| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Transmedia text

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 3 months ago

Transmedia Text

 

Post a bibliography and summary of your book and discuss the differences between the book and the other medium (movie, tv, video game) that it has been translated into. Combined this post should be at least 250 words excluding the bibliography.

Rubric: Out of 25

Lack of bibliography – minus 5

Summary under the required length – minus 1 to minus 10

Underdeveloped discussion of difference - minus 1 to minus 10


 

Chelsey Campbell

 

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, 1975.

 

Tuck Everlasting is an interesting book dealing with issues of immortality and love. The main character, Winnie Foster, is a 10-year-old girl who wishes for nothing more than to escape her boring, proper lifestyle and be free from her family. However, things change for her when she meets the Tuck family. Winnie’s four new friends have drunk from a magic spring and are now immortal, which has its positive and negative sides. Through a series of dramatic events—including a kidnapping—Winnie discovers that although she wanted to run away from home, and possibly even marry Jesse Tuck, she really does love her family more than anything else, and she chooses to remain mortal and live out a normal life.

 

In the adaptation from book to movie form (2002, Disney), many liberties were taken with the story. First, and most obviously, Winnie’s character has been greatly changed. In the movie version, Winnie is much older and lives in a mansion (as opposed to a cottage in the book). She also is more romantically involved with Jesse than in the original text. The film also seems to be more modern and technologically updated, as there are instances of motorcycles, cars, etc. that are not present in the book. As a matter of fact, the birth and death dates of Winnie were moved ahead in history compared with the original. Perhaps the most disappointing change in the adaptation is the situation involving a toad. In the book, Winnie befriends a toad and pours the magical water on it in the end (thereby making it immortal and adding an ironic twist to the story’s dénouement). In the movie, the toad is generally ignored, which I feel leaves out an interesting subplot. Overall, the story is generally correct, but I feel that the screenplay writers could have done a better job by sticking a little closer to the original story line instead of taking so many artistic liberties.

 

Works Cited

Wikipedia: Tuck Everlasting (2002 film). 16 Oct. 2006. The Wikimedia Project. 17 Oct. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuck_Everlasting_%282002_film%29>


 

2. Lauren Blatter Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (book and movie)

Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic Press, 1997.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first book out of seven for the Potter series. In is in the Sorcerer’s Stone where all of the characters are introduced and Harry Potter’s story takes flight. Harry finds out he is in fact a wizard and that he has survived being almost killed by a powerful dark wizard. There are many twists and turns as the book goes on and in the end Harry prevails of the powerful dark wizard, Voldemort, once again. The movie version of this film came out in the year 2001. The director of the movie, Chris Columbus, did not make this movie as dark as the other three Harry Potter movies turned out to be. In this movie, many small details were taken out of the story in order to create a movie that was not five hours long. Even though this is the shortest Harry Potter book, I believe some key elements were cut out of the story line in order to save time. Some of the biggest details left out occur in the end when Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going through all of the different tasks to get to the stone. First, the devils snare is afraid of sun in the movie, however in the book it is afraid of fire. Second, the task dealing with the keys is different. In the book there are three brooms for all three characters to ride and only Harry rides a broom in the movie. Third, the troll is not even in the movie but it was the forth task in the book. Forth, Snapes entire task does not occur, however it is the most interesting of all of the tasks. And lastly, Quirrell binds Harry with rope to hold him down in the book, but in the movie he just uses fire. More differences have been made from the book to the film version, but I believe the movie producers along with J.K. Rowling did an excellent interpretation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, using just enough information to be able to understand Harry's story. To see an entire list of differences:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_book_and_film_versions_of_Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone


 

3. Jennifer Hunt Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book and movie)

Rowling, J K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2000.

