When I was in eighth grade, I read “The Giver” by Lois Lowry for the very first time. Since the first time I read the book, I have read it three additional times. Since the book was published in 1993, it has sold over ten million copies. It is a required reading in many schools. The story follows a young boy named Jonas through his life in a seemingly utopian society that has eliminated many issues that the modern world now faces. There is no crime, no war, and no poverty. In this world, every individual looks and behaves similarly; the world is seen only in black-and-white, with no color existing. When children turn twelve years old, they receive a job that they will perform for the rest of their lives, until they are eventually “released” …show more content…
In the main character’s case, his family unit includes his mother (Katie Holmes), and his father, portrayed by Alexander Skarsgard. Family units always include a mother, a father, and two children. Families are required to talk about their feelings every night at dinner. Additionally, there is no sexual contact in the community, therefore children are “assigned” to families. After reaching a certain age, children begin taking pills for their “stirrings,” or sexual thoughts. A large ceremony is held each year for a group of same aged children to assign their jobs, or as they are referred in the film, “assignments.” The entire community gathers dressed in identical clothing to celebrate the occasion. Children have no choice over what their assignment will be, and are assigned their occupations solely based on the opinions of the elders of the community. The representation of these rules in the movie are quite eerie and cause one to wonder what life would be like for them if they lived in such a …show more content…
This age difference is likely due to the level of maturity of the actors. The camerawork and script is also well formatted and stays true to much of the book. However, I feel as if it is difficult for one to truly appreciate the messages of relationships and individuality without reading the original book by Lois Lowry.
The film earned $4.7 million dollars on its opening day. Critically, the movie has received poor reviews, however, it was quite successful in the box office. This is likely due to the book’s large fan base. “The Giver” won an award at the Heartland Film Festival in 2014 for a “Truly Moving Picture Award.” It was also nominated for other awards in the Denver Film Critics Society and the 41st People’s Choice Awards.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film based on my opinions of the film alone. However, when compared to the book, I felt as though some important elements were lacking, and that the addition of these elements would have contributed to the success of the movie as a whole. I would recommend not only seeing the film adaptation, but also reading the book. The film is no longer in theatres, but is available on online streaming websites such as
Ultimately the book was fantastic but the movie wasn’t as far as good in my personal opinion. It was one of the best books I’ve had ever read. At first it goes slow but as you get to know the characters and the plot you get addicted to the book and can’t stop reading in a good
I much preferred the movie version to the novel. For me, author William Kennedy’s style of writing is needlessly vague and difficult to follow, yet he did a wonderful job adapting
Although the book had a very mature storyline and theme, the movie, on the other hand made it seem like it was a children’s movie with all the unnecessary cute and funny scenes of the baby farm animals even though it was far from being a children’s story - it contained adult themes, alcohol abuse, executions, and violent battles. It was more than your average cartoon. Plus, most of the dialogue in the book was replaced by narration in the movie which reduced immensely the depth of personality of the animals. Not enough to ruin the movie, the endings between the novel and the film had quite a contrast. In the book, the story ended with a classic scene and a chilling line which grabbed the readers until the end.
I thought that the movie was a good adaptation to the text because of the elements in the book were captured and brought to life in the movie. You can feel the different moods of the movie,just like in the book. The town and characters seem to spring off the page and onto the screen,with mild exceptions. The mood is set very well with the lighting and sound,just as it would be in the books. An example of this is with the lighting,music and the costume choice.The choices that the
The book The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a kid name Jonas trying to live in a so called perfect union. Jonas experience develops a theme over the course The Giver by teaching the reader for every action there is a consequence. Although some readers may believe that for every actions there’s not a consequence, Jonas’ experience shows that once Jonas leaves the community he suffers from starvation and also pain.
This book is about a boy names Jonas. Jonas lives in a futuristic society where there is no pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is also no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, there is very little competition. They have also eliminated choice.
