Perception v. Reality

When you read books, your mind has the ability to paint dazzling images with the most creative brush possible: the imagination. One of the most exciting parts of reading is delving into a new world where your mind can contort reality to fit the conceptions of the author. However, translating a book to a movie can ruin the fantasy in your head. In the movie The Namesake, Gogol’s voluminous hair filled with angst and rebellion creates more humor than actual sympathy for the character, especially because the junior in high school is being played by a twenty-nine year old actor. This juxtaposition contorts your image of Gogol in a negative way, allowing the fleeting image you once had in your head to quickly be swept away by the ridiculous reality. Another character, Moushumi, also appeared much differently than my preconceptions. In the book, after Gogol visits Moushumi’s apartment, he compliments, “’You’re beautiful’” (210). I do not want to appear conceited or superficial, but the image of Moushumi that I had drawn in my head did not nearly match the image of Moushumi in the movie because in the book Gogol directly characterizes her as beautiful. Most significantly, I wish that movies could live up to our fantastical perceptions. Just recently, I watched “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. For years I had drawn a detailed world out of the book, filled with descriptive images that I had pulled from the story. However, seeing the movie, after reading any book, always ruins those images in your head. As you try to look back on them, they appear fuzzy and faded, as though you are looking at them through a gauzed veil. Although I am excited to continue to watch The Namesake, I know it will never live up to the world I had created for the story in my head.