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is the longest of J.K. Rawling's series with 734 pages. The length of the books itself creates a problem for the movie producers as the overwhelming amount of detail in the novel can not possibly all make it into the movie version. The conflict here lies with pleasing the fan base as leaving out detail disappoints the universal fan base while focusing on a tremendous amount of detail creates a less focused film. In the Goblet of Fire novel, the series took on a darker tone and more dramatic plot as the characters encounter evil, love, death, and tragedy. The movie did well at capturing these elements; the film was undeniably dark and almost scary. The imaginary aspects were presented in a very fanatical way, which brought the book to life for viewers. One fundamental difference between the book in the movie directly relates to the lack of time available for the movie. There is hardly any introduction of characters in the movie. There must have been an assumption of the producers that almost eveybody going to see the movie has read at least one of the books. The book, as they all do, gives character introductions although it does become a bit mundane after a while. Therefore, this is a positive difference. Another problem that arises in most book-movie transformations is the lack of emotional detail. The book presents many new emotional situations as the main characters start to come of age. For example, while it is obvious to older viewers that the reason Hermione and Ron bicker so much is that they like each other, the thoughts that run through their heads are left out, leaving un-read viewers possibly in the dark. Also, when Cedric Diggory dies at the end of the tournament the scene is very morose, however, the character's individual reactions are not brought up. Also, all classes taught by recurring characters have been cut, so that the only class shown is Professor Moody teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Therefore there are no scenes of Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Potions, Divination, or Care of Magical Creatures, as there have been in the past. There are no mention of the blast-ended screwts, school starts at a completely different time, and Harry is never at the Dursley's at all in the movie. Last, but definetely not least, there are no house elves in the movie, which eliminates Hermione's S.P.E.W. campaign completely. There are many more difference than I could have even imagined, but all in all, the movie is a very good visual representation of a very long and action-packed novel. To see specific differences, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_book_and_film_versions_of_Harry_Potter_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire


 

4. Andrea Sanchez- Holes (book and movie)

 

Sachar, Louis. Holes. United States of America: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1998.

 

Holes is a story about Stanley Yelnats, a boy who is sent to a juvenile detention camp (Camp Greenlake) for a crime he didn’t commit. At this camp the boys are required to dig a hole that is both five feet in depth and width to “build character.” Throughout the story it becomes apparent that the boys are not just digging to build character- they are looking for something. While at camp Stanley befriends a quiet camper named Zero. With the help of flashbacks, the reader is transported into the past and finds that everything is connected. Stanley’s great-great-grandfather had made a 150 year old deal with Zero’s great-great-great-grandmother which is finally fulfilled in a dramatic ending when Stanley carries Zero up a mountain to save Zero’s life. In the typical happy ending, Stanley and Zero find the treasure and escape the evils of Camp Greenlake which is shut down.

 

The main difference between Holes the book and Holes the movie is the ending. Surprisingly, the plot is the same, the characters are portrayed as they are described in the book (with the exception of Stanley who is fat in the book and slim in the movie), and even a lot of the script directly quotes the book. As there will always be, minute details are changed. A few examples would be the appearance of the deadly lizards, an addition of Stanley’s (live) grandfather, and a few images of ghosts of a character, Sam, as part of the flashbacks. The only difference in the ending is that it is happier, to appeal to a larger television or film viewing audience. The reconnection of Zero and his mother is very subtle in the book, but in the movie there is an emotion-filled scene of his mother running off of a bus to hug Zero. Also, at the end of the book, only Stanley and Zero are at Stanley’s house watching Stanley’s father’s TV commercial air. In the movie, all the boys from the camp (or at least the main characters from tent D) are at Stanley’s house for a pool party.


 

5. Danielle Ernst- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (book and movie)

Geisel, Theodor Seuss. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. New York: Random House, 1957.

