Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

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It is often informative as well as interesting to analyze the differences and the similarities between a book and that books movie adaption. This is especially true when the book is based on actual events due to the fact that it allows one to get a real sense of how film makers can manipulate certain elements to make the story more entertaining. It is obvious that the author of Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger, and the director of the movie, Peter Berg, were attempting to portray Boobie and the other characters involved in the most realistic way. However, the film version of Friday Night Lights has distinctly different portrayals of Boobie’s actions as well as a number of similarities in comparison to the book version.
James “Boobie” Miles is the star of the Permian football team. He plays the running back position, otherwise known as the fullback position as number 35. However, in the movie he plays tailback as number 45. Boobie knows that he is the best. This makes him very confident in his abilities in fact at one point he says, “Why are the scores of Permian games so lopsided? . . . Because they only have one Boobie” (Bissinger 52). This confidence is clearly depicted in the film. The first time Boobie is shown he has a big smile on his face and he is jogging towards his teammates. Just by the way he speaks and carries himself one can feel and see his confidence. Nevertheless Boobie has a reason to be confident, the year before he rushed over 1,000 yards in addition to scoring 15 touchdowns. Jerrod McDougal sees the potential in Boobie and even says, “He’s the best football player I've ever seen” (Bissinger 55). Although in the movie he seems to be more confident than in the book, the movie makes him almost obnoxious in ...

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...m a book or movie is completely dependent on that person’s feelings and reactions towards each version of the media. Although there are distinct differences as well as similarities between the film version of Friday Night Lights and the book version they both delineate the story and result in a clearer understanding of the actual events. After having examined both the book’s and the movie’s view of Boobie’s character, it is not challenging to evaluate the reasons behind the modifications that were made in the film. Hence the book, Friday Night Lights, and its movie depiction’s closure of Boobies story are clear: Boobie’s legacy as the embodiment of greatness is abruptly ended by and injury during a scrimmage football game.

Works Cited
Bissinger, H. (1990). Friday Night Lights. Cambridge: Da Capo.
Berg, P. (Director). (2004). Friday Night lights [Motion Picture].

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