Compare and contrast book made into movie

Your name
Professor’s name
Course number
Date of submission
Compare and Contrast a Book made into a Movie
In 2012, John Green published “The Fault in Our Stars”. It is a Young Adult (YA) book apropos of genre classification. As a matter of fact, the title emanates from a scene between Cassius and Brutus in “Julius Caesar” by Shakespeare. Cassius says to Brutus, “The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars.”John Green in this heart-wrenching novel, which is his sixth, aims for the softest part of the reader’s heart and does little to spare tear ducts. Directed by Josh Boone, “The Fault in Our Stars” film was released in 2014. It is classified as a romantic film with dramatic instances. The movie that runs for 126 minutes is focused on John’s Green’s book, “The Fault in Our Stars”. This paper aims to compare critically and contrast, “The Fault in Our Stars” book and film.
Hazel Grace Lancaster, the narrator, is a witty sixteen-year-old cancer patient with thyroid lesions. They have attacked her lungs affecting her ability to breathe. Hazel moves around with an oxygen tank to supplement her frail lungs (Scott, “The Fault in Our Stars’ Sets Out to Make You Cry”). After numerous medication trials, hers proves to be a terminal condition regardless of her stability. Fate pulls her towards Augustus Waters, a sweet seventeen-year-old, diagnosed with Osteosarcoma; a rare bone cancer that has seemingly cleared since his leg was amputated. Before his illness, he was a basketball player.

The author depicts that Augustus (Gus) moves around with cigarettes that he never lights as a sign of defiance of his condition. The two meet at a cancer support group, “Literal Heart of Jesus” in a church basement (Green 11). However, Hazel is reluctant to join but ultimately succumbs to her mother’s insistence. Frannie, Hazel’s mother, thinks that the group would assist her to share experiences with people who suffered the same fate as hers (Green 11-13). Gus invites Hazel over to his house and a love story blooms. It is a typical boy meets girl story, though; beautifully written to wipe out any traces of simple narration (Lemire, “The Fault in Our Stars”).
The author narrates the story of two characters whose conditions may lead to death. Irrespective of the readers’ feelings, Gus and Hazel will eventually lose their lives. Even though the characters seem trapped in sickness, the story tries to view their lives from a wider and different perspective. Apart from receiving typical roles, Green allows the characters to discuss life and death at philosophical lengths. Their lives are depicted with the normalcy of any teenager’s life. The readers observe that the characters play video games, watching movies and read books, among others. In point of fact, Hazel is obsessed with one particular book, “An Imperial Affliction” (Green 13). It is a fictitious story about cancer that seems to shape their paths when Gus also gets enthralled by it. The book leads the two on a trip to Amsterdam in the midst of sickness and the events that occur during the journey shatter their worlds. Throughout the book, Gus strives to leave a mark and a name for himself before his death (Lemire, “The Fault in Our Stars”). Unfortunately, the importance of this makes no sense to Hazel. In fact, the two do not seem to reconcile with each other’s way of thinking, and their actions are not entirely understood by themselves. The first person narration gives the readers personalized experiences. It allows them to comprehend the world through Hazel Grace’s eyes. This gesture gives more life to the story and increases the appeal in their emotional journey.
As prior mentioned, the film adaptation was released in June 2014. “Shailene Woodley,” an actor in “The Divergent Series,” takes up Hazel Grace’s role while “Ansel Elgort” plays the role of Augustus Waters (Barker, “Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars”). In 126 minutes, the book is brought to life by putting faces to names that would only be stuck in the readers’ imaginations. It brings life to various scenes that would have been difficult to achieve imagination. The characters manage to fit into their roles; realizing the best of the same. As a result, they manage to perform successfully John Green’s book, “The Fault in Our Stars”.
The role of Peter Van Houten is played by “William Dafoe”, and he clearly brings out the mean spirited man depicted in the book. After Gus traces Van Houten’s assistant, Lidewij, they head to seek for the book’s ending in Amsterdam. They are not content and satisfied with the author’s conclusion of the book. In fact, they reckon that the book ends with incomplete sentences. Gus spends his wish on their trip and gets their tickets to Amsterdam (Barker, “Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars”). Not aware of their planned visit, an already drunk and alcoholic Van Houten is irritated and does not spare them nasty words. Lidewij, Van Houten’s assistant, feels guilty and organizes a short tour for Hazel and Gus. When they arrive at the house, Hazel experiences difficulties while climbing the staircase. When she finally makes it, Gus and Hazel kiss; and immediately receive applauds from other tourists (Barker, “Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars”).
Gus undergoes a relapse that has led cancer to spread throughout his body. He reveals this to Hazel during their trip; leaving both of them heartbroken. He gets further complications when they return to Indianapolis. When he realizes that he won’t make it, Gus calls Hazel and Isaac, their blind friend from the cancer support group, to his pre-funeral where they both read eulogies written for Gus. Even days after the event, Gus loses his life; and surprisingly, Van Houten attends the funeral (Lemire, “The Fault in Our Stars”).
Evidently, the film adaptation of the book was well performed. It remains faithful to the book, possessing all essential elements. Regardless, there were a few notable alterations between the book and film. The changes were significant to improve the flow of the story and cut out unnecessary scenes. It is noted that the screenplay compresses the storyline, and drops some characters that were present in the book. However, the film adaptation enhanced the quality and success of John Green’s book, “The Fault in Our Stars”.
