In this essay i will be writing about the comparisons between the film into the wild by Sean Penn and the book by Jon Krakauer in which they both present the mcCandless family in different way some good and some bad
the film presents Walt mccandless as a world apart from his son where as the novel presents Walt and Chris as sharing similar core characteristics. Example from the film the entrance of the sports team into the formal dining hall and over the shoulder shot of Walt’s reaction compared with similar shot of Chris. An example from the novel colleagues refer to him Walt as brilliant while Chris came into this world with unusual gifts.
Christopher mcandless is presented as ungrateful in the film, in the novel christopher McCandless is also present as ungrateful in the film in the restaurant they film a over the shoulder shot where they show the reaction of his parents after they generously offered their son a new car and he aggressively shouted at them for making the offer. He could also be portrayed as disrespectful because instead of telling his parents calmly, he shouted at them which might have made them feel embarrassed because they were in a public restaurant. In the novel of Into The Wild, Christopher is also portrayed as ungrateful in the novel because when his parents offered him the car in the novel, there is a quotation that says ‘he later complained’. This quote portrays Christopher as regretful because instead of leaving the matter with a no thank you and continuing to enjoy their evening, he continued disrespectfully instead of thanking them for their kind offer but declining it kindly.
In the film into the wild Billie McCandless is presented as fake ,where as in the novel she is presented as a caring mother. an example that portrays Billie as a fake in the film is when Chris comes to the fancy restaurant after his graduation just before he comes inside and is just parked in his car Billie looks at his car with disgust because she see’s his old car parked between two new cars. she also is portrayed as fake because when he walks in and sits down Billie tells him she would like to buy him a new car to get him out out of that junk yard car. this shows that she is fake because she only cares about how her and her family looks rather than care about her sons feelings towards the car. In the novel, she is portrayed as a caring mother because she hand knits Christopher McCandless a blanket. We also know that she is a caring mother because if he really did despise his parents, then he wouldn’t have taken the blanket that Billie made for him to Alaska with him, but instead that was the only thing that he took from home which shows that he loved the fact that she made him this instead of buying him one which shows that she is caring. This shows that she is caring because he cared a lot for the blanket meaning that he had strong feelings for his mother, showing the reader than she cared about him enough for him to love her gift so much, also she is caring because she was worried that her son might be cold and she made him a blanket showing that she cares about his well being.
christopher McCandless is presented as more humble than his parents in the film,christopher McCandless is presented as more humble than his parents in the novel too in the film it shows a point of view shot of christopher’s datsun between two fancy cars. this shows he is more humble because his parents prefer him to be in a fancy car where as he wants to keep the junk yard car. In the novel it says ‘he had a perfectly good car,’ this shows him as more humble because he believes that his car is good ,but his parents think that he has a junk yard car and instead should get a fancy one.
christopher McCandless is presented as principled in the film. Christopher McCandless is presented as distant in the novel. in the film he is presented as principled because instead of taking the car like any other teen, he followed his own morales and declined their offer. In the novel he is presented as defiant because in the text it says he got nobody presents but he got his mother something so he did not stick with his rules.
The film presents McCandless’s family in an negative way. an example in the film is Physical fights. they are portrayed in a negative manner through out the film. in the book there is no evidence that Walt and Billie ever got in an physical fights. Penn uses this scene in the movie to show that both parents didn’t get along another. in the book they show an negative side of McCandless family but also shows that both parents loved McCandless. the movie also shows Chris McCandless dislike in his parents as the movie portrays that Chris McCandless did not like his parent an evidence in the movie is his speech to Carine McCandless wishing his parents should have never have met. this shows that Chris McCandless did not like his parents relationship. another evidence that shows that Chris McCandless disliked his parent especially his dad is when he found out that his father had another family this appears in the book and was one of the reason Chris McCandless disliked his father.
Carine as a sister who is happy for her brother graduating but also it shows support of what he says that he wants. Carine as a quiet girl who only wants to make her brother feel that he has someone that supports him when he says something.In the film it shows them getting out the car and walking into the restaurant holding hands and tells us that they always have each others back.In the novel it says that Carine and Christopher always walked down the road holding hands. The second thing I learn is that Chris wants Carine to look up to him. This suggests that Chris doesn’t want to be seen as looking up to his little sister. This is obvious because Carine says that there was ‘no way he was going to sit behind his damn sister’. So this shows that Chris would rather leave the symphony than sit behind his little sister. The word damn This also shows Chris loves his little sister and doesn’t any thing to happen to her
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