 

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss is a popular children’s book about the meaning of Christmas. It has been translated into two movies and a song. The media that I will be discussing is the movie that was made in 2000 starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch. The movie uses the exact storyline that Dr. Seuss wrote himself. However, the movie veers away from the story in the book at times in order to go more in depth into the lives of the characters. One example of this is when there is a flashback to when the Grinch was a child; the audience then finds out why the Grinch ended up so mean and alone. Also, Cindy-Lou Who has a much more prominent role in the movie rather than the book. In the movie she sees that the Grinch has a kind heart deep inside and researches his past as to why he hates Christmas. In the movie, in addition to using the same storyline, Dr. Seuss’s exact words from the book are used in the movie whenever possible. The writers apply the same language that is presented in the book whenever the narrator is speaking, but when the characters are talking, at least for the majority of the movie, they speak in normal language (not rhyming.) The Grinch, however, encounters some instances where he finds himself rhyming and makes note of that to the audience. Unlike the words, the images in the book are very different than what is presented in the movie. The colors, for one, are much more varied in the movie. In the book the only colors used for the illustrations are red, pink, and black, while the movie uses a plethora of colors to make the images more exciting and interesting to watch. The characters represented in the book are also very much altered in the movie. In the book, the Grinch looks similar to the other Whos. In the movie, he looks like an animal while the Whos look like humans. This accentuates the disparity between the Grinch and all the members of the city. The differences presented in this movie are used in order to make the movie more interesting and enticing to children.


 

6. Leslie Scott- Madeline (book and movie/cartoon series)

Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939.

 

Madeline, by Ludwig Bemelmans, is a classic children’s story that many people are familiar with. The plot of the original Madeline story is about how she has appendicitis and must be taken to the hospital in the middle of the night. Most people associate Madeline with the appendix incident because that is the topic of the original story. Madeline did not just stay one story however, but became a series of children’s books including Madeline’s Rescue, Madeline in London, Madeline and the Gypsies, Madeline’s Rescue, and Madeline and the Bad Hat. These stories also became a cartoon series. Each cartoon is based of off one story book and the cartoons and books are almost completely identical.

The 1998 film, Madeline, incorporated many of the short stories into one movie. The makers did a good job sticking to the stories and tying them together. To tie in the meeting of Pepito, the boy next door, a breeze comes and blows Madeline’s hat down the sidewalk bumping her into him. The books and the movie are similar in that they both portray Madeline with red hair (a distinguishing feature). They also keep the characters true, including a maid/housekeeper in the house covered with vines. The two mediums are so closely related that some of the lines in the movie are directly from the book and the girls' outfits are the same as the ones drawn in the book as well. The stories incorporated in the movie are all the previous listed above, except for Madeline in London.

Some differences include that in the movie, Lord Cucuface is planning to sell the school house. In the book, he is only mentioned in the yearly inspection of the school. A large part of the movie in the end is the girls sabotaging his showings of the house making it look like an undesirable place to live. Another thing that is different is the part where the makers incorporate the gypsy story. In the movie, they go to the circus for the day and Madeline decides not to go back. She gives her hat to her friend to be counted on the bus and decides to join the circus. Pepito joins up with her and to get out of this situation, they must escape from a truck. In the book, there is no involvement of a car. Some other differences are small things that are added to the movie like when the girls sneak downstairs and play with a bra that is hanging to dry and make a mess in the kitchen.


 

7. Laura Feezor-The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (book and movie)

 

Brashares, Ann. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. New York: Delacorte Press, 2001.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a book about four fifteen year old girls that are about to spend their first summer apart. Carmen, the feisty Puerto Rican, buys a pair of blue jeans from a thrift store that the girls magically all fit into. They decide to pass the jeans around during the summer to make them feel connected. Carmen goes to South Carolina to visit her dad only to be met with his fiancée and her children, while Bridget travels to Mexico to play in a soccer camp only to fall for her male coach. Lena, the beauty, visits her grandparents in Greece and is pursued by Kostos, the village sweetheart and Tibby, the rebel, stays home and somehow finds her herself becoming friends with a ten year old girl who is dying of leukemia. The movie version is very different from the book in crucial aspects. While Carmen and Tibby’s stories in the film are the very close to the book, a major part is left from Bridget’s as they exclude the loss of her virginity to her soccer coach and instead blame her troubles on the past suicide of her mother. This really upset me because I felt they left it out just to get a PG rating and therefore could target a wider audience. Lena’s story is also completely different because in the book she overcomes her fear of love and professes it in the end to Kostos while in the movie they are together from the beginning. This change caused one of my favorite parts from the book, her profession, to be left out and again I think it was because of the PG rating. To me, this shows the economic drive behind the entertainment industry which causes the story to suffer as a result.


