One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Breakfast at Tiffanys - Essay Example

Film vs Book There is no denying the fact that the contemporary film industry is voracious for storylines and themes and the world of literature tends to be an imminent source for the making of films based on successful literary plots. However, it is also a stark reality that literature and cinema happen to be two varied genres and the thematic concerns and techniques that accentuate the plot in a work of literature may not comply with the demands and concerns of the cinema. That is why it is often observed that the world of cinema does prefer to adapt the works of literature in consonance with the screen requirements and cinematic priorities. The film versions of the books One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Breakfast at Tiffany’s amply testify to the fact that it is pragmatic and necessary for the film versions to be different from the actual books on which the films are based so as to bring out the appeal and context of the overall plot as per the requirements of the cinematic genre (McFarlane 164). In that context there tend to be marked differences between the book and the film version of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The book tends to deal with the plight of a mental institution in 1963. The movie got released in 1975, which is about 12 years after the book got published. Before delving on the differences between the movie and the book, one does need to know that the movie version of the book was utterly successful that won all the five major categories of Academy Awards. The primary thing is that the book is dominated by the point of view of Chief Bromden, a gigantic Indian, who is in the same ward with McMurphy. It is true that the writer Ken Kesey backed out from the film project when he came to know that the point of view of Chief Bromden had been removed from the movie and he no more stands to be the narrator in the film version of the book. It goes without saying that this alteration of the point of view in the book and the movie lead to major differences in the book and the film version of the story. When one reads the book with Chief Bromden being the chief narrator, the overall mood tends to be quiet slow and poised. The narration facilitated by Chief Bromden delves into the essential traits, characteristics and inclinations of the varied characters in the asylum in a threadbare, sophisticated and lilting manner. However, it is but natural to assume that in the film version of the One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the producer had to adapt the storyline in consonance with the needs and requirements of the cinema. The film version of the book simply does not afford to be slowing paced and languid as the book. Yet, if one reads the book before watching the movie one does miss the edgy, disturbed and cynical point of view facilitated by Chief Bromden as he says, “If my being half Indian ever helped me in any way in this dirty life, it helped me being cagey, helped me all these years (Kesey 4).” However, in the film version of the book, it is the trio of McMurphy, Nurse Ratched and Chief Bromden that bring out the story. The film version simply sets aside the pain and hurt inherent in Chief Bromden reveries, to display a larger view that incorporates an array of characters, thereby relying on the variety and the interactions between varied characters to move the story forward. Hence, if on the one side the plot in the book is poised, slow, emphatic and gripping, the storyline in the movie happens to be racy, action oriented, emotive and multi-faceted, exactly the way it ought to be in a successful movie. The film versions do have their limitations and one simply could not expect a film version to stick diligently to the storyline and plot as it is given in the book (McCreadie 126). One other movie adaptation that amply delineates the imperative on the part of film versions to alter the literary plot, storyline and characterization in subservience to the cinematic dictates is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The film based on a book of the same name by Truman Capote is pressed with the need for delineating and presenting the life of an American socialite Holly Golightly in the early 40s, which simply could not be achieved without adhering to the versatility and glamour of the cinematic genre. Hence, the producers had to but inevitably resort to the need for differing from the point of view and storyline rendered in the book version. In the book version it is a narrator Fred who narrates the story of Holly Golightly. For in the book version Capote has not written a story, but had written about a character writing a story, a format that is not ideally suited to a film. Hence, in the film version Fred comes in the avatar of Paul who meets Golightly right at the start of the plot. The film version tends to differ from the book in the sense that it accords scarce importance to the point of view of Paul (Fred), but rather builds on the fact that Holly Golightly happens to be an object of affection for Paul. Paul is made to visually visit the world of Golightly marked by fun, parties, gentry, wealth and luxury, which help the cinematic audience have a glimpse into the world of Holly in a vivid and elaborate manner. For indeed the primary objective of the film version is to audio-visually depict the world of a socialite who believes that, “I’ve got to do something about the way I look. I mean a girl just can’t go to Sing Sing with a green face (Capote 34).” Hence, the thing that needs to be understood is that literature and cinema are two diverse and different formats. Thereby, for storyline to do justice to a cinematic format, it needs to be subservient to the necessity of adapting itself to the constraints of the film version, which is many a times achieved by shedding the point of view inherent in the book. Works Cited Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories. New York: Vintage, 1993. Print. Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. London: Penguin, 2005. Print. McCreadie, Marsha. “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Some Reasons for One Happy Adaptation”. Literature/Film Quarterly 5.2 (1977): 125-128. Print. McFarlane, Brian. “It Wasn’t Like that in the Book”. Literature/Film Quarterly 28.3 (2000): 163-166. Print. Read More