The Crucible Movie Comparison

The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 is a political allegory, based on the Salem witch trials. During its time, it was used to inform people about the horrid nature of the accusations which took place during the Red Scare. In 1996, director Nicholas Hynter released a film adaptation of Miller’s play. Despite popular belief, movie adaptations hold just as much significance as the original written text. Both the text and its visual counterpart are created to convey a message, just in their own respective ways. As authors use literary devices to create meaning and convey themes within their texts, directors use movie techniques. A technique like lighting can be used to characterize, while visual symbolism can allude and foreshadow, and zooming can create a greater
Proctor’s isolated focus in the story was one which was negative to the people of Salem, but this reputation bettered when he redeemed himself. Director Hynter used a plethora of movie techniques to demonstrate this bond. By using lighting, the director set Proctor apart from the rest of the cast, showing his lies and sin through the shadows on his character. In the use of visual symbolism, Proctor’s red scarf foreshadowed his death, and Hynter also alluded to Jesus, which held a similar story as Proctor, and demonstrated the community’s role in his demise. Zooming in on Proctor in the final scene of the movie and play to show his death both left a lasting impression, as it left the crooked nature of the community in the minds of the audience. The combination of these techniques used by Hynter further reinforced and reprised the meanings which were forged in the text written by Miller forty years earlier. In the end, both mediums demonstrate that when a community is corrupt, it takes a very courageous individual to make a change, despite how rancorous the relationship between the two may