 

8. Amanda Schafer- Shiloh (book/movie)Reynolds-Naylor, Phyllis. Shiloh. New York, NY: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1991.

 

The Newberry Award winning book Shiloh was transformed into a full length film in 1996. Shiloh is a story about a boy that falls in love with an abused dog. Marty Preston finds the dog in the woods one day up on “Shiloh Hill,” and the dog follows him home. Marty’s father notes that the dog is most likely Judd Traver’s dog and that Marty will have to return him. The only problem being that Judd Travers is known for mistreating his animals, so Marty is torn about bringing the dog, which he has named Shiloh back. After bringing him back, the dog runs away again to Marty but this time, Marty decides to try to hide the dog so he won’t have to return him. Marty thinks the dog will be safe, but a stray dog attacks him and exposes Marty’s secret. Shiloh recovers, but now everyone knows that Marty had him, and still wants him. The conclusion is when Marty strikes up a deal with Judd Travers, to work around the house until he earns as much as Shiloh is worth.

 

The book and the movie follow for the most part the same storyline. The only difference being that in the movie, Marty and his dad find the abused Shiloh first and take him to the doctor, as opposed to Marty just finding him in the woods. Also, the book included Marty’s best friend David Howard, the movie has no such character. Another interesting difference between the book and the movie was that in the book, when Marty is working for Judd it actually says that Judd is drinking beer, in the movie it never says that he is drinking beer but just shows him with a can that we must assume to be beer. I think this was because of the child audience that the movie was geared toward, reading and seeing are two different things and I think actually showing drinking in a children’s movie is not appropriate. The movie aired on the Disney Channel which is highly censored; therefore I attributed that to the difference as well. All in all the book and the movie were relatively similar considering how skewed a movie can become form a book.

 


 

9. Lydel Matthews- Riki-Tikki-Tavi- Rudyard Kipling's book, “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, was translated into a thirty minute animated movie in 1975. The plot line of the medias are extremely similar in that they both tell the tale of a courageous mongoose who protects his newly adopted family from evil, garden-lurking cobras. The scenes depicted in the movie closely resemble the images presented in the text. The movie leaves out the initial concern expressed by the mother in relation to the wild mongoose attacking her son; this is probably because the movie producers wanted to portray Rikki-Tikki as completely trustworthy since the main conflict was between the family and the cobras. The animation is simple, yet it provides just enough detail to keep the characters interesting and the music in the movie did not overshadow the story's plot. It would be wise to have an adult watch this film with children who are deathly afraid of snakes because the cobras, Nag and Nagaina, seem even more menacing when they are drawn for you as opposed to constructing them from pure dialog. The song the bird sings to celebrate the cobras deaths is sung exactly how it is written at the end of the book. When a book is read, someone you know might narrate it or you may hear different voices inside your head, but this movie is narrated by a single man who captures the haunting overtone of the story exquisitely. The only complaint I have is that the movie could have been longer; maybe giving more lines to the helpless victims of the garden would reinforce the constant fear they lived in.


 

10. Crystal Frawley- Stuart Little (book/movie)

 

White, E.B. Stuart Little. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1973.

 

The book Stuart Little by E.B. White has been around for a long time, since the 1940’s, to be exact. It is the story of a mouse born to a family of humans living in New York City. Stuart loves adventure, and the main one in the story involves him leaving home in search of his friend named Margalo, a bird. Because the book has been so popular among children throughout the years, it’s surprising to me that the move version of Stuart Little did not come out until 1999, over fifty years since the book was published. The plot of the movie is definitely somewhat different from that of the book. In the movie, Stuart’s family-to-be goes to an orphanage to adopt a new family member. They end up choosing a mouse, Stuart. His parents love him, but at first the other members of the family, namely George (Stuart’s older brother) and Snowbell (the cat), are not very pleased with the new addition. Through adventures Stuart gains the love of George and eventually is tolerated by Snowbell. The obvious difference between the two is that in the book Stuart is “born” to human parents, while in the movie he is more realistically adopted. It is also more realistic that Stuart has to gain the respect of the other family members, than just being readily accepted into the family. Overall, I think the producers of the movie did an excellent job translating the book into the film. Stuart even looks very realistic in the movie; the viewer can even see individual little hairs on his body (thank you computer technology).


