You may wonder why it is that I write reviews of so many books and video games but practically nothing else (I did do a couple of film reviews in the blog’s early days when I was struggling to find ideas, but I’m not planning on writing any more). The reason for this is that they are probably my two favourite art forms. With a film, you spend about an hour and a half getting to know a character and maybe you’ll get another couple of hours if you’re lucky, but that’ll be it. I feel that books and video games, on the other hand, create much more of a connection with the audience. It takes much longer to read a book than to watch a film and with a book you’re not just watching the events unfold you’re actually feeling and thinking all of the character’s thoughts too. Video games, on the other hand, may not often have the most developed characters, but you’re put in a position where you are living their life for them and making their decisions. I find it a lot more unsettling to be going through a haunted house in a game, than to be watching a character do so in a film. The experience of reading a book or playing a game will be different for every person, whereas with a film it’s much more likely to be the same. So for me, books and video games are much more immersive than films and so I prefer them.
Having said that, I don’t wish to be dismissive of films. There are many films that I like very, very much and have had a big impact on me (Back to the Future, Groundhog Day and The Man From Earth, to name some) and I still consider them a very worthy art-form. I just, personally, get more excited about books and games.
I also want to say in this entry that I have plans to post reviews of TV shows too. That’s something I should have hopefully gotten started with in the near future…
