“When I worked on the first draft of the screenplay, I was conferring with Neil all the time and the screenplay was awful. It was too close to the book, it wasn’t a movie,” director and screenwriter Henry Selick said about the film adaptation of the 2002 children’s novel Coraline by Neil Gaiman. In 2009, the award-winning hit was scored for a film adaptation.
Typically, movies based off of books tend to bend the storyline in order to make the movie more eye-catching and appealing to viewers; however, as a result, movies don’t usually live up to the original book. “Coraline”, however, is not one of those movies.
Like every movie adaptation, the book and the film are not identical. While changes were definitely made to the book, for the most part, the film stays exceedingly faithful to the book and its original story; however, there are a few radical changes to the main themes that many readers agree tamper with the principles of the story.
characters
As I mentioned earlier, many elements of the movie were kept nearly identical to the book, and characters are no exception. All of the existing characters in the book were preserved as well as their personalities and roles in the story. These characters consist of the following: Coraline, her parents, the Other parents, the cat, and Coraline’s neighbours (Miss Spink, Miss Forcible, and Mr. Bobo). Be that as it may, the characters Coraline and her parents still withstood some tweaking.
In the both the book and movie, Coraline is a young explorer who becomes easily bored as her parents are very unattentive and dismissive of her. However, in the movie, Coraline is depicted as more whiny, grumpy, and self-centered. Her parents also...
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...ral. In the book, Coraline sees very quickly that the Other world is not all it’s cracked up to be; but the Other mother makes it very difficult to escape, which has already resulted in the death of several other children (the ghost children). However, in the movie, children are portrayed as gullible and naive. For example Coraline and the ghost children were lured into the Other world with the delusion of a perfect world. In fact, the ghost children explain that that their demise was brought on by their own greed. This turns the main theme of the movie into more of a ‘lesson’ to be grateful for your what you have, even though they may not be ‘dream parents’. This modification may give the audience a more familiar theme, and even teach children valuable life lessons; but be that as it may, these changes arguably tamper with the integrity of the original story.
For example, Mama goes to the bank in the movie and is given a hard time about paying her mortgage, but this did not happen in the book. Another major difference is that the school bus scene, where the Logan kids played a trick on the white kids, was not shown in the movie, even though it was an important part of the story. There are some character changes as well. Lillian Jean, Jeremy, R.W, and Melvin are Simms’ in the book, but in the movie they are Kaleb Wallace’s children. However, the main plot difference is how the movie starts in the middle, summarizing everything from the first part of the book very briefly. Additionally, many scenes are switched around and placed out of order. Altogether, the plot and character changes contribute to my unfavorable impression of the
The Perfect Storm is a novel written by Sebastian Junger, that retells the horrific story of fishermen and sailors who were caught in the eye of the worst storm in history. The book mainly focuses on the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat, with a crew of 6 men, who disappeared without a trace deep into the northern atlantic sea. In the year 2000, almost 10 years after the tragic event took place, a motion picture, perfectly titled, The Perfect Storm which was based on the novel was released. There were subtle to few changes in the plot line of the story, however there were many differences among the book and movie. The movie is very intact with the plot and is very based on the real story behind it. I believe the creator of the movie wanted, to whatever extent possible, recreate the events that happened in the storm as factual and according to the book itself. The movie, however, left out a tremendous amount of rich details that were a part of the book , such as varying kinds of information and direct quotes from people who were associated with the storm. The movie instead added more events to the story that weren`t in the book, to add more depth to the movie and to make it more enjoyable.
...d coloring of certain images. The novel, however, puts much greater emphasis on the imagination and creativity, and on the main character Tita. The novel really makes the reader feel Titas pain and grow with her as she discovers her freedom, whereas the movie failed to achieve this. Moreover, the movie tends to ignore the significant of 3 integral motifs, cooking, tears and sensuality.
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
Some of the characters in the novel, like Lennie, are portrayed differently in the movie. In the novel, Lennie is said to be “a huge man” (2), but in the movie he isn’t very big, although he is bigger than George and some of the other characters. In the movie he is stronger and bigger than the others, but not to the extreme amount that the book portrays him to be. Also, Lennie is depicted as very mentally challenged, which is shown by the way he speaks. Whereas in the book, Lennie is said to have a mind of a young child instead of being disabled. As well as Lennie, Curley’s wife is represented a little bit differently. In the movie,...