 

11. Patrick Lynn - The Polar Express (book and movie)

 

Van Alsburg, Chris. The Polar Express. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985.

 

The Polar Express tells the amazing tale of a young boy visiting the North Pole aboard the magical Polar Express. The boy, awake and motionless, listens for the faint sound of Santa's sleigh one Christmas Eve. However, instead of sleigh bells, the sound of a train fills his bedroom. The boy races downstairs, out the front door, and up to the conductor who explains that this train is destined for the North Pole. He boards the train, takes his seat, and enjoys hot chocolate and candies. The train travels through dark forests and high mountain ridges until finally entering the urban-like setting of the North Pole. The children leave the train and join the crowd of elves waiting for Santa’s appearance. Santa enters the ring of elves and children, selecting the boy to receive the first gift of Christmas. Santa inquires what gift he wants to receive and the boy asks for a sleigh bell. An elf cuts the bell from the reins, tosses it to Santa, and Santa gives his gift. After Santa leaves for his Christmas duties, all the children board the train for the trip home. However, the young boy, reaching into his pocket, notices the bell disappeared through a hole in his robe pocket. Saddened by the loss of his gift, the boy, once returned to his house, goes to bed sad. The next morning the young boy and his sister open their presents. After unwrapping the gifts, his sister notices one small present still unwrapped underneath the tree. Opening the gift, he discovers the sleigh bell which he had lost the night before. He rings the bell, but only the two children hear its lovely sound. Through the years, the boy’s sister and friends no longer hear the bell, but he continues to hear the sound because he truly believes in Santa Clause.

 

The Polar Express presents an exception uncommon within the film adaptation of books genre. The book’s illustrations and the visual design of the movie perfectly match both in style and appearance. Through the use of motion capture technology, Robert Zemekis successful eliminated any detectable artistic variance between the Chris Van Allsburg picture book and the film. Although the visuals match seamlessly, the movie departs from the book in order to expand the twenty-nine page book into a feature length film. What changes were required to lengthen the story? First, new characters were added to provide more material to portray. Various children, train engineers, a hobo, and others provided depth to the story. More characters allowed for more situations, more dialogue, more character interaction, and more movie time. Second, character development grows tremendously compared to the original text. In particular, the movie features a discussion between the young boy and the hobo. The hobo questions the boy's ideals of Christmas and Santa Clause, giving audiences greater sympathy for the boy and greater understanding the North Pole journey. Finally, the film elaborates upon aspects discussed quickly in the book. The children’s activities onboard the train, the route taken to the North Pole, and the operation of the train became points of expansion. This adds adventure, a larger storyline, and not to mention length.


 

12. Kara Alder - Matilda (book/movie)

Dahl, Roald. Matilda. New York: Puffin Books, 1988.

 

Matilda by Roald Dahl is an imaginative children’s tale about a precocious little girl with extraordinary gifts. From an early age is she is neglected and mistreated by her parents. Matilda quickly learns how to take care of herself, and through her independence, she becomes a brilliant child who later adapts powers. Although she starts getting an education late (her parents forgot to enroll her when school really began), she eventually gets the opportunity to learn in a real institution. Despite her horrible principal Ms. Trunchbull, she truly bonds with her teacher, Ms. Honey. Ms. Honey discovers Matilda’s unique abilities and they become so close that when Matilda’s family flees the country, Ms. Honey adopts her so she does not have to leave.

