Differences Between The Outsiders Book And Movie

Book or movie? This seems to be a pretty common debate, especially seeing there are so many differences between the two. Ranging from the beginning of the story to the visual aspects of the characters as compared to their descriptions, the differences are quite apparent. The book “The Outsiders” is a wonderful story, and has been read year after year by the youths in schools. But, how does it really compare to its later made movie version? First, the beginnings are quite different. In the book, the story begins with Ponyboy leaving the theater, thinking to himself while walking home. He chose to walk alone, which in this story, is beyond being a bad idea! This results in Ponyboy getting jumped by the wealthier kids, known as the “Soc's”.

The book version of “The Outsiders” describes all of the characters in beautifully done, clear, vivid detail. This allows the reader to easily visualize these characters in their “minds eye”. For example, Ponyboy was said to have light brown, almost red hair. Sodapop was believed to have dark blond hair. Dallas was described to have elfish features accompanied with blond, almost white hair. This flawlessly gives us a very comprehensible description of these characters. Now, taking a glimpse at the movie version, the viewer would be easily confused as to who is who! In the film, the actors that were chosen held no resemblance to the clear descriptions given of their characters. Ponyboy had dark hair, but not much tinting of red, as described in the book. Sodapop, portrayed by Rob Lowe in the film, was not the dark blonde-haired image that was expected. The most erroneous description fell on Dallas Winston, played by Matt Dillon. This specific character held no similarity to the description in the book. Where the book claimed elfish features and white/blonde hair, we all know Matt Dillon is neither of those. While he is a handsome man, he is neither elfish in appearance nor does he have light