Great Expectations the Book vs. Movie

One thing I can tell you is you will enjoy reading either the book or watching the movie. When Great Expectations was written some centuries ago by Charles Dickens, the setting was very much the epitome of the classic novel. We derive a deep sense of historical England and what times were like for a young boy. His writing was very deep and descriptive, easy to read, yet educated enough to allow the reader's attention to be captured through till the end. Dickens uses a lot of adjectives, descriptive words enough to equip your vocabulary for a lifetime. He also captivates with an exciting plot taking the audience deep into the setting of the story and plot. What you want to do is to be there, and that's what the movie allows you to do. However, the book was just as visual as the movie, giving you no reason to set the book down. You can read it as a secular reader, an academic/student, or as a pastime. The thing about old classic movies is that they are often formulated based very closely on the book, as well as similar to it. So you will see and feel every moment as it was described. The main thing is to ensure you don't fall into the trap of watching the modern version first, as you will miss out on the essence of the story and personality of the characters as they were found in the original script of the novel. The movie was set in the 1940's and so only then can we enjoy this classic as we know it etched out in cinema form. But, those who are fans of this famous novel know that it is an irreplaceable classic that can never be overlooked or place taken by others. It has it's
own place in literature as one of the greatest novels ever written, and for that reason it is called a classic novel.

I do want to discuss too much about the characters, however in comparison with the movie you see an obvious likeness, there are too many similarities to separate them from one another. Pip is exactly as he is described, his adversities, and trials and triumphs and decisions. As are other characters compared to the movie. However, being a movie there is a higher level of dramatization as was the character of movies in those days in tradition with English classics as they were produced, to give the sense of the most succinct portrayal of characters and often they looked and appeared exactly as you imagined by reading of them. That gives us a storyline to connect to forever as classic novel fans. We forever remember the drama and the literary experience we gained resulting from
watching the movie, but remembering how the book leads us to this experience and now we can forever capture that memory (in the
movie).

For those that are classic novel fans, it is important that we practice the habit not to watch the movie before reading the book or at least most of it... I have found other Dickens novels that I have read in 1/2 or 2/3 through and stumbled upon the movie such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and found it too tempting to pair this with the watching of the movie only to find the same thing, and wanting to reconnect with the book. If you love classics, this is a stimulation towards your love of them to urge that you pursue re-attention to this pastime as classics are so important to our culture. You will find the more you read, the more you want to read more. And I have found that Dickens is one of the most practiced authors having a supply of these wonderful novels upwards in the 50's or more, from Christmas Story, to Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickelby and much much more, majority of which I am sure can be found in movie format. Therefore, this generation will regain strength in its cultural (American) roots in my opinion by retrieving this passion. One obstacle is not to mention that owning the classic versus borrowing the classic stops us from doing so, but yet the passion is too strong that we shall be moved to either travel to a library or find other means of getting this book such as from a thrift store or from an online supply such as Goodreads and classic sites publishing such works. Please find that this passion is as deep possibly as your other passions for things such as eating, drinking, money, sports and other activities. Yet as insatiable. Once our generation finds its way back to the fundamentals of our culture I'm confident we will return to our passion for reading the classic again.