--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Film is a medium of clear lines and broad…" description: "\"Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties and nuances of a novel, it doesn't even get..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png" --- # Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which… ![“Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties and nuances of a novel, it doesn't even get close.” quote by William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png) > “Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties and nuances of a novel, it doesn't even get close.” [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Film simplifies storytelling compared to novels, lacking the depth of subtlety and nuance. **In simple terms:** Film is simpler than novels. Key Takeaway Appreciate the depth of books. Themes art media comparison depth nuance Mood reflective analytical Type comparative critical When to use this quote - movie reviews - book clubs - creative writing workshops - film studies - literary criticism Key Concepts narrative complexity visual storytelling literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - How does visual storytelling compensate for fewer details? - What aspects of novels can film never fully capture? A Different Perspective Films can still convey powerful emotions despite less nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Broad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broad/) [Broads](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broads/) [Cinema](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cinema/) [Clear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clear/) [Close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/close/) [Compared](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compared/) [Even](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/even/) [Fantastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantastic/) [Film](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/film/) [Film Medium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/film-medium-862630/) [Get](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/get/) [Lines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines/) [Lines Broad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines-broad-5293987/) [Medium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medium/) [Mediums](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mediums/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Novel Doesn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel-doesn-1522204/) [Nuance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuance/) [Nuances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nuances/) [Strikes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strikes/) [Subtleties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subtleties/) [Subtleties Nuances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subtleties-nuances-5293986/) [Subtlety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subtlety/) [Which](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/which/) ## Related quotes > [“Maybe this is what life is like - we try to see clearly but what we see is never clear and is never going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/maybe-this-is-what-life-is-like-we-try-to-see-clearly-but-what-we-see/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-fiedler/the-novel-doesn-t-come-into-existence-until-certain-methods-of/) [Leslie Fiedler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-fiedler/) > [I sort of hate the novel when it doesn't push, restlessly, against the tradition and the traditional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-moody/i-sort-of-hate-the-novel-when-it-doesn-t-push-restlessly-against-the/) [Rick Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-moody/) > [“Someone who hasn't read a novel doesn't really know what it's about, William.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/someone-who-hasn-t-read-a-novel-doesn-t-really-know-what-it-s-about/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [“Whatever happens in a romance novel doesn't always have to stay in one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/renee-alexis/whatever-happens-in-a-romance-novel-doesn-t-always-have-to-stay-in-one/) [Renee Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/renee-alexis/) > [Find me a first novel that doesn't have parallels with the author's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-dahl/find-me-a-first-novel-that-doesn-t-have-parallels-with-the-author-s/) [Sophie Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-dahl/) > [It's true that immigrant novels have to do with people going from one country to another, but there isn't a single novel that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-hijuelos/it-s-true-that-immigrant-novels-have-to-do-with-people-going-from-one/) [Oscar Hijuelos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-hijuelos/) > [Has all the trappings of a mystery novel, doesn't it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-cornwell/has-all-the-trappings-of-a-mystery-novel-doesn-t-it/) [Patricia Cornwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-cornwell/) > [The conventional wisdom is that authors get only one chance in this world. 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The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/the-average-detective-story-is-probably-no-worse-than-the-average/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Film as a medium, like a novel as a medium, possesses a unique ability to communicate. Film is capable of communicating in a way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bennett-miller/film-as-a-medium-like-a-novel-as-a-medium-possesses-a-unique-ability/) [Bennett Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bennett-miller/) > [Play is a medium of word and film is a medium of picture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paresh-rawal/play-is-a-medium-of-word-and-film-is-a-medium-of-picture/) [Paresh Rawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paresh-rawal/) > [I have always been so interested in film as a medium.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-waltz/i-have-always-been-so-interested-in-film-as-a-medium/) [Christoph Waltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-waltz/) ## More by William Boyd > [Sometimes limbo is a tolerable place to be stuck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/sometimes-limbo-is-a-tolerable-place-to-be-stuck/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“Here at its extremities the terrified transients gathered, gazing out at the vast refulgent ocean for some sign of security.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/here-at-its-extremities-the-terrified-transients-gathered-gazing-out/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“We all possess, like it or not, the people we know, and are possessed by them in turn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/we-all-possess-like-it-or-not-the-people-we-know-and-are-possessed-by/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“Old Testament prophets. ‘You savvy dis fetish thing?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/old-testament-prophets-you-savvy-dis-fetish-thing/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [Human beings are interested in the human condition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/human-beings-are-interested-in-the-human-condition/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“A warm sunny evening, the plash and gurgle of the waves in the rock pools, the rush of the cold gin. 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It drives me mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/i-have-this-lock-of-hair-that-keeps-falling-across-my-forehead-it/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [With film, you have very limited tools to convey subjectivity - voiceover, the camera's point of view, good acting - but even the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/with-film-you-have-very-limited-tools-to-convey-subjectivity/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“any man over forty who deliberately combs his hair forward in a child’s fringe has something suspect about him,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/any-man-over-forty-who-deliberately-combs-his-hair-forward-in-a-child/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [There are things in life we don't understand, and when we meet them, all we can do is let them alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/there-are-things-in-life-we-don-t-understand-and-when-we-meet-them/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“All great artists are doubters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/all-great-artists-are-doubters/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“Feelings of depression; feelings of frustration; feelings of emptiness in the face of all this randomness - done down by the haphazard, yet again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/feelings-of-depression-feelings-of-frustration-feelings-of-emptiness/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“I am a total stranger, you see. Total.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/i-am-a-total-stranger-you-see-total/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [There is a disconnect between the film Bond and the literary Bond which is their contemporaneity. I don't suffer from that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/there-is-a-disconnect-between-the-film-bond-and-the-literary-bond/) [William Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/) > [“So much for my great vendetta, so much for the tireless hunt for my betrayer. 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And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties and nuances of a novel, it doesn't even get close.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Boyd" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broad-strikes-which-can-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broad-strikes-which-can-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e67/william-boyd-3581_books_film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broa_2276077.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties…” — William Boyd", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "William Boyd", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-boyd/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Film is a medium of clear...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broad-strikes-which-can-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-boyd/film-is-a-medium-of-clear-lines-and-broad-strikes-which-can-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```