I've decided to share an essay I wrote earlier in the year for English. Here it is. :)
The
Maze runner was originally a book, written by James Dashner. A few
years after publishing, it was turned into a film.
Like
many movies originated from books, there were quite a few differences
between the two. The main ones were the differences between movie and
book characters, the relationships of the characters and the Gladers'
history.
In
the book the Gladers are a supportive little community of teenage
boys. There is some competition, but it's kept to a minimum, as they
all look out for each other, knowing it would be harder to survive
the Maze if they didn't.
In
the movie the competitiveness is played up more that the
supportiveness. This change was made to help the Gladers fit into the
Hollywood 'teenage boy' stereotype. Because of the change in their
behaviour and personality, they become a lot rougher and more
bullyish.
They
change a lot of the characters to fit in with the story to get it to
work for the stereotypical Hollywood movie. Teresa, for instance,
becomes slightly more delicate and feminine in the movie. However,
out of all the characters, they change Gally the most.
In
the Maze Runner book Gally is the meanest of the Gladers, and has a
severe disliking for Thomas. He is completely convinced that Thomas
has come to destroy their little community, after having seen Thomas
in his memories during 'The Changing'.
'When his malicious stare
fell back upon Thomas, he had one last thing to say. “Whatever you
came here for – I swear on my life I'm gonna stop it. Kill you if I
have to.”'
Pretty much he's the Glade's
version of a school bully.
However that wasn't good
enough for Hollywood, so they turned him into a 'good guy gone bad'
character. He starts off as a much more supportive character. He
still has some of the bully aspect to him, but he's much more
respected and respectful. That starts to vanish after Thomas breaks
the Glade's Number One rule by running into the Maze. Then his
character follows along with the book version.
The character's relationships
are changed a fair bit through out the movie as well, to help the
movie flow in a more “suspenseful” way.
The relationship between
Thomas and Teresa changes significantly between the book and the
movie, meaning that some of the more interesting things between them
are missed. In the book, Teresa recognizes Thomas immediately, and
afterwards continues to behave as though she has known him her entire
life. This is enhanced by a telepathy link they share, which seems to
indicate that they did know each other previously.
'Tom, I don't know any of
these people. Come and get me! -Teresa, The Maze Runner, book'
Meanwhile, in the movie,
Teresa plainly has no memory of Thomas, and vise versa. However if
they had the telepathy link between them they may have figured out
the connection sooner, but the telepathy link was removed from the
storyline to save time, meaning that it wasn't until towards the end
of the movie that they discover that they knew each other.
'“Who
are you? They said I kept saying your name during my sleep.” -
Teresa, The Maze Runner, Movie'
The
reason for the dramatic changes to the character's relationships with
each other was to save time to use for developing the story plot and
to keep the movie to a reasonable length. The saved time ended up
being used by adding non-existent book scenes to the movie, such as
the Gladers having a party to celebrate Thomas's arrival in the
Glade.
Another dramatic difference
between the two is the history of the Gladers. In the book, when
Thomas asks how long they'd been in the Maze for, he's told that the
longest was two years.
'Alby
continued. “Two years, I've been here. Ain't none been here
longer.” - The Maze Runner'
However when Thomas asks the
same question in the movie, he's told that they've been stuck in the
Maze for the past three years. The reason for the added year in the
movie is to add yet another layer of suspension, and also one of
hopelessness – because two years of being stuck inside a glade
surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters clearly isn't chilling enough for
Hollywood film critics.
There was another big
difference between how the first of the Gladers arrived as well. In
the book, a group of between forty to fifty boys were placed in the
Glade. They all had the equipment needed to begin their community.
In the movie, only one boy was
placed in the Glade per month. In this case, the first ever Glader
was Alby. The reason for this was to help define Alby's character,
explain why he became the leader of the Gladers. In the book, the
main reason he becomes the leader is because he has a natural
leader-like personality.
Quite a few things ended up
changing in the movie, much of it so that it would fit with Hollywood
standards. However, despite the changes made, the storyline of the
movie managed to flow fairly consistently to that of the book.
While I do enjoy the movie, as
it does give a different perspective, I personally prefer the book
for it's greater depth into the story.
