A Doll's House Movie Vs Play

Both the 2011 drama film adaption of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help (1960s setting), directed by Tate Taylor, and the 1879 three-part play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, challenge their audiences to consider the theme of society and class within their respective time periods. Both creators focus on female protagonists who set out to turn against the demands of their society and class to vocalise their values and beliefs. Taylor encourages the viewer to evaluate this concept, through the use of cinematic techniques that illustrate the impact of one character’s beliefs on multiple characters’ rebellion against their perceived society and class, in 1960 America. Conversely, through literary techniques, Ibsen challenges his audience to consider the possible psychological effects of conforming to one’s society and class, by focusing on the notion of female oppression as a Norwegian societal norm during the nineteenth century.

Filmmaking and cinematography are art forms completely open to interpretation in a myriad ways: frame composition, lighting, casting, camera angles, shot length, etc. The truly talented filmmaker employs every tool available to make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels, including social and emotional. When a filmmaker chooses to undertake an adaptation of a literary classic, the choices become somewhat more limited. In order to be true to the integrity of the piece of literature, the artistic team making the adaptation must be careful to communicate what is believed was intended by the writer. When the literature being adapted is

Nora’s refusal to stay in the marriage, however, does not give us a sense of a liberated woman. By the end of the play we are concerned for Nora as she leaves the warmth of the family home for the cold outside as a single woman since we have seen Christine so desperate to get into the ‘warmth’. This ‘warmth’ can be defined as being a person being accepted for fulfilling the gender roles which society constructs for both men and women. Women appear to be reliant on the existence of a husband in their life in order to have a respected status within society and therefore feel fulfilled. Christine feels unfulfilled without anybody in her life: ‘I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore’ (9). Christine is an independent woman but we can see that she is unhappy at the fact that she has not met the social stereotype for her gender. She functions to show how difficult it is for a woman to survive on her own. Christine realises she will be far more comfortable and regarded better by society with a husband and we believe that she feels that any husband will satisfy the expectations of her gender better than being single. This explains why she settles for a dubious moral character. Faced with only two possible decisions Christine settles for the lesser of two evils.

Throughout the play, Nora experiences a metamorphosis that will change her perceptions of a fulfilled life. At first, Nora seems to be the perfect wife and mother of the Victorian society. She is eager to please her oppressive husband in every way that he wants and dutifully cares for her children. However, Rahman points out that “It’s a pretention of happiness and fulfillment, whereas her identity her true self

The PBS article on film adaption discusses the challenges of adapting a novel into film and the changes film makers may need to make. There are many differences between the two due to their prepositional setups. This can cause key factors of a novel to be lost once transferred into a film. This includes a narrator, personal attachments with the characters, engaging your imagination and possibly even scenes due to the time limitation a film has(PBS). However, when a director takes on this challenge they’re able to alter the novel and fix any faults they see. They also must make many attempts to successfully convey the protagonist’s emotions through other tools with actions or visual aids. This results in the director's

The conclusion of the play is where the audience may perceive the fullest development of Nora’s personality. Nora confronts Torvald and states “After eight years of marriage, this is the first real conversation we have had.” Nora makes the internal decision to leave Torvald and her children on her own. The resolution Nora makes, breaks free from her conformity towards Torvalds expectations and showcases her inward questioning through the

The reader must use his imagination to create the characters and the setting in his mind. Movies do not allow the viewer to enhance their imagination because the movie scenes only show the characters and setting through the director’s eyes. Everyone’s mind differ than another and each person imagines things differently than another might. By reading books, people can stretch their own unique imagination. Additionally, movies may not portray the characters or setting in the way that the reader imagined it. When watching a movie, often the movie shows a scene differently than the reader thought and can ruin the book for the reader. For example, when I read J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, I had imagined the forest of Lothlorien as beautiful Elven buildings in a wonderful forest, but when I watched the movies, Lothlorien was large Elven houses built in the trees. As a result of watching the movies, my way of thinking of Lothlorien is ruined. Even though movies visually appeal to people, with the CG characters and special effects, they do not let you think about the characters and setting for yourself. Watching a movie do not let the viewer stretch his imagination and challenge himself. Books allow the reader to imagine the setting and characters for themselves with no input from

Watching a movie based on a play is quite different than reading the actual play. This is because, plays are meant to be performed on a stage. The visual and aural aspects are imagined so much differently than they are portrayed. The perspective of the reader and the perspective of a viewer are different from each other. The dialogue is pretty much word for word, but there are many differences that are hard to miss. For myself personally, reading the play was a different experience than watching the 1984 film. For a reader there are some limitations of trying to visualize the setting that the author intended. Movies do a much better job at meeting the authors expectation, but there are still some limitations to the movies. This is because most of the time movies are portrayed in the directors perspective.