The book Matilda was later adapted into a movie. However, due to the short text, the movie elaborated on the original story. In the book, Matilda does not find out until the end that her father is in trouble for selling stolen car parts; in fact, it is Ms. Honey who finally informs her when Matilda comes running back to her cottage confused about her parents declaration that they are moving to Spain. In the movie, Matilda’s intuitive observations help her to notice that the car parked outside their house with two men in it must be the FBI watching her father. In the movie Matilda is also forced to sign for the packages of the stolen parts and later slightly prolongs her fathers capture by threatening the cops need for a search warrant and obtaining an indicting video tape with her powers. The entire subplot of her father’s illegal actions is enhanced in the movie. Matilda also discovers her powers earlier in the movie and uses them more frequently. She utilizes her powers in a great scheme that is entirely left out of the book. In the movie, Matilda learns towards the beginning that Ms. Trunchbull is Ms. Honey’s awful aunt who raised her after her mother died and her father “committed suicide.” It was Matilda’s father who unknowingly prompted Matilda to get back at her parents and Ms. Trunchbull by telling her, “when a person is bad they are meant to be punished.” From the Trunchbull’s roof, Matilda gets back Ms. Honey’s childhood Lissi doll, steals two of the chocolates Ms. Honey used to eat with her father, and replaces Trunchbull’s portrait with Ms. Honey’s father’s (Magnus) picture. It is revealed in the movie that the Trunchbull is superstitious so when these actions take place along with flickering lights, and banging windows, she is seriously spooked. Matilda’s ribbon flies out of her hair while performing her tricks, which the Trunchbull discovers and brings to school the next day. She goes into Ms. Honey’s class to find the intruder and it is here that like in the book, Matilda writes on the chalkboard a “message from Magnus” for Trunchbull to leave his daughter (Ms. Honey) her belongings. The same outcome arises in the movie and book with the Trunchbull leaving town and Ms. Honey adopting Matilda. However, in the book, Matilda loses her powers at the end while in the movie she maintains them but barely has a need to use them. The movie did a wonderful job of taking the basic storyline of Roald Dahl’s novel and expanding it to make it more entertaining and ornamented for a viewing audience.

 


 

13. Jodi Schneider - The Cat In the Hat (book/movie)

Seuss, Dr. ''The Cat In The Hat''. New York: Random House, 1957.

 

Although most children do read Dr. Seuss books growing up, I had forgotten the story of The Cat In the Hat. I first watched the Mike Meyers movie and I was quite astonished. Although I did not really remember the story, I was pretty sure that there were no evil boyfriends or sexual conotations in the book. Nonetheless, the film was very interesting to watch. Everything looked magical with bright colors, only describable as very "Seuss-like." However, after re-reading the text I noticed several differences. The storyline was altered. In the movie there was an "evil" character. The children's mother's boyfriend. However, he did not exist at all in the text. One major difference between the movie and the text was that in the movie Conrad and Sally did not get along and the moral of the story at the end was that the Cat In the Hat taught them the lesson to get along with one another. Although the movie was very entertaining, I thought it rather disappointing how different it was from the original text. I feel that if I were a parent who had read the Cat In the Hat to my children, I would be quite disappointed with the lack of connection to the film.


 

14. Daniel Goldin - The Cat In the Hat (book/movie)

 

The Cat In the Hat was one of the first books that most young children learn to read in the United States. It was right there with my favorites, One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish, and the all time great, Green Eggs and Ham. All of these short stories were produced by the brilliant child genius; what drugs this man did to write such stories that appeal to young children is still unknown.

 

For the most part, The Cat in the Hat is a very short story that is quite easy to understand. Basically, two young children are left home alone and are basically given a test of responsibility. As I remember, it was raining and was supposed to be a pretty boring day for the kids. Then, a 6ft cat straight out of the netherworld enters the house. The Cat begins to cause all sorts of ruckus with the two things he brought along. Opposing the cat is the family's talking goldfish whom we can compare to Bryan in Family Guy. He really is the only sensible one. The Cat does all sorts of things to destroy the house, most of all I remember the cat exploding a pink cake in the bathtub or something along those lines. When the mother is about to come home, the cat and his two Things instantaneously clean the house and all is well.

