Speak Book Vs Movie Essay

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.

There were many differences in the characters' relationships with each other. For instance, Heather and Melinda’s connection were very different from book to film.

In the novel, Melinda and Heather meet during a welcoming assembly at school, while in the film they meet on the school bus and the assembly scene was omitted completely. Furthermore in the novel they spend a lot more time together, Melinda was constantly over at Heathers house and went with her to her modeling shoots. So when Heather essentially broke up with Melinda it hurt all the more. Another example is how diverse the family dynamics work, in the book the family barely communicates except for notes left for each other on the counter or refrigerator. Or how the parents fight more and don’t notice Melinda until the school brings her to their attention. By way of contrast, in the film the family communicates more and her mother buys her clothes. Another way of showing this is at the end of the book, when Melinda visits Mr. Freeman in his classroom and tells him everything that happened. On the other hand, in the film, she tells her mother about the rape. Changing character relationships can affect a story in many different ways, in this case, it doesn’t show how alone Melinda is as described in the book.
Moreover, in both the novel and the film, Melinda is shown as dejected, quiet and lonely.

But the novel does a better job of really depicting the depression Melinda underwent after being raped. There are a few key points the book makes that the movie does not. For representation, in the novel, Melinda skips school a number of times; from going to the mall, to getting donuts in the morning, all the way to wandering around the hospital for the day. While the movie does show Melinda in the hospital, it only shows that she lay in a bed, but not looking around. Relating to this; she also doesn’t cut class as often as is shown in the book. In the novel she takes Ms. Hairs hall pass notepad, so she could spend more time in her secret closet without getting in trouble; while the movie doesn’t show this at all. Another thing that was changed from novel to film was when Melinda started a thread on a bathroom stall wall saying, “Guys to stay away from” and adding Andy Evans name to the list, and many other girls respond in accord with her and telling their own stories. While in the movie all she writes is “Foreign exchange students are ruining the country.” This was a major risk, as it shows that Andy Evans has violated more girls than just one, which is made known in the book but not quite as clear in the film. With these changes, Melinda’s depressed character isn’t made known as strongly throughout the

movie.
Similarly Andy Evans and Melinda’s scenario were changed in a number of ways. For instance, in the beginning when Melinda first gets raped by Andy, the book described that it happened outside on the ground by trees, in contrast the movie shows that he attacks her in the passenger seat of his car. This scene was changed due to the actress playing Melinda, Kristen Stewarts, allergic reaction to the grass, so an impromptu change had to be made. Additionally at the end of the both the novel and the film, Andy gets mad at Melinda for telling his now ex-girlfriend and her ex-best friend that he raped Melinda. In the novel Andy finds her in her closet on the last day of school and tries to sexually assault her again, but this time she fights back harder and finds her voice to scream. She eventually holds a shard of glass to his neck and tells him that she said no. Dissimilarity in the movie, it is shown that Andy doesn’t try to rape her again, but only to physically try to assault her. Melinda still fights back, in addition to the glass to his neck; she throws a chemical cleaner in his eyes temporally blinding him. Although these scenes are different from each other we still see how Melinda grew throughout the story and found her voice to fight back.
Although Speak the novel was adapted into a film there were still many differences including; the character interaction, Melinda’s disposition, and Andy Evans and Melinda’s dynamic. Every 107 seconds, another sexual assault occurs, about 98% of those sexual offenders won’t spend a day in jail. As of 2012 the U.S. is ranked 13th in rape. These all show that something needs to be done, but it can be hard to prove if the rape actually occurred; unless the incident was recorded, there was a witness or the victim comes forward and uses a rape test kit. But what can be done to prevent rape from happening in the first place? Everyone needs to be educated on the subject of rape and know the difference between consensual sex and rape.