Comparison of the Movie and Novel, Of Mice and Men

A comparison between the opening section of the novel of of mice and

men with the opening section of the film of of mice and men.

‘Of mice and men’ is a novel written by John Steinbeck. A film ‘of

mice and men’ was also directed by Gary Sinise in 1992. The novel and

the film are a bit different from each other. The book was written in

the 1930’s, a time of high unemployment through out America and a time

of racism and sexism and segregation. The main themes are sexism,

prejudice, loneliness, loyalty and protest. John Steinbeck wrote the

novel in the 1930’s a period known as The Depression. ‘Of mice and

men’ is about two companions, George and Lennie, who are migrant ranch

workers. They have gone to the Salinas River to work on a ranch. The

story follows the two men in pursuit of dream of owning their own

piece of land and tending rabbits.

In the film the characters are presented by Gary Sinise as George and

John Malkovich as Lennie. Gary Sinise starts the film showing George

on a train. The music is very sad and depressing; it is slow and is

also classical. The audience can hardly see as it is dark and the

picture of the train is coming in and out of focus. George emerges

from the shadow looking pensive, his eyes penetrating, staring as if

he is in deep thought; he is also looking very upset. This makes the

audience wonder why? Then there is a cut to the scene. This indicates

that the rest of the film is a flash back.

Then there is a flashback. A woman in a red dress is running as fast

as she can, as if she is running away from danger. The red symbol

represents danger. A long shot camera focuses on her face which was

looking terrified, scared, and in horror. Her dress was also torn. The

audience won...

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...stick closely to the opening of the novel. There has been more

movement in the film than in the novel; from the chase to the train

and the town, from the bus to the road and the river. This is

important in the film because it allows the audience to know what has

happened and what will happen and create suspense and tension. Sinise

kept his actors very close to Lennie and George, this is why both

characters made am outstanding performance. In this film Gary Sinise

keeps to the spirit of the book but he changes the beginning to give

to chronological information to the audience and to provide more

interesting detail and information.

Overall I preferred the film because it gave me a clearer view of the

situation. How ever I do think that the book is very important as it

gives more detail. And also I do think that all books should have

films made after them.