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Overall, I'd say that film is better, but it's largely dependant on how the medium is used.
Most TV series are standalone pieces with very little change or character growth. Most movies are exclusively about change and character growth, and obviously, that's much more interesting than stagnant stories. This means that there is more concern about characters in films because they could very possibly die, or be deeply changed, something that won't happen in your average sitcom, or even drama.
That said, my favorite medium of them all is the serial TV series, like The Sopranos or Twin Peaks, which features an ongoing storyline, with a lot of character change, and focuses on the reprocussions of stories that have gone before, rather than just ignoring them. When well done, this format allows you to get extremely close to characters, and live their lives for a while.
I think it's unfortunate that epic continuing storylines in TV, and comics for that matter, get a bad rap. It seems like you can't do a storyline that goes on for a long time, without being accused of being a soap opera, something that has extremely negative connotations to most storytellers. I know on The Sopranos DVD documentary, David Chase said he didn't intend for the series to become soap operatic and preferred the standalone stories, something that I completely disagree with. After years of typical standalone TV, I've found a number of really good serial stories, and it's extremely exciting to watch, and addictive.
It's a lot like the ongoing vs. graphic novel in comics. The ongoing may be annoying at the time, because of the wait between issues, but ultimately you learn a lot more about the characters than you ever would in a single volume. And, that's why more ongoing series should be made into TV shows and not into movies. An Invisibles film would just come off as derivative of The Matrix, but a bit more complex. Only a TV show could capture the full depth of the comics series.
That said, most TV isn't like that, so if you're looking for a good story, you're more likely to get that in film. |
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