The Outsiders: Comparison Of Book And Movie

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Royce Smith Mrs. Alvstad English 8 15 Feb. 2023 Title The Outsiders film made 33 million in the box office, which is very similar to the book which sold 14 million copies. This makes one wonder, why is the book and movie so similar in popularity. The movie was an effective adaptation of the book because the settings stay consistent throughout the movie and book, the plot events are true to the book, the resolution of the book and movie stays the same. In both the movie and the book the settings are very similar, with minimal differences. For instance, in the beginning of the movie Ponyboy and Johnny go to the drive-in theater which also happens in the beginning of the book. In other words the setting stays the same. From this we can infer …show more content…

For example, in the movie when the church is on fire, Ponyboy and Johnny run into the church to save the kids. This is where Johnny gets paralyzed in both the movie and the book. At this point in the story, to change that event, would majorly change the ending. The director kept this event the same in order to maintain the theme and resolution of the book. As one can see, the events throughout the movie match up with the events in the book. The actors in the movie portrayed the characters in the book very well. To help illustrate this idea, In the movie Johnny looks very young, and is small and short. This correlates with the text that says “Imagine a little dark puppy which has been kicked too many times.” I interpret this to mean that the other actors also portrayed the characters well. This demonstrates the lengths the directors went, to find a good cast. In fact, the directors made very good choices in keeping most of the book’s main points the same. For example, the directors decided to keep the iconic quote, “Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold.” This quotation is very essential to the main idea and theme, because it changes Ponyboy’s emotions, and his way of thinking. The director includes this quote in the movie, because it helps tie together the end of the movie, and makes the watcher feel finalized with Johnny’s