The book allows the reader to so vividly create a movie of their own for each scene. This is why so many people are disappointed when they see the movies. They tried to create something that, in its original form, was meant only to be visualized in one’s imagination.

Nora's second, and strongest, break from society's rules was shown by her decision to leave Torvald and her children.  Society demanded that she take a place under her husband.  This is shown in the way Torvald spoke down to her saying things like "worries that you couldn't possibly help me with" (Ibsen Page #), and "Nora, Nora, just like a woman" (Ibsen page #).  She is almost considered to be property of his: "Mayn't I look at my dearest treasure?  At all the beauty that belongs to no one but me - that's all my very own" (Ibsen page #)?  By walking out she takes a position equal to her husband and destroys the very foundation of society's expectations of a wife and mother.  Nora also breaks society's expectations of staying in a marriage since divorce was frowned upon during that era.  Her decision represented a break from all expectations placed upon a woman by society. Throughout the play Nora is looked down upon and treated as a possession by her husband. She is

Between the film and the play, there are several character differences, in general and with Peter. During the play, the characters are all very exaggerated. For example, Mrs. Frank is always passive and modest with the exception of her outburst directed toward the Van Daan’s. Anne is always chiper, like when she wasn’t that upset when the Nazis and throughout about fresh air instead. Though, in the film, they all had ups and downs, mood wise, and yes, they were also exaggerate in the movie, it just wasn’t as obvious or over the top. An example being Mr. Van Daan frequently hitting and looking down on Peter in almost every scene the converse with one another, the dinner, Moochi, etcetera.

With the increase in movie watching that is taking place in recent decades, it would seem logical that the practice of reading a book before seeing the film adaptation has dropped in popularity. This habit has been seen by many as an incomplete way to properly connect with the story in question. There are many reasons for why watching the movie is simply not enough to truly understand the original story. But, overall, book lovers agree on three crucial aspects of books that put them higher than their film counterparts in the minds of many. These three important aspects are the character visualization that comes with casting, the director’s ideas against the author’s original vision, and the unlimited time that allows readers to set a comfortable pace for analyzing the story.

One core difference is that Edna lives in reality and Nora lives in fantasy. The awakening of the marriage also is an important part. Edna had the awakening from the beginning of the story but Nora realized it later at the end that she has been a doll or a puppet who was just being played and ordered by her husband as if she is a slave and not smart enough to even spend a penny on her own. Edna had this feeling at the beginning of the story that she has to choose between freedom or to give up everything for her children and family. She was supposed to take this decision in the start of the play. She knew that she is not happy taking care of her children and family and she is in undescribed oppression which is hurting her heart and soul (Headrick, 2015). Nora, on the other hand, was loyal to her husband but his unnecessary pressure and dominance let Nora give up on this wedding. He belittles her at every stage. She was so distressed and neglected that she asks her husband to let her spend money and he doesn’t want her to spend on her own. So, the situations were similar for both the characters but the timing and realization time is different. The ladies are found to be uniquely similar. They broke the stereotype and choose the paths they want to choose for themselves. They choose their

Nora gets blackmailed for forging a signature, and for this she gets disowned by her husband. But, when her husband finds that the blackmail will be dropped, and will no longer affect their lives, he tells Nora that everything is okay and they both can presume living like normal. This opens Nora’s eyes fully for the first time, before she had only glimpses of the wrongness in her identity, but now she knew. Nora had been living a false identity, she had been a ‘toy doll’, and at the end of the play she decides to want so much more than to be what others thought she should be. In the end of Act three, Nora states ”I must think things out for myself and try to get clear about them” (Ibsen 199). Nora is now going to decided who she is and what she really believes, she is going to discover her own identity. In an article on women working in World War II, it states, “While patriotism did influence women, ultimately it was the economic incentives that convinced them to work. Once at work, they discovered the nonmaterial benefits of working like... contributing to the public good, and proving themselves in jobs once thought of as only men’s work” (“Rosie Riveter: Women”). Women before World War II were thought of as simply housewifes for the most part, similar to Nora. The circumstances of World War II brought about need for women in the workplace, this started a domino effect of women taking up an identity similar to males the sense that they could now

Her final goal was so important to her, protecting her family, she knew she had to do whatever was necessary, even if that meant not being true to her husband or society. In the end, she realizes that it was more important to her husband his reputation, than what it had meant to Nora, all she had done for the love of her family, concluding to the raw truth that her husband didn´t really love her: he loved what she represented before society, a loving, faithful wife that compelled to all his expectations. She knew that to love her children, she needed first to understand and love herself, a thought way beyond and ahead of time, for a woman in the late 1800´s.