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THE MOVIE VERSION OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD IS NOT LIKE THE BOOK by Harper Lee
Find the recommended movie and book here:
DVD: To Kill a Mockingbird
Streaming: To Kill a Mockingbird
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Study Guide compares To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to the movie version To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) This is the ONLY movie version of the novel and a classic. Gregory Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Atticus Finch.
RECOMMENDED MOVIE: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) starring Gregory Peck. Screenplay by Horton Foote. Directed by Robert Mulligan. Produced by Alan Pakula. A Pakula-Mulligan, Brentwood Productions Picture.
WHAT’S IN THE BOOK THAT’S NOT IN THE MOVIE?
Aunt Alexandra, the history of the Finch family, Uncle Jack, cousin Francis, Nathan Radley, Link Deas, the air rifles, the fire at Miss Maudie’s, the mud man, Scout’s painful experiences in first and second grade, Dill’s Aunt Rachel (in the movie she’s called Aunt Stephanie), Jem’s destruction of Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Scout’s discovery of trinkets left in the knothole, the children’s visit to Calpurnia’s church, the story takes place over 2 ½ years.
WHAT’S IN THE MOVIE THAT’S NOT IN THE BOOK?
Dill’s aunt Miss Stephanie Crawford (in the book her name is Miss Rachel), the judge’s request that Attitcus defend Tom Robinson, Jem’s discovery of the first trinkets in the knothole, Tom Robinson’s father, Arthur Radley’s cementing over the knothole, Miss Maudie as a younger woman, the trial as the main action, the reduced role of Mrs. Dubose, the story taking place in one year, Atticus throwing a glass at Tom Robinson in the courtroom.
WHAT’S THE SAME?
The setting in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s, Scout’s fights at school, the trinkets in the knothole, Atticus’s shooting a mad dog, the trial of Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell’s spitting on Atticus, Boo Radley’s rescue of Jem and Scout on Halloween.
Download the Study Guide Now: To Kill a Mockingbird: Movie Version
The only diary Joseph Conrad ever kept was a journal he wrote during his six months in the Belgian Congo. He worked on a steamer that sailed up the Congo River to an inner station. Conrad used his notes eight years later to write the novella Heart of Darkness, published as a three-part serial in Blackwood’s magazine in 1889.
Was there really a Kurtz who embraced the life of a savage chieftain? How common was it for Europeans to go native after spending time in the jungle? The surrender to the dark side once a man arrived in Africa happened a lot. Several men are thought to be the model for Kurtz including Georges-Antoine Klein, the agent for the trading company Conrad worked for. Other Kurtz-like nominees are Leon Rom, a Belgian soldier, Edmund Musgrave Barttelot, explorer, Tippu Tip, slave trader and Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh explorer.
Download the Study Guide Now: Heart of Darkness: Movie Version
*Featured Artist: @trishalyonsart
Mark Twain left us hanging. What happened to Huck Finn? A new sequel to the movie version of Huckleberry Finn could satisfy our curiosity. At the end of the novel, 12-year-old Huck decides he can’t live with Widow Douglas anymore and endure her attempts to civilize him. Huck says, he’s “been there before.” Instead he decides to “light out for the territory.” He runs away.
The territory in the mid-1850s was all of the United States west of the Mississippi except for Texas and California. Like Mark Twain himself, the streetwise and gregarious Huck would shun hard labor on a farm or ranch and head for the bustling city of San Francisco.
Huck doesn’t need to work. He was awarded half of Injun Joe’s gold at the end of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Judge Thatcher invested Huck’s $6,000 and pays him a dollar a day in interest. That’s plenty to live on in the 1850s. Huck likes to be around people, he’s observant, and he has a habit of assuming different names and identities. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck introduces himself by five different names and personal histories.
As much as he likes to pose as a character, Huck would find acting too demanding. He would have to memorize lines, take direction, and be locked into a schedule. Huck is a free spirit who doesn’t like to be tied down. He needs to be in control of his time and movements. Most of all Huck craves adventure.
So in the sequel, Huck becomes a freelance newspaper reporter in San Francisco like Mark Twain. He ventures down to the harbor, out to the gold mines, and into the redwood forests and Yosemite to find out what’s going on.
Does Huck fall in love and settle down? Maybe . . . in Huck Finn 3!
Download the Study Guide Now: Huckleberry Finn: Movie Version
*Featured Artist: @trishalyonsart
The flat screen TV in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was so big it was called “the wall.” Today’s largest TVs boast seven-foot screens. According to Fahrenheit, it’s not the size of the screen that matters, it’s the content.
Like modern media rooms, game rooms, and home theaters, every house in Bradbury’s futuristic novel has a TV wall. Bradbury predicted in 1953 that television screens would get bigger, programming would become mediocre, and technology would become the center of our lives. In Fahrenheit 451 TV shows are like reality TV. Characters interact with the wall much like we do on Facebook, Twitter, and Skype.
Bradbury predicted other inventions in Fahrenheit 451 including 24-hour banking machines, earbud headphones, electronic surveillance cameras, and listening devices in the form of Bradbury robot dogs that sniff around your house recording conversations.
The most prophetic trend in Fahrenheit 451 is technology’s dehumanizing effect on modern culture. Characters in the novel suffer from loneliness and isolation from watching the wall’s mindless programming. The character of Mildred spends her days interacting with the wall and taking sleeping pills at night.
Viewers have finally turned away from the mind-numbing reality shows the networks developed to cut costs. Quality dramas and sit-coms are back, but they are produced by internet companies, not the networks. Netflix and Amazon have hired talented writers with fresh ideas. For the first time CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX did not win 2015 Golden Globes. HBO won a single award. Netflix and Amazon were big winners, signaling a power shift from the traditional television industry to tech companies, and the viewers’ shift from TV to computer.
The new players in the media biz seem to have heeded Fahrenheit 451: “The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her.”
Download the Study Guide Now: Fahrenheit 451: Movie Version
THE MOVIE VERSION OF ETHAN FROME IS NOT LIKE THE BOOK by Edith Wharton
Find the recommended movie and book here:
DVD: Ethan Frome
Streaming: Ethan Frome
Book: Ethan Frome
Study Guide compares the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton to the movie Ethan Frome
RECOMMENDED MOVIE: Ethan Frome (1993) starring Liam Neeson, Joan Allen, and Patricia Arquette. Directed by John Madden. A Miramax Films Picture.
WHAT’S IN THE BOOK THAT’S NOT IN THE MOVIE?
the engineer . . . the graveyard . . . the suicide pact . . . Ethan’s red scar . . .
Mattie’s red hair ribbon . . . the church picnic . . . the pillow . . . Ethan’s study . . . the shaving scene . . . Ethan’s letter to Zeena . . . Mattie’s note to Ethan . . .
WHAT’S IN THE MOVIE THAT’S NOT IN THE BOOK?
Reverend Smith . . . Ruth as narrator . . . the pump scene . . . the love scenes . . . the fox . . . the poison . . . the gift from Denis . . . the comb . . . Mattie’s singing . . .
WHAT’S THE SAME?
the dance . . . the search for the key . . . Zeena’s trip to the doctor . . . the pickle dish . . . the sawmill . . . the smash-up . . .
Download the Study Guide Now: Ethan Frome: Movie Version