The Green Mile - Book/Movie Contrast Essay
Compare/Contrast essay
Books filled with suspense and thrills are often hard to portray on screen. When Frank Darabont projected Stephen King’s novel, The Green Mile, into a movie, he somewhat failed to adapt the major themes and ideas in the book, which focuses on a person’s journey to the electric chair and death penalty during the great depression. The changed genre from serial thriller to drama in the motion picture greatly affected the scenario and vivid details of the novella and therefore lacked suspense and drama.
The film’s genre differs from the original book, from a serial thriller to a drama, and consequently, the gore, deaths and clues in the book were missing in the movie, which brought a disappointing feel. The book emphasized alot on the ‘‘serial’’ part, meaning the crimes and bloody executions, while the movie did not focus in on these to further attract a wider audience. Although it is effective in a big picture, I, personally, was disappointed because it was what made the book as realistic and heartwarming as it was. For example, the book went back in time to show most of the inmate’s crimes, and thereafter displayed them dying in the electric chair, a painful thing to even read. In addition, the book’s suspense was mostly portrayed through clues and cliff hangers, but these, understandably, were left out in the motion picture because of the length and time. Due to this, discoveries were made straight forward, which takes out the ‘‘thriller’’ part of the novella. For example, the original work of fiction has Paul Edgecombe discovering John Coffey’s innocence through clues, research and some logic, contrary to the film adaptation, when Edgecombe finds out the truth when John Coffey holds his hands, at one point and time. To summarize, the changed genre was very harmful to the suspense and excitement that the book originally brought.
The vivd details and descriptive passages are a big part of what makes Stephen King’s novels so good. These
Books filled with suspense and thrills are often hard to portray on screen. When Frank Darabont projected Stephen King’s novel, The Green Mile, into a movie, he somewhat failed to adapt the major themes and ideas in the book, which focuses on a person’s journey to the electric chair and death penalty during the great depression. The changed genre from serial thriller to drama in the motion picture greatly affected the scenario and vivid details of the novella and therefore lacked suspense and drama.
The film’s genre differs from the original book, from a serial thriller to a drama, and consequently, the gore, deaths and clues in the book were missing in the movie, which brought a disappointing feel. The book emphasized alot on the ‘‘serial’’ part, meaning the crimes and bloody executions, while the movie did not focus in on these to further attract a wider audience. Although it is effective in a big picture, I, personally, was disappointed because it was what made the book as realistic and heartwarming as it was. For example, the book went back in time to show most of the inmate’s crimes, and thereafter displayed them dying in the electric chair, a painful thing to even read. In addition, the book’s suspense was mostly portrayed through clues and cliff hangers, but these, understandably, were left out in the motion picture because of the length and time. Due to this, discoveries were made straight forward, which takes out the ‘‘thriller’’ part of the novella. For example, the original work of fiction has Paul Edgecombe discovering John Coffey’s innocence through clues, research and some logic, contrary to the film adaptation, when Edgecombe finds out the truth when John Coffey holds his hands, at one point and time. To summarize, the changed genre was very harmful to the suspense and excitement that the book originally brought.
The vivd details and descriptive passages are a big part of what makes Stephen King’s novels so good. These
Bibliography: Ward, E (2010). The Green Mile: Book/Movie Comparison. Consulted the 14th of October 2012, at http://wordsofeward.blogspot.ca/2010/11/green-mile-bookmovie-analysis.html. (2007) The Green Mile: Film vs Book. Consulted the 14th of October 2012, at http://liike28.xanga.com/612089854/the-green-mile-film-vs-book/.