Foremostly, the book and film describe different meeting points for Hazel and Gus. In the film, Hazel and Augustus meet on their way to their support group while in the book; Gus stares at Hazel in dismay (Green 3-7). In Green’s book, Hazel describes herself to Gus as a vegetarian but, she does not mention this in the film. In the book, Augustus appears to have an ex-girlfriend, Caroline Mathers, who dies from cancer before the meets Hazel. The similarity clearly seems to obscure Gus’s and Hazel’s complicated relationship. As Hazel feels her death creeping in, she connects with Caroline and predicts her fate. In fact, the disease interfered with Caroline’s thus leading to her speech loss before her death. In the film adaptation of the book, there is no depiction of Caroline. Caroline’s story in the book seems to prepare the readers for Gus’ experiences apropos of his two intimate relationships.
Contrariwise, Gus dies faster in the film than the book. The novel delineates Gus’ deterioration, his progressive weakness, and eventual bed confinement. The intense experience causing Hazel to clean up after Gus’ mess is non-existent in the film. It only portrays Hazel rushing to a gas station to check on Gus due to his severe pain; while fetching a pack of cigarettes. In the film, his slow demise is mostly off-screen. The screenplay may have eliminated the scene to reduce the length of the movie. Some of those extra scenes would increase the amount of time required to perform Green’s book. Additionally, some aspects would prove difficult during the performance of the book. For instance; portraying Gus’ weight loss may have been a challenge to capture on screen. Such scenes are best left to the readers’ imagination. Also, most of his family appears to be cut out in the film. In the book, there is a mention of household and scenes of his older half-sisters. The readers learn that Julie and Martha, his half-sisters, take care of Gus health. However, these scenes are omitted in the film adaptation of Green’s book. Furthermore, the book portrays Hazel making numerous references to Hectic Glow, her favorite band, but this is omitted in the film.
As opposed to his appearances in the book, Isaac, one of their friends from the support group, is also less seen in the movie. Other minor scenes such as Hazel visited Isaac in the hospital are omitted, and his character is picked and dropped at the screenplay’s pleasure. Kaitlyn, Hazel’s former best friend with a fake British accent, also is not seen in the movie. In his book, Green describes Kaitlyn as a boy loving chatterbox. Towards the end, after Gus’ funeral, Kaitlyn helps Hazel to find the letter. The letter, in the movie, is instead handed to Hazel by Van Houten. The British accent would have proved irrelevant to the film. As a matter of fact, Kaitlyn’s purpose is to delineate Hazel’s connection to the non-cancer world.
In the movie, Hazel is still angered by Van Houten’s behavior during their trip to Amsterdam where he belittled her cancer; portraying Hazel as a whimpering child (Barker, “Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars”). In the book, Hazel seems to have forgiven him while accepting fate. Green shows the readers that Hazel is no longer bitter about the whole experience. Additionally, Gus’ airport scene is omitted in the film. He takes long to arrive in the plane and blames it on a long queue. However, Gus was afraid of receiving wanted stares from the public hence the delay. For the sake of the film’s flow, this scene is omitted in the movie.
In the film, Augustus appears to pick up Hazel and her mother in a limousine; during their departure to Amsterdam. However, Green does not incorporate this scene in the book In John Green’s depiction, where Gus arrives later than expected; Hazel is accompanied to Gus’ house by his mother. Upon their arrival, they witness an altercation between Gus and his parents. Hazel overhears Gus shouting and thinks that Gus is trying to defend his relationship with a dying girl. The scene in the book acts as a fore-shadow to Gus’ life and revelation. Additionally, the author gives the readers subtle hints that Gus’ cancer may still be present.
This paper has critically examined the comparison and contrast in a book made into a movie. It focused on Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars” and Josh Boone’s film adaptation of the same. It is evident to note that adapting a book into a movie often leads to omission or addition. In Green’s book, there are many instances of exclusion, apropos of the scenes and characters. Some of the scenes rendered unnecessary are omitted in the film. There are also gruesome scenes present in the book; that are left to the readers; imagination. Also, some of the characters found in the book do not serve principal purposes thus; are eliminated from the film adaptation. It is evident that the alteration does not affect the sequence of events in the movie. Most of the parts left out are considered irrelevant in the screenplay. The alterations may have also been present to reduce the length of the movie. Integrating all the aspects in the book; would have required a longer film. Nonetheless, the film is a great expansion of John Green’s book, “The Fault in Our Stars.”
Works Cited
Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. , 2012. Internet resource.
http://putlocker.ms/watch-the-fault-in-our-stars-online-free-2014-putlocker-v1.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItBvH5J6ssScott, A.O. The Fault in Our Stars’ Sets Out to Make You Cry. June 5, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/movies/the-fault-in-our-stars-sets-out-to-make-you-cry.htmlLemire, Christy. The Fault in Our Stars. June 6, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-fault-in-our-stars-2014Barker, Andrew. Film Review: The Fault in Our Stars. June 3, 2014. Retrieved from http://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-the-fault-in-our-stars-1201196010/