Today, many novels, and plays are being transformed into movies. Movies such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings not only brought millions of dollars to the box office, but also helped the audience see how the director changed the novel/play into his own movie. Director Gary Sinse transformed The Crucible, written by Arther Miller into a movie a couple years ago. The Crucible was a play where a group of young girls accused innocent people of being witches. After being caught for dancing in the woods, the group of girls lied about bringing out the devil, and accused innocent men and women for doing witchcraft on them.
Obviously producing a play is much different then producing a movie, because plays are much more limited. For instance in a play the reader must read the play, and might not see how the characters emotions change. To make the crucible into a motion picture director Gary Sinse had to interrupt the play as well as Miller”s own in his dramaturgical agenda. The crucible the play and the crucible the movie share many things in common as well as many differences. Gary Sinse changed many different aspects in his movie.
In the play the crucibles opening scene was in the Betty”s bedroom where Betty was in a coma state on her bed. In the movie the opening scene was in the woods where all the girls where dancing. Sinse changed the opening from Miller”s to show the audience why Betty was trying to act like she was in a real coma. Betty was trying to do this, because she did not want to be whipped by her father, who had caught her and her friends dancing in the woods. The girls made up a lie, which was someone had done witchcraft on them, since Betty did not want to be whipped she faked her coma.
Another example in the play was no one knew about John Procter and Abigail Williams secret affair, except Elizabeth Proctor John”s wife. In the movie almost everybody knew about their affair. An additional example was in the play there was no Mr. Jacobs, in the movie Sinse added him in. Mr. Jacobs was a pour old man, who was accused of being a devil. Sinse did this to help sympathize for all the people, who were accused of being witches or devils. The audience could feel their grief and anger, because they were being accused of something they did not do.
One more example was in the play Betty tried to jump out the window, but no one except the girls saw her. In the movie Betty tried to jump out the window, and all of Salem saw her. Sinse did this to show the audience how serious the matter was. Betty tried to commit suicide but she could not, because the other girls would not let her. She wanted to tell the truth, but the girls would not let her. After this incident some of the towns people were convinced that a witch has cursed Betty. Another example was in the play John was very “cold” to Abigail Williams.
In the movie John showed more affection to her. Abigail loved John Proctor, John knew that he had made a mistake after his affair. In the play he started to dislike her and tried to avoid her as much as possible. In the movie John did not try to avoid Abigail, he still loved her in his heart, but did not want to ruin his reputation so he stayed away from her. In the play Reverend Parris did not whip, Tituba a slave after the girls confessed that she let out the devil. In the movie Reverend Parris did whip Tituba after the girls told him that she let out the devil.
Tituba was whipped until she finally confessed for letting out the devil. The director did this to show how serious the Salem”s Witch Trials were. The people of Salem wanted to know who was responsible, and took harsh actions until they figured out the culprit. Another difference from the movie was in the play John did not pray when he was going to be hanged. In the movie John read short sermons of the bible before his execution. Sinse did this to show the audience that John was devoted to the bible. He was innocent, and if he had confessed he was the devil he would be not be executed.
John could not sign his name to a lie, and furthermore was hanged. Even though the director changed many different aspects of the play he still kept the gist of the movie the same. The director tried to keep the movie, as close to possible as the play. Gary Sinse went in chronological order and tried to keep the characters as they were described in the play. He portrayed Salem as it was described in The Crucible, a puritan town, which was very religious. The director kept a couple of the overall themes in the novel the same, truth.
Truth was the most important theme, because if the girls had not lied about being cursed by a witch many innocent people would have not lost their lives. If they had told the truth the girls would have probably been whipped, and life would have gone on. If Elizabeth Proctor had not lied in court about John, and Abigail”s secret affair John would have not been hanged, and everyone would have known that the girls were lying. Another important theme in the novel was reputation. John Proctor wanted to have an excellent reputation.
He knew what he did with Abigail was wrong, but still had a good reputation. The only reason that Elizabeth had not told the truth was to help protect John”s reputation; she wanted her husbands reputation to come first. At the end of the movie the audience saw John”s reputation at an all time high. He told the truth, he stayed true with his words, he could not sign his name to a lie. Towards the end of the movie, and play the people of Salem realized that they had made a mistake. There were many similarities in the crucible and the McCarthy era.
Senator Joseph McCarthy started the McCarthy era in the mid 19 century. McCarthy would accuse innocent people of acts they did not do. McCarthy started McCarthyism as the group of girls started The Salem Witch Trials. McCarthy was like the group of girls, accusing innocent people of false acts. In the crucible many people were hanged, and in the McCarthy era many people lost their jobs, and were basically black mailed. Some of the events that were the same was the hype in the towns. In Salem people were going crazy over the witch craze they could not take it anymore.
In the United States many people were listening to McCarthy as people in Salem were to the girls, McCarthy was accusing people of incorrect acts, and the United States people believed it. The McCarthy era and The Crucible were very similar in many ways. Today many novels and plays are being turned into a motion picture. Gary Sinse tried to follow The Crucible script as close to as possible while adding a little bit of his own spice. There were some differences, and many similarities. The McCarthy era and The Crucible were very similar in many ways. Gary Sinse used a great Drama Turgical Agenda to portray his view of The Crucible.
