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Paul's Case the Movie vs. Paul's Case the Short Story Essay

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Sometimes in movie production a film is developed from a piece of literature. Directors will use the plot of a book either to create a unique movie, or to give the audience a chance to see what their favorite book is like when acted out on the screen. Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" is a good example of a work adapted to video. The movie has slight differences from the book, but the director Lamont Johnson follows the original closely. Most movies that are inspired by books hold some relation to the author's version, but are changed to fit the director's vision and perhaps make the movie more presentable. "Paul's Case" the movie, beginning to the end, is basically the same, but slight differences were found in the characters' physical …show more content…

For example, flowers were symbolized in both versions. The flower he wears in his lapel looks to not belong there based on his personality and the clothes that he wears. Just as the flower should not belong there Paul feels that he does not belong in his life. However, sounds were also symbols in the movie. In the beginning of the movie, the viewer finds Paul waiting to meet with his professors, and a ticking clock heard over everything else. This illustrates the passing of time, or even that his time is going to be running to an end. At the firm, an adding machine, and this is telling the audience that money will be coming into play, and the train whistle at the end tells the viewer that he is thinking of his death or a way out. The director uses these to create a mood or as foreshadowing. There are small altercations that the screenplay that the director makes in the plot. In New York, Paul meets a student in the hotel. In the text, he meets him in the evening or at nighttime. The movie shows this taking place during the day. This, however, is a minor detail and did not effect the running of the story. In Cather's version, the reader is presented with two sisters of Paul's. These are hardly mentioned in the movie. The book also illustrates Paul pushing his teacher while in the movie he is more aggressive. The movie also has an over voicing of Paul's father as he is sneaking back into his

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