The Outsiders Book and Movie: Compare and Contrast

When turning a book into a movie, many components need to be taken into consideration.

Incorporating each and every detail exactly would challenge the directors, greatly. The Outsiders movie and book have no exceptions. People who worked on the movie did a great job portraying the book. However, the movie lacked some of the pivotal points coming from the book. To start, The Outsiders author, S.E.

Hinton, wrote the book in a first person point of view. If Ponyboy had no knowledge of an event, then the reader did not know either. This form of writing conveyed more of Ponyboy’s emotions and actions, helping readers understand more of the book. In this way, the book differentiates from the movie. Nevertheless, the directors of the movie attempted to show Ponyboy’s first person point of view by manipulating some scenes. For example, in the movie, viewers never witnessed Johnny killing Bob directly because Ponyboy had passed out.

Unfortunately, the effect could not compare to the effects of the book. The movie did not pull as many emotions from the people as the book did. In the same notion, the directors of the movie completely altered some scenes in the book. The exposition in the movie and book looked completely different when compared side by side. For the exposition of the book , the scene opens up with Ponyboy walking out of the movie theater. Socs almost mugged him, but his friends, the greasers, saved him.

Whereas, the movie began with Dally, Pony, and Johnny walking around town causing chaos. Some changes, such as this one, can be questionable, though. Keeping the exposition the same would not ruin the movie. Instead, it would introduce the characters in a smoother fashion. Adding onto that idea, almost everything at the end of the movie had not presented itself in the movie.

Although people understand that adding in everything would make the movie lengthy, everything cut out played a significant role in the storyline. How else would they understand that Johnny and Dally’s death emotionally traumatized not only Ponyboy, but everyone else as well. Abruptly ending with the death of Dally, after Johnny, and having a sudden switch to Ponyboy in the study, could possibly confuse the readers. No one would know that Ponyboy had many depressing moments. The viewers would remain oblivious to the fact that Soda actually had a breakdown because the directors cut it out. Likewise, if someone only watched the movie, they would not know that Darry had to fight for custody of Ponyboy, for it presented itself only in the book.

As previously stated, the directors altered many scenes. But the gist of the story remained constant. Darry harmed Ponyboy which caused him to run away with Johnny. In the park, Socs attacked the two of them, forcing Johnny to kill Bob. Then, Johnny and Ponyboy had to run out of town to escape the police. With the help of Dally, the two boys landed themselves in an abandoned church.

Later on, the church burst into flames, which led them to help the children. Eventually, Dally and Johnny died. Throughout the story, Pony, Dally, Soda, Two-Bit, Steve, Johnny, Darry, had to fight against society. Facing many challenges, one being the Socs, they stuck together through thick and thin. Another similarity between the movie and book had to do with Johnny’s role in the book. Not having a well balanced relationship with his parents, Johnny turned to his friends, instead.

But, stressed in both the book and movie multiple times, Johnny’s relationship with Dally was unlike any other. Anyone could see that both of them possessed an unbreakable bond and loyalty toward each other. Eventually, Dally killed himself because he could not hand Johnny’s death. Specifically this part of both the movie and book pulled so many emotions from anyone. Johnny and Dally had many supporters, and once they died, they had broken hearts.

Overall, recreating a movie to fit and follow the plot of a book can come across as meticulous work. Many things are required when creating the movie such as: time limits, appeal to viewers, and telling the story correctly. In the end, the movie may differ from the book, but still produces a good show. The Outsiders was different in many ways, but one thing remained constant. Greasers have always had a tag of being a dirty trouble maker. Outcast by society, they try to find their place in the world, but many obstacles stood in their way.

One being the West Side Socs, so cool and rich they do not have any emotions.