The Help and Water for Elephants
Translating a novel into a film is not as easy as one may have thought. Due to time constraints, characters and/or scenes may be eliminated and therefore may not have the same impact as a novel, but this is not always the case. The Help written by Kathryn Stockett and published in 2009. The film version was released on August 10, 2011 by DreamWorks and directed by Tate Taylor. The cast includes Emma Scott (Skeeter Phelan), Viola Davis (Aibileen Clark), Bryce Dallas Howard (Hilly Holbrook), and Octavia Spencer (Minny Jackson). The Help in both forms is riveting and heartbreaking, as well as a racial awakening for some. The novel, Water for Elephants, was written by Sara Gruen and published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill on May 26, 2006. The film version was released on April 22, 2011 by 20th Century Fox …show more content…
There are no huge differences between the two, but the movie does focus on different aspects of Minny’s life. For example, the novel does not put so much emphasis on Minny’s relationship with Leroy that movie does. The movie also seemed to focus on the important friendship between Minny and Aibileen. The novel, however, tends to aim focus at their separate stories and experiences. Overall, I believe the movie did a pretty good job with the portrayal of Minny’s character and circumstances. In the novel, The Help, Skeeter is described as an abnormally tall, lanky girl who has trouble fitting in with most of the other girls. Skeeter has always been different-she does not follow the crowd (or Hilly) like the other woman do. Skeeter is a very caring and loving person, especially for her old maid Constatine whom she looses contact with. “I miss Constatine more than anything I’ve ever missed in my life” (Stockett 60). She believes in the rights of both colored and whites; she is constantly judging her friends’ decisions in her