 

The movie is very similar in many ways. It still stars the cat and the brother and the sister. Two Things come with the cat and there is still the talking goldfish. The Cat is played by Mike Myers, his charisma and natural humor is perfect for this part. One thing that is different is Alec Baldwin is placed into the story as a bachelor that is pursueing the children's mother. Baldwin is fat and dirty and this movie and is not well liked by the kids. Also, the movie is 82 minutes long and the dialouge here obviously would fill up much more space than the book originally did. Some of the humor is a bit deeper and coarser than the original lines in Seuss' book. Many critics did not like this movie and it even won a new award "Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie". Apparently the movie was not quite the success that the book was.


 

Melissa Mattson - 101 Dalmatians (book/movie)

Smith, Dodie. The hundred and one Dalmatians. New York: Viking Press, 1956.

 

The Disney movie 101 Dalmatians was based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, written by Dodie Smith in 1956. The novel is about a pair of Dalmatians, Pongo and Missis Pongo and their “owners” Mr. and Mrs. Dearly. Missis gives birth to a litter of fifteen adorable Dalmatian puppies. One night Mr. and Mrs. Dearly are invited to a dinner party hosted by Cruella de Vil. During dinner Mr. and Mrs. Dearly discover Cruella’s love of fur clothes and Cruella discovers the Dearly’s new litter of puppies. That night after the dinner party the Dearly’s puppies disappear. Now it’s up to Pongo and Missis to find their puppies. With the help of some other canine friends Pongo and Missis find their fifteen puppies along with 82 other puppies. So now Mr. and Mrs. Dearly have Pongo, Missis, 97 puppies, Perdita, a wet nurse for the puppies, and Prince, Perdita’s love; totaling to 101 Dalmatians.

 

The novel and the movie are very different in regards to plot and overall structure. The first and most obvious difference is the characters. In the novel the humans are Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and in the movie their names are Roger and Anita. The Dalmatians have different names also; instead of Pongo and Missis Pongo it’s Pongo and Perdita. I believe that this change was done to give the mother more of an identity. Back in that time Smith wanted to be politically correct and imply that even the dogs were wed before they had children. Another difference is the reality the families live in. In the novel Mr. and Mrs. Dearly don’t work because Mr. Dearly is a financial wizard and has solved the nation’s national debt, resulting in a gift from the government including never paying taxes and a lot of money. However in the movie Roger and Anita both have jobs, in fact that’s how Anita knows Cruella; Cruella is her boss. The details of the story differ, but the feeling and overall message is constant. Roger, Anita, Pongo, and Perdita show so much love for their puppies, they go through anything and everything to get them back. In the end they succeed and get not only their puppies but 101 Dalmatians they’ll love forever.

 


Alejandra Klorig- The Snowman (book/movie)

 

The Snowman is an interesting movie and book based on the fact that both are wordless. The book, written by British author Raymond Briggs, was adapted into a movie four years after its publishing date, and was also titled "The Snowman". The book and the movie are very similar. Both tell the story of a little boy who builds a snowman one day and then goes to bed. At exactly midnight the snowman comes to life, the boy wakes up invites him in and after exploring the house a bit the snowman takes the boy on an adventure. They fly over the English landscape at night finally arriving in the North Pole. They attend a snowman party and at the end the little boy meets Santa Claus and he gives the little boy a red scarf. They next day the little boy wakes up thinking it was all a dream until he sees the red scarf that Santa Claus had given him.

 

As I mentioned above both plots are very similar; the same magical snowman and little boy going on the same adventure to the North Pole. The style of illustration, as the publisher describes it, "the hazy softness of air in snow", is present in both the movie and book as well. The movie does employ action and music, which (of course) are not found in the book. An interesting difference which can only be caught by a quick eye is you learn that the name of the little boy (who is anonymous in the book) is James. You can see his name on the tag of a present.

 

Briggs, Raymond. The Snowman. New York : Random House, 1978.

 


 

Adam Amir - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (book/movie)

Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. London: Puffin Books, 1964.

