War Horse from Book, Movie and Play

Have you ever witnessed a well-adapted animal thriving in its environment? Well similarly when a book is transformed into a movie or play it needs to be adapted so that it can thrive in its environment. For example if you read a great book and when you watch the movie you see every scene that you read in the book, the movie won’t be so good. There are many examples in which we see a movie or play that is based on a book but in order for it to be a great movie it had to modify scenes and even omit some.

One good example of how a movie and play is based on a book but in order to make it successful modified and omitted some parts is War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. In the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo we meet Joey who is a horse with a lot of heart and strength. Joey’s first and most beloved owner, Albert is a teen who loves his horse extremely.

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When World War two begins the Army needs strong horses for the cavalry and Albert is forced to let his beloved horse go out to war. While Joey is in the front lines of the brutal war he loses many of his owners except Topthorn who is also a horse.

One example of how Joey loses many of his owners during the war is the way that Joey loses Captain James Nicholls during the first battle. Joey goes from a French war horse to a German war horse.

While Joey is at war his owner before the war started, Albert is frantically looking for him. One day Joey while running away from nearby gunshot gets his leg caught on the barbed wire in the middle of no man’s land. Soldiers from both sides come together and decide that Joey will go in the care of the French.

When Joey is taken to the French side to be treated for his injured leg, he notices that the person who is treating him is Albert. Albert doesn’t know that the Horse he’s treating is his old beloved horse until his friend David points it out. To get a better understanding of the book then read the book. In the movie War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg we see how scenes in the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo was changed and sometimes even omitted in order to fit the movie. One example of a scene that had to be changed is when Mr.

Narracott attempts to make Joey a plow horse because of a bet he has. In the book Mr. Narracott goes to Joey in the night with a harness and when joey is scared he kicks Mr. Narracott. In the movie we see how Mr. Narracott actually goes to get the harness and instead of it just being him and Joey the entire family is there. Also in the movie when Mr. Narracott gets kicked by Joey instead of just leaving the pen, he goes to get a shotgun. The reason why this particular scene was changed in the movie was because if Mr.

Narracott in the movie followed the script of the book then everyone in the audience would fall asleep. The reason why I say this is because the scene in the book works for the book but in order for the audience watching the movie to have a similar or better reaction they needed to change up the scene. In the play War Horse written by Nick Stafford we see how the playwright adapted the movie War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg and the book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo into a wonderful play.

One example of a character in which the playwright modified in order to adapt it to the play is the main character Joey. In the book we are forced to use our imagery skills in order to picture how Joey looks which is very similar to the real horse we see in the movie. In the play the playwright went over expectations by actually using a realistic looking puppet horse which is controlled by humans. If the playwright decided to instead of using a realistic horse, use a narrator to explain the events than most likely the play wouldn’t get as many awards.

This shows how depending on the way a piece of media is be presented changes many aspects in that piece. When a book is transformed into a movie or play it has to go through many different modifications and sometimes there is even omitting some parts that the readers of the books think is good. The reason for these changes is because in order for a movie or play which is based on a book to thrieve and be successful it has to be adapted. The definition of adapting is to make suitable to or fit for a specific use or situation. So what are some pieces of literature that you’ve seen adapted?