All The King's Men Analysis

English II Final
All The King’s Men

“All The King’s Men”, the novel, written by Robert Penn Warren and the film, directed by Steven Zallian, were both brilliant creations. As stated in the New York Times article, “Whatever its flaws, Warren’s book, a meaty stew of lurid Southern-gothic pulp and high-minded literariness, seems to provide the recipe for a grand, melodramatic prestige picture” (1). Whether you are watching a movie or reading a book there is an image in your mind. With a movie you are seeing the image that the director wants you to see, whereas in a novel the author is describing the image but, you yourself are using your own imagination to put the author’s words together to create an image. In some cases when you are reading
He is powerful because he has faith in what he is preaching. In the film, Willie’s speech, as well as the crowd’s reaction, is much more deep and powerful than the way it is depicted in the novel. In both the novel as well as in the film, Willie’s speech starts off slow and isn’t enough to catch the attention of the town’s people immediately. The novel doesn’t show any distinct indication that Willie ever captures the attention of the people. In the film as soon as Willie has mentioned the school house disaster, everyone starts to flock towards the stage where Willie is standing. He then explains how his running for governor was nothing but a fraud set up put together by Joe Harrison. In the novel, Willie ends his speech by saying “I’m resigning in favor of MacMurfee”, then goes on to say he and the other hicks will kill Joe Harrison, and leaves it at that (140). However, in the film after he explains the Joe Harrison scandal in a very stern, determined tone, catching the crowds undivided attention, he announces that he is going to run for governor on his own and gets everyone around chanting. In this case the movie is much more powerful than the novel because the viewer is able to witness the crowd’s reaction to the fullest extent. The way Willie makes his speech by yelling and showing determination and aggressiveness actually makes you believe what he is saying and makes you as the viewer want to yell along with the
In some cases a book can describe something so vividly that it is significantly easy for the reader to instantly get that image in there head. The novel of All the Kings Men by Robert penn warren does an excellent job at presenting every detail to the reader so that they are able to get a lucid image in their minds. In some cases the description he provides the read with almost makes it seem real. In other circumstances it is the eye of the audience which brings the event to life. In the end, it all depends on the event being