The movie is, most likely, done well enough to intrigue its intended audience. It captured the theme and story line of the book. It falls short, though, when compared to the beautiful, sensitive and contemplative prose of Natalie Babbitt. One could only hope that a viewing of the film will lead the watcher to try the book and be delighted all the more.
Secondly, the book has no character in place of Mituba and so it greatly makes her existence in the movie questionable. She is usually only seen spying on Hester, like what is are we supposed to interpret from that. Unlike in the novel, the movie we find out is being narrated by Pearl (Arthur and Hester's child) rather than the by the author like in the book. The end too is much different than that of the book where no war takes place. So the book that is said to be an adaption of the movie greatly contradicts and differentiates from it. It is a Rated R movie and has nudity and sexually explicit
Each version also has the main characters boarding up the windows. Anyone who thought the birds won’t attack are usually found dead, but in the movie they are found with their eyes pecked out. Also, both the story and the movie have REALLY bad endings! They aren’t very similar, but they both leave you hanging. When you see a movie or read a book you want to know what happens to the main characters. In these two, you didn’t get an ending. They left you hanging and for some people that ruins it all.
I have only included what I have to believe are largely important plot gaps and differences in the movie version in comparison to the book one, and so I apologize again if I have missed any other major ones. Forgive me, please.
..., the film portrayed the kids being overly whelmed with hatred when they received gifts from their parents. It was like they never knew their parents existed. Another example of the difference between the book and the movie is Mr. Freeman (mother’s boyfriend) was presented as being very reserved with the children. In the movie he was seen as warm, talkative, and friendly towards Maya and her brother. The film also showed Mr. Freeman’s manly behavior by confronting Vivian (Maya’s mother) at her job. However, in the book Mr. Freeman never left the house, he always sat and waited at home for her.
The movie also switches stuff up, because in the book the first sense or diary they got chase after they got off the bus from school, which in the movie they got chased walking on their way to school. Hilary Swank play Erin like if she was actually her, like if she knew her life story and what she had been through. In the movie she lost her husband for wanting to let go of the kids, and in the book it never states she has a
One thing that can make a book good is characters. In the book, there were many more animals in the farm. The movie did not show many animals except for the main animals. Even thought this is a small difference, it can be noticeable. In the book, Mollie was a character.
The only person in my family that went to college after high school was my grandmother. I do not want to be just another family member to not go to college; I do not want to give up my dreams, because I do not have the education for them. I want to be able to say I did it for me, for my dreams. In the paragraph above I explained a little about my life when I was little and what that taught me was that life doesn 't always go as you might want it to; with that in mind college would be my choice, it would be what I want. The reasons I want to go to college may not seem significant enough to you, but too me they mean so much more than what you will understand. There is this quote, I do not know who said it, but I think it means a lot; “ You were born to be real, not to be Perfect”, this quote works perfectly with what I am trying to tell you. I believe that everyone should live by that quote. I am not going to tell you what I think you want to hear, but what I believe you need to
Noted authors, Brandon Chambers, is quoted saying, “If you are going to fear anything fear success. Think about what you are doing and when you succeed what life you will have.” There are several different reasons why I could stay home, work and not go to college; I could go to work every day and make more money for the house, it’s easier, and I would be less stressed. Now, on the other hand there are many reasons why I should go to school; such as further my education, make my family proud, and make myself proud. I am attending college for several different reasons. One reason is to further my education. I hate feeling like I don’t know something, I like being the person everyone comes to for information. Also, because I want to be better prepared for my major, I want to be better then the next person with the job credentials. I want to major in Social Work and Criminology. I dream to be a counselor or an clinical service social worker. I want to help people who need someone there for them someone who can guide them or even just talk too. Another reason is because I would be the first in I would be the first in my family to go to college. I feel in some type of way I am setting an example for my parents and my brother that they too can go back to school. Lastly is simply because I love school. I love knowing more and more each day. College is not for everyone, but I will be successful by grasping the benefits, preparing for the problems, taking heed from experts, and working on strategies to be successful.
In essence, Coraline is presented to be the polar opposite of the typical quest structure. Coraline begins with an unhappy family, disruption in the form of desire (Coraline’s ideal happiness), and the return to Coraline’s world with significant character change. Not only does it contradict the typical quest structure, but also Coraline’s quest focuses on the character changing aspects of the quest. The coming of age quest is used to emphasize the changes Coraline goes through during the quest. As a final act of releasing her childhood, Coraline buries the hand of the other mother in the real world. Coraline finally cuts all connection with her childhood and the other world with this act.