 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fantastic tale of Charlie Bucket overcoming his family’s poverty with the help of eccentric, but good intentioned Willy Wonka. Willy Wonka, the mysterious owner of the Wonka chocolate company is opening his factory’s doors to whoever finds a golden ticket in one of his chocolate bars. The lottery’s chances are slim, with only five tickets in the world.

For Charlie’s birthday he receives a Wonka bar. While not finding the ticket here, Charlie later uses found money to buy the winning bar. Dahl introduces Wonka and his factory to the reader by explaining its mystery and grandeur, with a chocolate waterfall and even candies that can be sucked to eternity.

However, the other four ticket winners are not as mild mannered as Charlie. The kids all have near death experiences in the factory because they defy a rule or become too greedy. Violet Bureaguard eats an experimental gum that tastes like a three course gum and becomes stuck in the desert stage. The overpowering blueberry is not just on her taste buds, but she swells up to look like a large, purple version of the fruit. Augustus Gloop gets stuck in the chocolate waterfall’s drainage system, while Veruca Salt is dropped in the furnace by squirrels capable of detecting “bad nuts.” The children’s downfall represents other greater vices in the world.

Charlie is the allegory for good and in the story and therefore he is rewarded. You learn later in the book that Wonka created the contest to find a successor for the factory. Charlie passes his test of character and has his poor family move into the giant factory.

Different from the book and the original movie, the Oompa Loompas are as Dahl writes are from Africa, while the movie describes them from Loompaland. This politically correct change shows the tastes and requirements of later media.

The first movie starring Gene Wilder highlights the character Willy Wonka, while Charlie is the highlight of the book. Furthermore, Dahl has a recurring theme of kids as protagonist heroes, but the first movie ignores this. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1974) sets up Wonka and the interesting chocolate factory as one. Together they control the good or bad things that happen to the kids. Moreover, in an attempt to attract a greater audience the movie is staged as a musical. Starring Johnny Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), is more reliant on the book and the hardships Charlie and his family faces.

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_book_and_film_versions_of_Charlie_and_the_Chocolate_Factory


 

Jeff Biezunski- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (book/Disney movie adaptation)

 

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: Doubleday, 1970.

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an adventurous tale telling the story of the mischievous Tom Sawyer and his friends who witness a murder. Late one night, Tom and his troublemaking friend Huck Finn go to a graveyard with dead cats to perform a ritual and rid themselves of warts. There, they see Doc Robinson, Injun Joe, and Muff Potter digging. They all begin arguing and Doc knocks Muff out. Injun Joe proceeds to kill Doc and convinces Muff that Muff did it in a drunken rage. Muff believes him. Tom, Huck, and another friend Joe run away to an island to become pirates soon thereafter. They stay for a while, and come back to their funeral. They are embraced by their loved ones. During the trial, Tom testifies on Muff’s behalf as he was feeling guilty, and Muff is acquitted. Injun Joe flees and Huck begins to follow him trying to nab the treasure. On a picnic, Becky and Tom get lost in a cave that happens to be Injun Joe’s hideout. Huck went to fetch help and tell of Injun Joe’s murderous plans he overheard, and the town begins looking for the kids. Eventually they escape and the cave gets locked with Injun Joe inside. Later, Tom and Huck get their treasure.

The movie Tom and Huck is quite different than the original story and takes various liberties. In the book, the boys run away to become pirates, but in the movie they run away to work on the steamboat in New Orleans, a bit more practical of a journey. Also, Huck Finn did not go with in the movie and was not introduced until later. In the book, Muff Potter is convinced that he killed Doc Robinson as he was being rowdy. However, in the movie, Muff is a peacemaker and knows he did not murder Doc Robinson. Muff is made more likeable and Injun Joe less likeable. Also, in the movie they follow Injun Joe together instead of Huck by his lonesome. Lastly, in the cave scene, Huck saves the day in the movie and helps free Becky and Tom as well as take out Injun Joe. In the book, however, Tom and Becky free themselves and Injun Joe is left to die on his own.

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.