Sleepy Hollow Movie And Book Comparison Essay

Many people argue about which version of a story is better, the book or the movie. Most of the time movies are based on a book or a novel. The book is an original idea where the movie brings it to life and gives you a better picture of how the story goes. Often times the director stays true to the story, however that isn’t always the case. Director Tim Burton created a spinoff of the book “The Legends of Sleepy Hollow” written by Washington Irving which didn’t hold true to the story but still had many similarities. Although both good in their own ways, I think that the movie “Sleepy Hollow” tells the story of The Headless Horseman in a more interesting fashion when compared to the book “The Legends of Sleepy Hollow” because the protagonist

of the movie was better developed and the plot of the movie was easier to understand and more entertaining.
When creating characters for an audience, you are never going to create one that everyone loves.

However, Tim Burton did a fine job turning the bland school teacher Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's story and turn him into a more interesting and likeable character. In Irving’s version, Ichabod Crane is described as a strict school teacher who is maybe not the best looking or the bravest. In Burton’s version besides the fact that he is played by Johnny Depp, Ichabod Crane is introduced more as a detective rather than a school teacher. Although the movie does have the advantage do to the fact that Ichabod Crane was played by Johnny Depp and well everyone likes a movie with Johnny Depp in it. But excluding that fact the movie’s version of Ichabod was a much more likeable character. He was a detective who is trying to prove the deaths of people to have been murders. This gives him a good reason to go to Sleepy Hollow in the first place. In the book he was just a teacher who moved there from his hometown in Connecticut. Since he was a detective in the movie it made the Ichabod a more well-rounded character. When telling a story one of the most important parts is to make sure that the characters you create are well developed and likable for the

audience.

When it comes to a good story, the most important part that makes it so good is the plot. The plot is the main events the author decides when writing a story that they use as the structure to make a well-developed story. In Irving’s version there were many of questions that were generated while reading however most were never answered. The most noticeable difference between the movie and the book was the ending. The ending of the story is when you all of your questions are answered. Well at least that is where they should be answered, unless of course there will be a sequel, then it might cause you to have even more questions. Anyways
I found the ending of the movie to be a lot more entertaining than the book was. Tim Burton made some drastic changes to the ending of the plot that worked better than the original version, It answered all my questions that I had while not causing any more confusion. In the end of the movie Ichabod Crane returns the skull back to the headless horseman, then the horseman takes Lady Van Tassel back to his realm and Ichabod and Katrina survive. It was a simple ending but it was an effective ending unlike how in the story, it never reveals whether Ichabod dies or not. The plot can really make or break an entire story and I believe that Tim Burton’s movie plot was stronger than the book make it more entertaining.
Some may say that the book is better than the movie because the book leaves you with the opportunity to be creative and speculate what happens to Ichabod Crane. However with no sequel to the book, your speculation will never be proven true or false. In Tim Burton’s version, you know what happens to the character while in Washington Irving's version, you are left to assume that Ichabod died but you never really know. Although this was probably intended, wasn’t as effective as an ending that answered all of your questions. Also the movie added much more key parts to the story which made the story much easier to follow. People might also say that the book is better because it was the original story, but that is the reason why the stories are so different. I am not saying that the original story wasn’t entertaining but the movie’s version just told the story better. It had a better plot, the characters were much more interesting, and it kept that creepy vibe throughout the entire movie.
There are many aspects to a good story.

When comparing the book “The Legends of Sleepy Hollow” written by Washington Irving and the Movie “Sleepy Hollow” directed by Tim Burton, I found that the movie did a better job at telling an interesting story. A few aspects that were better than in the movie were the character development and the plot of the story. In the book Ichabod Crane was described to be a very dull character while, with the help of Johnny Depp, the movie made the character a much more interesting person. Although similar and different in their own ways the plots of the movie had key parts that were effective and entertaining. The all of the events that he added had a role to help tie the story together and lead to good ending. However both having their own strengths and weaknesses, I found that Tim Burton did a better job at telling the story of the Headless Horseman then Washington

Irving.