Comparing a Book to a Movie

Authors Note: This is a compare and contrast essay.  I am comparing and contrasting a book to a movie that we watched in social studies.

The Revolutionary War was a very sad time for many families, towns, and villages.  The movie, The Patriot by Roland Emmerich, was about  a father and his 2 sons that fought with him during the war.  Both of his sons end up dying during war, but the father stayed alive.  The book I read which was, Cast Two Shadows, by Ann Rinaldi, is about a family of 3 that only can stay on one room of a house.  It’s a girl named Caroline and her sister named Georgia Ann and their mama. There are many more differences than similarities from the movie that I saw, and to the book I read.

One of the many differences from the movie to the book are the main characters.  The theme would be participation in the war.  In the movie The Patriot, Benjamin is a widowed father of 7 children. But, in the book, Cast Two Shadows, the main character is a little girl named Caroline.  As you know women were not allowed to fight in the war so that is a big difference between the two.  Benjamin has to fight at war to protect his town and his family.  Caroline has to stay in her one room to pretty much protect herself.  It is very rare when she can leave the house.  On the other hand, Benjamin is rarely AT his house.  He is always busy fighting at war and planning schemes to kill the British.

Another big theme was family problems.  Caroline got her Mama taken away from her.  Benjamin got his family taken away from him.  Caroline only was with her mom for 3 years of her life, then she got her taken away.  Benjamin is fighting in war so he obviously can’t be with his family.  So in both stories the family is being torn apart.  I would be depressed if any of my family members got taken away from me because even though we aren’t the closest family, we still love and look out for each other.

One of the other big themes I caught onto was bravery and courage.  In The Patriot, Benjamin has to show bravery and courage by fighting in the war for his family.  He has to protect them and be a smart man to not do or say anything stupid to the British.  And in Cast Two Shadows, Caroline has to show bravery for herself as well as her sister. Her sister, Georgia Ann, likes to tease her sister Caroline a lot, so if she doesn’t show bravery her sister would make fun of her for being scared.  I honestly would be so terrified of the war because I would be afraid that all of my brothers and dad would die.  Both characters show bravery and courage throughout the entire story.

In conclusion, The Patriot was a lot more gory and interesting than Cast Two Shadows.  However, they both shared some common themes, but there were definitely more differences.  I enjoyed The Patriot better, because personally I like movies better than reading.  To wrap things up, the differences were a lot more significant than the similarities. 

Bibliography

Emmerich, R. (Director). (2000). The Patriot [Motion Picture].

Rinaldi, A. (1998). Cast Two Shadows. Orlando, Florida: Hartcourt, Inc.