The differences between Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine and its movie counterpart are numerous. For whatever reason, the screen writers felt it necessary to change a great many things that happened in the original story when making it over as a film. One of the largest changes, aside from the introduction of Prince Charmont’s wicked uncle, was the way Ella’s relationships in the movie differed from those in the book—most notably, her relationships with Mandy, her father, and her love interest, Prince Char. While these changes led to a fast-paced, entertaining movie, they also do away with much of the depth that is present in Levine’s original story. In the book, Mandy is a very important figure in young Ella’s life. After Lady Eleanor’s …show more content…
She is also, much to Ella’s dismay, her fairy godmother: a role that has been passed down through the maternal line in Ella’s family for generations. However, in the movie Mandy plays a much smaller role in Ella’s life. Instead of being her fairy godmother she is reduced to being a simple household fairy who is not very good at magic. After encouraging Ella to seek out the fairy Lucinda, the source of her ‘gift,’ and giving her a magical book named …show more content…
Everything from their first meeting to how they fall in love is rewritten and Char’s character is simplified, leaving him a much less well-rounded and well-adjusted character than he is in the book. Levine’s Char is a thoughtful young man who is intent on becoming a good king. He meets Ella shortly after her mother’s funeral, and then again before she is sent away to finishing school—an event that does not occur in the movie—and they become friends. However, in the movie Prince Char is apathetic towards his approaching kingship and is largely unaware of the horrible treatment the magical beings in his kingdom have been forced to endure. Ella sees the injustices happening in the kingdom and forms a very low opinion of Char and his uncle, the current king. She is quite rude to Char the first time they meet, which he finds intriguing because he is so used to young maidens fawning over him. This hostility is not present in the book, nor is there mention that the kingdom’s magical population is being mistreated. Additionally, Levine’s Ella slowly falls in love with Char over the course of six months, while he is visiting the neighboring kingdom of Ayortha and they take to writing letters back and forth (Levine, 1997, pp. 173-182). However, when Char confesses that he is in love with her Ella realizes that her curse would put both him and the kingdom in danger, and so she
Further, throughout the book, Sadie and Bessie continuously reminds the reader of the strong influence family life had on their entire lives. Their father and mother were college educated and their father was the first black Episcopal priest and vice principal at St. Augustine Co...
For the next few years, Ella struggles to raise her children in Memphis, Tennessee. Her long hours of work leave her little time to supervise Richard and his brother. Not surprisingly, Richard gets into all sorts of trouble, spying on people in outhouses and becoming a regular at the local saloonand an alcoholicby the age of six. Ella's worsening health prevents her from raising two children by herself and often leaves her unable to work. During these times, Richard does whatever odd jobs a child can do to bring in some money for the family. School is hardly an option for him. At one point, the family's troubles are so severe that Ella must place her children in an orphanage for a few weeks.
The entire book will be told to us through a compilation of letters addressed to Isabel ( who we assume is Mims Mothers sister Isabel) As we get to know our 16 year old heroine Mim (Mary Iris Malone) who will jump on a Greyhound bus after over hearing a conversation in the principals office between the principal, her father and her step mother (of whom Mim is not precisely fond of) in which Mim understands her mother is sick. Without giving it a second thought Mim decides she must get to her mother who lives in Cleveland, before or on Memorial Day (as this was their special day).
..., the film portrayed the kids being overly whelmed with hatred when they received gifts from their parents. It was like they never knew their parents existed. Another example of the difference between the book and the movie is Mr. Freeman (mother’s boyfriend) was presented as being very reserved with the children. In the movie he was seen as warm, talkative, and friendly towards Maya and her brother. The film also showed Mr. Freeman’s manly behavior by confronting Vivian (Maya’s mother) at her job. However, in the book Mr. Freeman never left the house, he always sat and waited at home for her.
Usually movies try to take the story to a different level or by adding parts or just try to change it to a completely different story. Some of the differences between the movie as to the book are some little and large differences. They might also try taking little parts away that will change how the readers see the story characters. An example of that would be Walter not smoking in the movie (Pg 115). Walter usually smokes because he is stressed or just as a way to relax. Walter also does not get punched by Mam...
