The Namesake: Book by Jhumpa lahiri

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It’s pretty clear that film and literature are very different mediums and when you try to make one into the other, such as an adaptation, you’re going to have some things that are lost in translation and seen in a different light. When an original work is made into a movie, I think they’re kind of at a disadvantage because they only have a few hours to get the whole story across while also keeping the viewer intrigued by what is taking place on the screen right in front of their eyes. Movies are able to contain special effects, visuals, and music though which can impact a viewer and make a scene stay in their mind longer which is a plus side to being able to view something. Literature on the other hand, has a greater advantage. They can keep the reader entertained for a considerably long time and you’re able to get more information about people and events such as what a character is thinking or what is happening behind the scenes during a specific event. I understand that people are going to have different opinions when it comes to whether a book or film adaptation of a work is the best and it is not always going to be the same for each and every piece of work. One thing I think though, is that The Namesake in both the film and the movie, they’re both accurate and concise in the way that they relate to one another. Both the movie adaptation and the original work, the book, deal with the same topic: struggling to find identity in a place that’s not really your own. For the most part, the book and movie coincide here and are kept the same. In the movie adaptation of this, Ashoke comes to New York as opposed to Boston. It’s a nice thing too because New York has the Queensboro Bridge which crosses over the East River and Hooghly... ... middle of paper ... ...rom that point on he begins to resent his namesake and go on to find his own identity in the States. Even though the book and movie version of The Namesake are different in some instances, they both get the point across and are fairly accurate representations of one another. The movie, like the book, shows the common things that people go through when migrating from a familiar place to the States and how difficult it is to adjust when you want to keep past traditions. I’m still sticking with my original opinion that I tend to think that books are better portrayed than movies, but this one was a close call. Works Cited Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print. The Namesake. Dir. Mira Nair. Prod. Mira Nair and Lydia Dean Pilcher. By Sooni Taraporevala. Perf. Kal Penn, Tabu , and Irrfan Khan. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2007.

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