Recently in our English class, we read the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. We also watched the movie adaption. We were asked to reflect afterwards on both book and film, and outline a few differences between both versions.
One of the major differences in the book were the plot changes. This was due to budget restrictions and time limitations.
However, there were some similarities in both book and movie as well. For instance, the symbolic elements in both stories. I noticed a few symbols in the movie while watching it, although it was difficult to keep track because scenes changed very fast. First, the sunset symbol was mentioned a couple times in the book and in conversations, and there were a couple times in the movie when a sunset was shown in scenes.
Overall, in terms of which version I preferred, I liked both the book and the film for their different and obvious reasons. For instance, as mentioned before, the book was told in Ponyboy’s perspective, and this enabled the readers to comprehend his personality traits more, as for most of the book, Ponyboy voiced his thoughts while telling his story. This helped me connect more to Ponyboy’s character than I did in the film. However, as for things such as setting, the movie helped us viewers visualize the story more. So in general, I thoroughly enjoyed both the novel and the film adaptation for their unique reasons.
To conclude, this story has changed my opinions on how people view other people stereotypically. It has also helped me learn the value of perspective, and how we should try to understand the other side of a story or issue before judging others.