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The World According To Garp Movie Report Essay

Decent Essays

It is very common to see a movie that has arisen from a famous novel, but

there are some major differences seen when the transition from paper to

screen takes place. The director of a movie has to try and fit a complete

novel into an hour an a half to three our movie. Sometimes this adaptation

works very well and the same points can be found if you read the book or

watch the movie, but sometimes it does not work and some very major points

and circumstances can be lost. In the World According to Garp the director

George Roy Hill did a good job in fitting the major parts of the novel into

the big screen adaptation.

The movie, although a flop in the box office, received great reviews.

One reviewer remarks, "The film …show more content…

After

this happens Ellen James begins to have women followers who cut out their own

tongues in protest of what has happened to the small girl. Throughout the

book we are introduced to many of these protesting women, "the Ellen

Jamsians". T.S. Garp actually ends up adopting Ellen toward the end of the

novel. When the movie introduces Ellen James it does it through a letter

written from her to Garp and we never actually see who she is. This is a

very common thing to do when transferring the writing to the main screen,

when the director can't show all characters because of time restraint. If

George Roy Hill had tried to bring in Ellen James as a major character he

would have sacrificed a great amount of valuable time.

Time is not the only limiting factor when making a movie out of a novel.

Another main reason for changing a part of the novel for the movie is income

problems. In the movie version of The World According to Garp the director

chooses to change the setting of a scene from the book. Garp and his mother

travel to Europe in the novel, but when brought to the movie they go to New

York. The one problem with this change is that the main point of going to

Europe is lost. When Garp and his mother choose to travel abroad they do so

for cultural sake. They both plan to write a novel and want to learn more

about the world before

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