I have discovered that it is a bit difficult to pinpoint why a person would begin to like reading, seeing as everybody is different. One popular answer that I have both found and heard many times is that reading is a way to "escape" life. (It seems a little on the dramatic side, although I'm sure I'd be lying if I claimed to have never said it). One article/blog/post I read was written by an author of multiple books, who called reading an "emotional vacation," which I thought was an appropriate description. I definitely plan to use this somewhere in my paper. Another article by the New York Times states that people love to read through many means; some people read to be "informed," or "enlightened," or to find a book so relate-able that they "find themselves" in it. Some people read out of habit (people in book clubs). My favorite line from this article was that some people love to read because they found "the right book at the right time." Since this happened to me, I will be using that in my paper (hopefully) as well.
As for movies, I found a debating forum that discussed the topics of "Are books better than movies?" (Interestingly, the opposing/pro-book side was declared the winner.) (Link for this: http://www.debate.org/debates/Movies-are-better-than-books/1/) And though I disagreed with literally everything the pro-movie side had to say (I tried to be as unbiased as I could, I really did) it was interesting to see what made her dislike books. The visual aspect played a large part of her dislike for books; so movies are enjoyable because they are aesthetically appealing, they are more fun because they create more "social opportunities," and are cheaper. Also, she claims movies are easier to understand, so it reaches out to a larger audience than a book would. Note, this girl is clearly not an expert, so this information is not scientifically reliable, but I do like that she has the "average person" perspective, and since this is such a personalized topic, I think that is an asset to my research. The opposing/pro-book view also made very good points about reading influencing writing abilities, enhanced imagination and plot points being explained more fully in books. However, for this source, I plan to cite the pro-movie argument more than the pro-book.
Interestingly, another article claimed that books-as-movies fail because there is not enough time to develop the plot. I hope to use this point in my paper as well.
While I disagreed with Branick's way of introducing his topic 5 pages into his essay, I liked that he presented a good amount of information before presenting his own research. So I am going to do this too and, hopefully, it will work out. I hope to structure my essay as such:
- Intro: Introduce the topic.
- Paragraph I: Why do people like books?
- Expectations
- Imagination, habit, enlightenment, other influences.
- "Escape"
- Physical aspects and benefits (related to "escape theory")
- Paragraph II: Why do people like movies?
- Expectations
- Visual
- Stereotypical "fun"
- Easier to understand
- Paragraph III
- Audience
- Paragraph IV:
- Compare and contrast paragraphs I and II.
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