Gullivers Travels Comparison Between Book and Movie
It is common in today's media-driven society to reach into the past for inspiration and ideas. A trend has developed where original works are transformed into other mediums. For example: books are turned into movies and/or plays, movies are turned into weekly sitcoms, and cartoons will spawn empires (Disney). These things happen so often that an audience rarely stops to question the level of authenticity that remains after these conversions. Perhaps it is only when a project is not well received that people begin to think of the difficulties involved with changing a work's genre. Using Gulliver's Travels as an example, discrepancies and additions in the movie can be contrasted with Jonathan Swift's original text.
It can be assumed that one of the biggest challenges in making a movie from a book lies in the time constraints that movies have, especially those that are intended for TV, as was Gulliver's Travels. Swift talks about Gulliver's time in Laputa for almost forty pages, where as the movie only spends a small portion of its three hours focusing on this kingdom. One of the largest additions to Swift's tale occurs during the movie's portrayal of this third part of the book. At the start of Chapter V, Gulliver travels to the Academy of Lagado so that he may examine and learn more about the society. He properly describes to the reader their inventions, experiments, and the scientists. In the movie, however, Gulliver goes to the Academy in a frantic search for someone who has heard of England. His interest is clearly not in the happenings of the building; rather he is there for purely selfish reasons.
During this search, Gulliver accosts a man who instru...
... middle of paper ...
... a challenging depiction, since much of Gulliver/Swift's cutting satire about English society is lost (perhaps purposely) in the transformation into a movie. The television audience (assuming they haven't read the book) is then left to wonder why, if Gulliver knows how to get home, he does not. They are not given the opportunity to experience the satire that Swift uses to call English society into question and are, therefore, not able to realize the authentic character of Gulliver.
To contrast one medium to another is quite challenging. What works well for authors and readers in print will probably need to be modified in television. The television movie of Gulliver's Travels is no exception. It is useful however, to compare the two versions and identify and analyze the differences between them because the changes are simply one person's interpretation of a story.
Although both stories are completely different, they have one underlying theme that they both follow. All of the main characters of both stories point out major human flaws. Gulliver and the Frankenstein monster are depictions of human nature. Gulliver shows this through the people and societies he meets in his travels. Swift, through Gulliver, depicts the flaws of modern religion with the disputes of the Lilliputians and their beliefs of breaking “eggs at the most convenient ends” (Swift 59). The reader quickly dismisses this conflict as laughable because of the absurdity of the dispute, and this is a perfect example of Swift’s uncanny satirical powers. Swift leaves no group unscathed in his book. Gulliver ,while traveling through the Islands of Laputa, talks about scientist and their projects in that “The only inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet brought to perfection, and in the mean time, the whole country lies miserably waste” (Swift 196).
The very fact that this book is put into an adventure format is to lull the reader into believing Gulliver... of course, because Gulliver is Gullible this takes the reader straight to insanity at the end. Swift challenges the reader to make their own decision by taking them from right to wrong and asking them to, at some point, begin disagreeing with Gulliver.
Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
There are billions of books in the world, all with different plots and styles. However, the one thing they all have in common is that they all have literary devices. A literary device is any technique a writer uses to help the reader understand and appreciate the meaning of the work. Due to the use of these devices, books that would otherwise have nothing in common can be compared. For instance, the books Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman have different plots and themes. But when both are examined closely, it is evident that they utilize many different and similar literary devices.
Additionally, Gulliver’s experiences are described very frankly and objectively. Swift depicts Gulliver as such to allow the reader to relate to Gulliver and accept his partialities with less apprehension. It’d be unreasonable for Swift to portray Gulliver as a nobleman because, statistically, there have always been more commoners than nobleman. Additionally, literacy rates were sufficiently high during the early 18th century to assume the text would be read by citizens of varying classes.
In this book you see many examples of how Swift uses Gulliver to express how he felt repulsed towards women. Jonathan Swift references to the body of women and their sexuality, which morally degrade women, and can come off very controversial to women as Swift is corrupting the view of women. Swift often attacks women and their physical characteristics, showing disgust towards them. Simple bodily functions of a woman being exaggeratedly described as disgusting sight. Gulliver expresses his views on how he hates females and considers them inferior to males. He envisions women as dirty animals, who tend to be ignorant, and full of
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that experiencing different lifestyles he thought were better than his own actually makes him appreciate his own life with a more meaningful disposition through his journeys to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver’s journey to Lilliput effectuated forlorn feelings of his home. Likewise, Gulliver’s trek to Brobdingnag assists in his realization that changing perspectives also alter his attitude towards his homeland. Finally, Gulliver’s expedition to the Country of Houyhnhnms, where horses act civilized on and people act like wild animals. Gulliver soon learns that through his mystical journeys that changing the perspective in which he views the world reverses feelings of gratefulness towards his home. Gulliver’s first journey set sail to the Lilliputians on May 4th, 1699.
Gulliver's Travels was written during an era of change known as the Reformation Period. The way this book is written suggests some of the political themes from that time period, including the well-known satire. These themes are displayed throughout Gulliver's Travels, and even sometimes reflect upon today's society.
What Swift has accomplished by making Gulliver the embodiment of common English values and beliefs and then having him visit far away lands that are really the mirrors of English society is an interesting satirical device. He forces the English reader to unknowingly judge English society, not according to some higher law or pristine observer, but through the lens of their own cherished values. This effectively turns English beliefs and values in on themselves as a test of their merit. Swift echoes this structure by first having Gulliver visit a land of little people, which causes one to observe them with scrutiny. Then Gulliver immediately travels to a land of giants which causes scrutiny of Gulliver, who is now the little one.
Lilliput, Brombdinag, and the land of Houyhnhnms are the most relevant satire in Gulliver’s travels. Jonathan Swift uses these places to “roast” the European society. Swift desires for Europeans to realize their flaws and develop them. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a marvelous adaption of English society flawed.
Gulliver's Travels is a great novel written by Jonthan Swift. It is about voyages of Gulliver-main character-to different countries. Gulliver's Travels is a political allegory of England at Swift's time. the word allegory means a simple that can be objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent an abstract idea or concepts. Swift uses this novel to criticize the political condition of England at the 18th century and to make a satire of the royal court of George 1 . Gulliver's Travels has established itself as a classic for young people. Its appeal to young minds is due to the fact that it is, on the surface, an adventure story of strange wonderful lands. As a matter of fact, it is taken by the mature reader as an allegory work of England at Swift's time.
This passage is significant to the fact that while Gulliver is tremendously larger than the Lilliputians, he just lays where they have tied him up despite the fact that he could easily get out of his ‘constraints’. Lori Sue Goldstein says that, “In Gulliver's Travels, Swift enables us to see that we ...
Many people contemplate telling the truth due to the consequences, but Johnathan Swift has found an original idea and expressed it by writing Gulliver 's Travels. It was a story based on satire and was meant to ridicule the way his country operated. Each part was an original installment meant to criticize the way his country operated in the form of education, politics, science, etc. Swift shamed his government and the politicians involved in the process of running the country, which they did in the most beneficial way for themselves rather than their own people. He uses the conflicts in the countries he visited to discuss the number of problems with England. This book was meant to educate the people of all of the dishonesty their leaders have shown and will continue to show unless there is an intervention. Swift 's comments on the British society are accurate and most definitely helped lift the ignorance of the world to this day.