Alice Walker wrote a short narrative called “Everyday Use. ” based on her life as an African in early America. The narrative was made into a short movie that followed the subject ( Afro-american civilization ) of the narrative by maintaining the secret plan. scenes. conflict/climax. and characters the same. However. the narrative and short movie differ in duologue and point of position.
“Everyday Use. ” short movie was more narrative oriented as it showed what Mama merely described in the text: “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners. homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her weaponries and legs. eying her sister with a mixture of enviousness and awe. ” ( WALKER 120 ) Mama was explicating how Maggie would experience when Dee comes to see. In the film. viewing audiences had to wait and see until Dee’s reaching to see Maggie’s reactions. it wasn’t told by Mama. but instead interpreted on screen by a moving image. This was done by altering the point of position from first individual to third individual. The film did hold a voice over by Mama as Maggie and herself raked the foliages before Dee’s reaching. but that was non the same as the narrative. as the duologue in the narrative starts on the twenty-four hours Dee arrives but negotiations about what they did the twenty-four hours before: “I will wait for her in the pace that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon. ” ( WALKER 120 ) Mama is speaking about what she did the twenty-four hours before. but in the film she was shown making it.
The ground for such a position alteration merely makes sense. for scenes such as Mama and Dee reasoning while Maggie is listening in the kitchen: “Maggie is now standing in the door. I could about hear the sound her pess made as they scraped over each other. ” ( WALKER 126 ) Mama realized that Maggie was listening in because she stood by the door. In the film they show Maggie hearing and acquiring more ticked off to the sounds of Dee’s rough words. Obviously if Mama was stating the narrative from first individual point of position. she would hold no thought of what Maggie was making in the kitchen. So altering this in the film was indispensable to the narrative but more significantly to the viewing audiences. It was indispensable to seting to the new point of position. by non merely demoing Mama’s events but more of the characters in the narrative. The viewing audiences got to see the other half of the pie ; it was more dramatic to see Maggie’s experiencing really being hurt. than merely presuming she heard the whole statement.
While seting the point of position. another facet had to be changed from the narrative. which was duologue and scene construction. Dialogue had to be added merely to replace many of Mama’s narrative that was cut out. A major scene Reconstruction was taking out the house being burnt down and replacing the clip cut with a longer and in-depth dinner scene. During the interview with Alice Walker. it was shown that the manager shot the house being burnt down. but decided to go forth it out. Merely two grounds could come to one’s head. either he had a clip bound on the movie. and decided that the dinner scene was more of import as it added critical information to each of the characters. The other ground is holding the house burn down would be excessively in writing and confounding to the genre of the movie. He wanted to maintain the movie to a specific genre without confounding the audience by believing there’s more to the narrative than there truly is. Another major alteration that may hold affected the story’s genre is the character of Maggie. In the text. Maggie came away more simple than she did in the film: “Have you of all time seen a feeble animate being. possibly a Canis familiaris tally over by some careless individual rich plenty to have a auto. sidle up to person who is nescient plenty to be sort to him? ” ( WALKER 121 )
The manner the text wrote it. as if Maggie came running following to her like a small 5 twelvemonth old simple kid or “dog. ” as Alice Walker puts it. In the film. Maggie merely ran following to Mama as person who was shy instead than simple. Her mentum was non to her frock and she didn’t truly run. merely more of a hop in her walk. If Maggie in the film was simpler. viewing audiences may hold assumed that the house fire is the ground for it. as they don’t have Mama’s narrative to assist steer them. The thought that Maggie is slow is still portrayed when Dee describes how careless she will be with the Grandma’s comforters. but that besides merely seems like she is uneducated instead than mentally challenged. A minor duologue alteration was done during the dinner scene when Dee is explicating how Maggie is like an elephant: “‘Maggie’s encephalon is like an elephant’s. ’ Wangero said express joying. ” In the film the line. “…’She can retrieve everything…’” was added. explicating to the viewing audiences that an elephant has a great memory instead than an abuse. Most of the duologue alteration was similar to this. doing it more apprehensible to a younger demographic of viewing audiences.
Most duologue added was during the dinner scene. such as Mama stating grace. or conveying up the fact that Dee wrote merely 2 letters in 6 old ages. The manager added these scenes to truly give a pure sense of what type of character Dee was. and so the viewing audiences would non experience every bit much understanding for Dee in the terminal when she tried to take the comforters. Dee was the adversary in this movie. and the manager made it clear by adding such duologue. It was added more by non holding that buss between Dee and Maggie at the terminal ; by demoing Dee had no compunction toward Maggie. It would hold been a challenge for the manager and the actress that played Dee to portray such hatred and love at the same clip and for the viewing audiences to understand what was traveling on.
The Director had his grounds for making what he did in seting the whole narrative but still holding to retain the secret plan. subject. and basic character’s orientations. The things adjusted by the manager were for the intent of the movie ; by what he felt would do it more entertaining to viewing audiences and acceptable by the movie community ( maintaining the specific genre ) . Overall. the film and text gave a different position of the narrative. one being Mama’s position ( the text ) . and the other being a witness position ( the movie ) .
