Were Watching God Movie Vs Book

1392 Words3 Pages

Watching God
The story Zora Hurston portrayed in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God drastically changed in the movie that Oprah sought to make using her book. Many changes, such as the differences between the relationships like how Oprah sought to change it in the movie. The characters changes and how they didn't interact the same as they did or not shown at all. The symbols and how Oprah stressed some but didn't really throw in others images. The details she felt irrelevant had also removed such as entire parts of the book that didn't show at all in her movie. These changes brought with it a whole new feel in the movie than it did from the book changing it from the story of a young woman who the product of rape but, well brought up women …show more content…

The tree as portrayed in the novel came across as a symbol of Janie's growth, it enlightened the readers that Janie, a women looking for answers to maturing a women, growth so to speak. “Ever since the first tiny bloom had opened. It called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren stems to glistening leaf-buds;pg.10”.This, an excerpt explaining the way Janie felt about life in her teenage years growing up not knowing but wandering. This as opposed to the movie which brought it across as nothing more than Janie learning about sex. This completely changed the way this symbol's portrayed throughout the movie. “She saw the dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was marriage!pg.11” This doesn't just come out and tell you that Janie's starting to understand sex but the wording used in the description of this event lead the reader to believe this the cause. Throughout the book, the natural disasters that befell Janie used as a catalyst for God. “They seemed to be staring into dark, but their eyes were watching God,” “Looking at the...quote….the people are looking into the darkness; their fate is not illuminated, so they look to God because only he knows what will befall them.” …show more content…

The novel used to tell the story of Zora Hurston's life as she saw fit to write it, and the movie by Oprah Winfrey used to tell an unbelievable love story. The change in the symbols, when pointed out such as the pear tree and how changed from a symbol of growth to nothing more than a symbol of sex. The way Janie's portrayed whether her attitude or how strong of a character she's become. The changes to the settings also discussed, from the restaurant to the Everglades, showing just how much the story can change from taking out scenes. These two different portrayals in their own way show the changes in perspective of women from different times and just how drastically their ideas

Open Document