In the movie The Giver the main character, Jonas, learns more than what society has been telling him and sees a whole new perspective. To explain, the government hides emotions, colors, music, and memories from the community and Jonas is fortunate enough to experience it all. On his first day of training as the receiver, he sees the vision of snow and a sled. Jonas is shaken by the memories he has learned but is deeply intrigued, begging for more information each day. In the film, the wooden sled represents pain and experience.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a twelve year old boy, Jonas, living in a utopian society. This story follows Jonas on his way to find out the truth about his Community, and what secrets lie in the past. The society where Jonas lives knows nothing of the real world, and only know of their perfect reality. In the novel The Giver, the most significant theme is control because in the society there is no freedom of knowledge, freedom of love, or freedom to do what they please, which amounts to uttermost control.
The novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is an everlasting story that shows the importance of individuality. This novel is about a young boy named Jonas who was elected as the Receiver of Memories, a person who is given the memories from the world that existed before their current society, Sameness. In this society there is no individualism. People can not choose who to marry, or what they want to do for a living. Over time Jonas becomes more and more wise, and realizes that the supposedly perfect community actually has some very dark and negative aspects. The author, Lois Lowry is a 76-year-old writer who focuses her writing on helping struggling teenagers become individuals. Lowry had a very tragic childhood. After both of her parents were
When considering the similarities between Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, and the real world; one must consider all aspects of our domain, and history. A few similarities stand out as being predominantly controlling. The Giver, possesses several resemblances to Nazi Germany. The novel also portrays an appalling method for dealing with newborns that are less desirable. The novel also reflects on the way those who are too old are sent on a vacation to elsewhere. The novel leads one to assume that the handicapped would be met with equal cruelty. The story primarily sets forth ideas that are relevant of the era; when politically correctness would have been obstructing to an individual’s uniqueness. There reaches a point where conformity and perfection is controlling of an individual’s free will, and Lowry tries hard to portray the issues found in a world where everyone is the same; in which she indisputably succeeded.
Despite having many differences the film remains faithful in capturing the novel and putting on film. While one may not get everything from the movie as from the book, the majority of it is there. So for die hard fans of the book there is no need for disappointment. All the main parts of the book are there, the characters, the plot, the setting
“It was the first thing Jonas noticed...the pale eyes. Almost every citizen in the community had dark eyes. His parents did, and Lily did, and so did all his group members and friends. but there were a few exceptions, Jonas himself, and a female Five,” (Lowry 20). These genetic selections and differences in Lois Lowry’s The Giver may seem unusual and futuristic to us, however this does exsist and may get more advanced in the future. In The Giver Jonas is selected by the community to recieve memories about the past and the outside world, then he finds out his community is not all the perfect it seems. the topic of designer babies and people does exsist in our world today.
The Giver teaches us that love is essential to life. Jonas and the Giver demonstrate again and again how important it is, even though it’s forbidden. The Giver demonstrates love when he declares, “‘I love you Jonas’ he said. ‘But I have another place to go. When my work here is done, I want to be with my daughter’”(202). The Giver is saying goodbye to Jonas, he is practically telling Jonas he is going to finish the things he needs to, then The Giver is going to ask to be released. He says he loves Jonas and you can tell Jonas loves him too. He loves his family even though they don’t know how to love or what love is. He also loves Gabe, Jonas saves him from being ‘released’. Jonas feels accepted, loved, and at home when the giver tells him he
When picking up a book to read, the thought that comes to mind is swayed by the image on the cover. While the concept of not judging a book by its cover is widely asserted, it is practically difficult to do because the cover is the first impression that we get. From the illustrations on a book cover, there are multiple assumptions made concerning what the book will be about. When analyzing young adult novels, the cover of the books appear to be targeted to a certain age group and occasionally gender. More often than not books issue new covers after a movie based off that novel is released. An example of that is the book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, which is taught in schools across America. Comparing the original book cover (A) with the new cover
I liked that this book showed how people can be so controlling, “Rules are very hard to change” (Lowry 17), such as making rules so that everything is perfect when it is not and if people do not follow those rules then you will be released/ killed which is not anyway to treat a broken rule. In this book The Council is lying to all of its citizens saying that this is the only way to live but in reality Jonas finds out that there is so much more to do in life rather than just having sameness.