The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an extremely original and creative story written by James Thurber.
Mr. Thurber wrote in the genre of comedy and enjoyed animating his stories with comically drawn cartoons. Soon after the short story was published, Sam Goldwyn made a film adaptation which James Thurber wasn't to happy about. I agree with Mr. Thurber. The movie is not at all the books story.
It was changed up tremendously and doesn’t reassemble the original story in many ways.The only thing that was kept the same was the name Walter Mitty that he day dreams. Many new unnecessary characters were added and a different story line. The movie is also a whole lot more humorous compared to the short story which puts the two in completely different genres. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty short story is about the importance of daydreaming and how it can make your life extremely colorful and pleasant. The story uses brilliantly thought out transitions between real life and day dreams where as the move uses ok transitions.
In the movie it is very easy to guess when it will happen and what the dream will be. The book just throws it at you when you are not expecting it. A good example of this is happens when Walter is playing defendant in his day dream. Him acting out this role showed us that he was very guilty for forgetting what his wife asked him to get at the store.
The transitions happens in a matter of a few words. This causes surprise and excitement in the reader unlike in the movie.In the movie, you can see that Walter is going to have a day dream because he seems to be getting hazy and the visual effects cause a foreshadowing type effect. You can also easily figure out what the dream will be about will be about. The book has many advantages over the movie The short story and the movie are two different pieces of art with the same name. The short story wins the battle hands down because of its originality and the incredible skill the author posed when writing it.
Someone who disagrees with me might say that the movie is better than the short story because of its creativity or because of the fact that you don’t have to read or even because they might say that movies express more to you than books. To those people I say that they lack imaginations, creativity and common sense. Books provide a psychological adventures that send your mind on trips and let your creativity wonder freely. Movies on the other hand give you physical image of what the author sees.
People who read understand more because they get a personal connection with the characters in the story.