The complication between characters is especially shown in Anna and Sarah’s relationship. In the movie Anna is mad about Sarah coming to stay for a month. However, in the book she says “I wished everything was as perfect as the stone. I wished that Papa and Caleb and I were perfect for Sarah” (21). In the book Anna has no trouble liking Sarah, but in the movie Anna has a hard time letting go of her real mother and will not let Sarah get close to her. It is not until Sarah comforts Anna after a bad dream and tells her “when I was ten my mamma died” (which was not told in the book) that Sarah and Anna have a close relationship. After Sarah and Anna reach an understanding, Sarah tries to help Anna remember her mother by putting her mother’s candlesticks, quilt, a painting, and her picture back into the house. They also put flowers on her grave together. However, Anna and Sarah’s relationship is not the only one that takes a while to develop.
She is thirteen years of age who, at the start of the book, finds out that ...
Both the movie and the book are basically based on family and relationships. The characters in the movie and the book, For example Einar, jean, Griff, and Lila and her parents all deal with loss of a family member.
Over centuries of children have been enjoying the classic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault. The fanciful plots and the vivid details allow children to be entranced by characters and adventures that can only be found in these stories. One of the most beloved fairy tales, which both the Perrault and the Grimms have their own separate versions of, is Cinderella. Cinderella is able to show how both versions are able to feed off the same plots while personifying the century and social economic situation in which they have lived.
For example Norman and Jesse are married way before Norman meets Neal (Jesse’s brother). In the movie Norman meets Neal while is he still courting Jesse. This brings forth another difference Norman doesn’t date Jesse in the book. When Jesse is first introduced, she is already married to Norman. A viewer of the movie who has read the book might also notice that when Norman is never offered a job to teach at Chicago University in the novel. Another big difference between the movie and the novel is the role that Norman’s mother plays, she is a very lively, dynamic character in the book, but in the film she is depicted to a flat character. Paul and Norman have equal fly-fishing skills, but in the movie Norman is just a mere amateur compared to Paul. Rev. Maclean expresses displeasure with Paul's decision to change the spelling of the family name in both version of the story. Someone who might have read the book may believe that the movie didn’t do the book justice when showing Paul’s struggle with his alcohol and gambling addictions. Norman offers to help Paul out with is personal struggles when he is driving Paul and his girlfriend home after a long night of drinking. The offer to help in the novel is done when Paul and Norman go fishing. Some other differences are Rev. Maclean’s personally is almost completely lost in the movie and his most important line “you can love completely without complete understanding” (a
The movie lacks a lot of insight onto the other characters in the book, it mostly focuses on Ponyboy. For example, in the movie there was a lack of detail on characters such as Darry and Sodapop even Dally. Dally was a major character in the book but his death in the movie seemed a bit minor because there wasn’t much detail for viewers to get attached to his character. I felt as if his death was glazed over and easily forgotten in the movie while in the book it was described for at least two pages.
In the movie, it is told in a third person point of view and the characters look a lot more different than how they do in the book. The movie goes by much quicker than the book. Also Pony goes straight home after the church burns down.
Some of the characters in the novel, like Lennie, are portrayed differently in the movie. In the novel, Lennie is said to be “a huge man” (2), but in the movie he isn’t very big, although he is bigger than George and some of the other characters. In the movie he is stronger and bigger than the others, but not to the extreme amount that the book portrays him to be. Also, Lennie is depicted as very mentally challenged, which is shown by the way he speaks. Whereas in the book, Lennie is said to have a mind of a young child instead of being disabled. As well as Lennie, Curley’s wife is represented a little bit differently. In the movie,...
In many fairy tales, there is always a damsel in distress that is beautiful and the male character always falls in love with her. In Rapunzel the short story, Rapunzel is put into a tower and lives there most of her young life by her ‘mother’ before her prince comes to recuse her. The difference between Tangled and Rapunzel the short story is that, Rapunzel is the princess and her prince is actually a thief, which ends up falling in love with her. Tangled illustrates how a naïve and beautiful heroine, evil mother figure, and a shallow egotistical hero can make a fairy tale story end with love and marriage.
Over the years, fairytales have been distorted in order to make them more family friendly. Once these changes occur, the moral and purpose of the stories begin to disappear. The tales featured in the many Disney movies - beloved by so many - have much more malignant and meaningful origins that often served to scare children into obeying their parents or learning valuable life lessons.