Comparison between the Novel and the Movie

In the last years, it has become really popular the idea to adapt books into movies. However, this transformation may alter the original work, and the latter might be sometimes totally different and fictitious. In this opportunity, we will compare the similarities and differences between the novel and the movie of the work “Gulliver’s travels” written by Jonathan Swift in the year 1726 and the movie directed by Rob Letterman, broadcasted in the year 2010.

On the one hand, we can find that both the book and the movie start with a description and brief outline about the life of the protagonist before the voyages. Besides, we can also state that the main character’s ship wrecks, and then he awakes finding himself as a prisoner of small people from a country called Lilliput, that has a rival and neighbor country called Blefuscu. Moreover, we can also declare that another similarity is the fact  that the protagonist, after showing that he is a well-mannered man, he is given residence in Lilliput, and also becomes very close to the court of the country.

On the other hand, we can state that even though there are some similarities, there are also some important differences, for instance the name of the protagonist is different, due to the fact that in the novel it is Lemuel Gulliver, while in the film it is Jack Black. Moreover, we can express that the protagonist of the book is an English doctor (surgeon), who then becomes a Captain of a ship, a respectable and confident man; nonetheless, the main character of the movie is an American citizen from New York, who works in a newspaper as mailman, a shy and unsure man. Apart from this, we can also say that the book takes place around the year 1700, however the movie was carried out in the current times. Besides, the original work includes four voyages (“A Voyage to Lilliput and Blefuscu”, “A Voyage to Brobdingnag”, “A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan”, and “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms”) while the movie only considers only two voyages (Lilliput and Brobdingnag). Additionally, we can say that the novel is a satire to the society of that age, while the movie is a comedy; this shows an opposite perspective between the two works.

In sum, we can conclude that even though some literary works can be adapted and transformed into a movie, the resultant work may have some similarities regarding to the background; nevertheless, some key aspects of it will vary, as we have seen in this comparison between the novel and the film of Gulliver’s Travels. Consequently, it is important to trust not only the modified and adapted version of a literary work, but to go to the actual source of it, so as to value its richness and know the real intentions (sometimes camouflaged) behind it.