[Flyboy]

The written word always moves me, why, because Annie wrote this story in minimalist fashion. No excruciating details, she allows the reader to paint their own images of the different settings and situations. Even the characters. By the time the film came out, well, let's say my images from the book were already stampedo on my brain. And that could have been the whole key for me. I didn't want Ang or Dianna or Larry messing with my own private imaginations...........haha...........sounds odd I know, but that's how I read. My favorite line(s)? There was some open space between what he knew, and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it..........................."let be, let be"..................sigh................

[AnthonyBam]

Both the film and the book did the job..
I'm not usually a heavy crier after reading literature OR watching movies, but I actually SOBBED after both watching and reading. 

[Dal]

You may have had a bad case of Brokeback Fever.  Luckily it's not fatal though.

[Nax]

Welcome Anthony, I hope you find some solace here 

[Ministering angel]

Anthony, you will fit in just fine. I can cry just by thinking about both film and book.

[CANSTANDIT]

Flyboy, I get what you mean about what the written word can do: '..hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack....etc.' Noted is one of the most difficult passages to get through, that I've ever experienced in literature. The book does so well, and so simply, and so matter of factly what it is so challenging to do with cinema-get INSIDE the character's head, in a way that the character may not even be aware of.

[Flyboy]

OMG! Over two months and suddenly this thread woke up again! You just never know in this forum, do you? Welcome Anthony! Stay with us, there are a lot of warm, intelligent, understanding folks here who share the impact of the film and book. I'm not one who cries easily, (think Ennis here), and the book just left me dumbstruck, as they say. I saw too much of myself in Ennis, and the storyline is timeless, really. I think the reason the wriitten word moves me, is because I'm in my own Cocoon or private world when reading, and in a theater? Well, there seems to be a lot of folks and distractions around. LOL, I know, I'm picky; but I need a large Theater, lots of 'dark', and no distractions! (chomping popcorn, slurping drinks, cell phones) you get the drift here................anyway, I could read the story a 100 times and still gain some new insight with every reading.........just 'socks me good'!

[jwm]

First time in this thread, but I just wanted to put in my two cents here. I loved the film, I loved everything about, its slow pace which I usually hate, of course the boys but I just love how it moved me. I love movies, I cry through them, but I have never cried for days after one. I couldn't get enough of it, and yes I read the SS but it didn't come close to what the film did to me.
Like Jack says "Old Brokeback got me good" that is an understatement. It is a story that is hard to discuss with someone that has a hard time even thinking about never mind talking about it. so this place was a god send to me, and I still have a really hard time understanding why and how most people can see it, and not be moved beyond words. I am old softy and Jack just broke my heart, too many times to count.

Wendy

[chapeaugris]

I saw the movie before I read the story. Stories and novels have made me cry, and so have movies, but neither of these did (at least, not the first time I saw the film). I simply walked around in shock for a week and couldn't figure out why. Real life has done that to me but never a piece of art. I read the story soon after, mainly to find out what Ennis was mumbling a few times, and I don't think it would have affected me as much as the film had I read it first. Toward the end of the story, it mentions the time  Ennis had called Jack about the divorce and Jack drove 1200 miles north "for nothing." The film turned those couple of words into several minutes of images that encapsulated something I had experienced over the course of several months. I probably wouldn't have made the connection between that period of my life to Jack's experience merely from the words "for nothing."

[john john]

I saw the movie before I read the story. Stories and novels have made me cry, and so have movies, but neither of these did (at least, not the first time I saw the film). I simply walked around in shock for a week and couldn't figure out why. Real life has done that to me but never a piece of art. I read the story soon after, mainly to find out what Ennis was mumbling a few times, and I don't think it would have affected me as much as the film had I read it first. Toward the end of the story, it mentions the time  Ennis had called Jack about the divorce and Jack drove 1200 miles north "for nothing." The film turned those couple of words into several minutes of images that encapsulated something I had experienced over the course of several months.  probably wouldn't have made the connection between that period of my life to Jack's experience merely from the words "for nothing."

Well said Kim, you put your finger on it.
Images transport us in a way that words can't.

[Oregondoggie]

Better?  Could see comparing two film versions based on the short story.  But not the story and the film as to which was better?  Our reactions are so personal.

I came to Brokeback through the book.  My own Ennis, my little darlin, was still out there.  I too was "suffused with a sense of pleasure" when he came into my dreams.  That short story, by an older straight woman, "rewarmed that old, cold time... when we owned the world and nothing seemed wrong..."  Proulx wrote with knives.  Our hearts were her manuscript.

Then the movie came along, clobbered me again and made me determined to fix it.  I wasn't going to stand it.  And, by golly, this fall, I did.  We've ended up friends. 

Beyond Brokeback, I love website, am wild with admiration for two young actors, and have learned to hum Santaolalla's music.  So much for apples and oranges.     

[Flyboy]

Better?  Could see comparing two film versions based on the short story.  But not the story and the film as to which was better?  Our reactions are so personal.

I came to Brokeback through the book.  My own Ennis, my little darlin, was still out there.  I too was "suffused with a sense of pleasure" when he came into my dreams.  That short story, by an older straight woman, "rewarmed that old, cold time... when we owned the world and nothing seemed wrong..."  Proulx wrote with knives.  Our hearts were her manuscript.

Then the movie came along, clobbered me again and made me determined to fix it.  I wasn't going to stand it.  And, by golly, this fall, I did.  We've ended up friends. 

Beyond Brokeback, I love website, am wild with admiration for two young actors, and have learned to hum Santaolalla's music.  So much for apples and oranges.     

So, you were affected by both the book and the film. Probably not uncommon, but for me, it was the book, I just could not get into the film at all, I tried believe me! Saw it three times in two weeks, and just could not be moved by it. The music and cinematography were superb and moving, but the acting scenes, I don't know, I 'expected' too much I guess......

[Desecra]

To my surprise, I've found it's the book which has stuck with me more than the film.