Just yesterday I heard my friend say he only watched movies and never read books (apart from academic ones). He even argued that there is nothing you can get from a book that a movie or a documentary does not give you. He believed that as an artist, expressing yourself using video would be easier and more liberating than text. And better means of expression meant that you convey more and in a better way, hence the receiver would be more enriched when they watch video. Though I could not summon an argument right there, below is my rebuttal.
Technically the information available in a book could be reproduced in any kind of video medium, maybe even in more splendour. However, the take home from a book reading is not just what the author wants to say, it is also what you make of it. Personally, when I see things in text, it gives me the freedom to make my own pictures and audio. I absorb it into my fantasy world, which is far more beautiful than what any video medium can show. I shall quote Aamir Khan from Taare Zameen Par - "...the table is too weak to hold the burden of your imagination...", in response to a kid asking him why there was no model on the table for him to imitate while painting. In this context I mean to say that 2-D TV and Dolby Digital are far too limited to portray what your thoughts can show you. And the exercise of making a picture out of text is crucial and probably far more enriching than directly having the pictures spoon-fed. Waiting to hear people's thoughts...
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