Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is an acclaimed piece of literature that is adored by fans in book and movie form alike. Personally, having experienced both versions, I can safely say that I have more appreciation for the story as a novel. I found that I was able to analyze the characters and understand the storyline better with direct, detailed descriptions as opposed to scenes that were up to interpretation. The format that the book used, splitting the stories into vignettes that related to a parable/theme, was easier for me to understand than the format that the movie used, retelling the stories as thoughts. I also felt that the book was easier in terms of following and connecting with the characters. It provided an insight into each character’s …show more content…
Although the acting in the movie was good and the adaption of the story into scripted lines generally went quite well, the majority of descriptive writing was lost and that’s what really helped me connect with the characters and their situations in the book. The fact that the stories were still authentic in the movie, and the characters still served as narrators for their experiences Considering how many stories are intertwined into the general plot, the book moves quite naturally. But the film seemed fragmented to me, with the constant flipping back and forth between time periods and narrators. I think the movie did a good job of organizing the different tales in an understandable way, but the book did a much better job of really conveying each character’s story. I found that the book really easy to follow but the movie was a little confusing because all the stories just flowed into each other, sometimes without much explanation or background information. The movie doesn’t spend as much time on the history of Chinese superstition and folk tales (which plays an important role in all the stories) so the contrast between the mothers’ past and the daughter’s present isn’t as strong, making the conflict harder to
This is my view on the movie and book. I likes the movie better the book because the
I like the reading book better than watching the movie because there are more facts in the book than the movie. Maybe I just like reading books better than watching movies. That’s my opinion. What’s yours (if you’ve read the book and seen the movie)?
The film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. The amateurish style of the book gives it some appeal as a more sleek and sophisticated style wouldn’t evoke a sense of angst’ desperation and confusion that the novel does.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
The novel Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl, who gets raped in the summer before the start of her freshman year in high school and the book follows her as she tries to cope with the depression that comes that kind of violation. This book was turned into a movie; and released early in the early 2000’s and when adapting books to film, a lot of information and details are lost in the process. When comparing Speak the novel and Speak the movie, the noticeable differences are; the character relationships, Melinda’s character, and Andy Evans and Melinda’s dynamic.
The movie lacks a lot of insight onto the other characters in the book, it mostly focuses on Ponyboy. For example, in the movie there was a lack of detail on characters such as Darry and Sodapop even Dally. Dally was a major character in the book but his death in the movie seemed a bit minor because there wasn’t much detail for viewers to get attached to his character. I felt as if his death was glazed over and easily forgotten in the movie while in the book it was described for at least two pages.
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.
Overall, the movie and book have many differences and similarities, some more important than others. The story still is clear without many scenes from the book, but the movie would have more thought in it.
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.
The book and the movie were both very good. The book took time to explain things like setting, people’s emotions, people’s traits, and important background information. There was no time for these explanations the movie. The book, however, had parts in the beginning where some readers could become flustered.
There are obvious differences within our two cultures and the way we depict gender roles. These differences show themselves in the work force, the distinct tasks performed in the home, and the privileges one receives in society. In the work force, the women of America hold many positions of importance, relatively speaking (I know that's a whole other essay). They are usually treated as equals with men and there are few jobs from which they are excluded, again for the sake of argument. In China, women are expected to stay at home and are not permitted to be in a work force that is held exclusively for men. They are assigned the role of housewives and must stay at home to clean the house and raise the children. Women in America receive education that will prepare them for the high paying jobs of a professional, all while the women in China are obeying the orders from their husbands and culture. The films portrayal of these particular gender roles are very evident. We can't forget however, that this was a western made film and in my opinion I feel that it tends to exaggerate the gender roles. I'm not saying that they are not present, because there is a definite inequality. I just keep in mind that it is a film and has to have an audience appealing theme.
At this point, the readers create their own movie in a way. They will determine important aspects of how the character speaks, looks like, and reacts. Whereas, in the movie, the reader has no choice but to follow the plot laid out in front of them. No longer can they picture the characters in their own way or come up with their different portrayals. The fate of the story, while still unpredictable, was highly influenced by the way the characters looked, spoke, and presented themselves on screen.
Another conflict that we discovered was a language barrier between Chinese American children and their parents. Many Chinese American children do not know how to speak Chinese, and those that knew it as children lose much of their knowledge of the language as they try to fit in to school in America. This makes communication between parents and children very difficult. We saw an example of this in the beginning of the movie when all the elders were speaking Chinese while playing mah jong and one of the daughters could not understand what they were saying.
In the book, every step to solving the case was explained in detail and in a way where it kept you hooked and wanting to read more. In the book it was very different, the mystery was solved very quickly in a way where it was hard to keep up and understand. With that being said the whole movie was very fast paced and undetailed, but it is understandable because the book was very long and it would have been extremely difficult to try and fit it all into such a limited time. Even so, I really enjoyed watching the mystery unfold and watching the twist on the already twisted
This was because they both were grown in different times and adapting different values too. In the story the Chinese grandmother has a strong opinion on how her daughter Natalie should care for her