Did you know that in the book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry, the setting, meaning of the story, and the intent are up to your imagination, and even the book’s ending is up to your own interpretation?  This shows how the book “The Giver” is more powerful than the movie adaption “The Giver.” The story is about a young man named Jonas, trapped in a seemingly “perfect” utopia that is secretly a dystopia; where they control climate, hide color, prohibit emotions, and dont share history. The story shows Jonas feeling alone and being the only one to know the truth, without being able to explain it, and then having to leave everything he’s known behind in the written story.

 But in the movie, the story is about Jonas falling in love with a friend, “Fiona” and discovering joy. It is about the Chief Of Elders, or the person highest in power trying to prohibit Jonas from sharing love and fun by Releasing (killing) him. He try’s to escape but it ends in his friends getting captured and almost killed while he races for the barrier to release memories. The written story of “The Giver” was better than the movie of “The Giver” because of the characterization, imagery, and setting.

 My first reason that the written story is better than the movie is because the setting in the book is better than the set of the movie. In the movie, Jonas is selected as the new “Receiver Of Memory” while the Chief Of Elder is on a telegram and there are drones flying above the community. However, in the book, the House Of Elders is there and the community almost seems sacred and natural with no technology. This makes the written story better because the movie makes the set seem wealthy and almost like a corporation because of this. The movie shows high technology like fast cameras, drones, and telegrams in the Chief Of Elder’s efforts to stop Jonas.

 The book makes the Community seem more natural, like home and then reveals that it is a dystopia and that feeling of being trapped in it appears, which is more shocking and interesting for the reader. This natural and familiar feeling makes the setting in the book feel more like home, which helps us understand how Jonas wouldn’t want to leave and sees the place as home, as well as how crazy it seems for him to leave. This makes the book better than the movie because we get to resonate and relate to Jonas on a different level, and go on a roller coaster of emotions with him.

 Another reason that the book is better than the movie is the imagery in the book is better than the special effects in the movie.  In the book, Jonas is on his bike and looks across the river, seeing empty fields (Elsewhere). However, in the movie they are on a drone looking at the community from above, Elsewhere is covered and fog and seems to be downwards. This makes the written story better because the Imagery makes Elsewhere seem more ominous and dangerous. In the book it almost feels like he could go there but he’s mentally trapped inside the community. In the movie, the special effects make it look like nobody can leave the Community because they wouldn’t survive the fall and the fog makes it seem mysterious and dangerous.  Quotes like “There is much more, much that goes beyond - all.. that is Elsewhere- that goes back, and back, and back, and back. I received all of those when I was selected,” (Lowry, 77-78) makes the book feel clearly more ominous and intrigues the reader to find out, as well as scenes where jonas describes the fields, the river, the mountains, and the trees. The book makes it seem a lot more confusing as to why no one has gone to Elsewhere, or even talks about it. It makes Jonas seem almost crazy because everyone sees elsewhere but thinks its obvious that they shouldn’t go there. Because of this, the book is more likely to suck the reader in and keep their attention and curiosity.

 My last reason that the story is better than the movie is that the characterization in the book was better than the script and acting in the movie. In the book, Nobody other than Jonas and The Giver knew about things like war and hate. There was no direct antagonist. however, in the movie the Chief Of Elders is against Jonas, The Giver, and Fiona because she believes that they are traitors trying to bring back war and hate, so she makes it her mission to stop Jonas. Examples of this are when the Chief Of Elders sent drones after jonas, spied on him through cameras, argued with The Giver about how feelings shouldn’t exist, and called Jonas a traitor while making him seem like the bad guy in the movie. In the book, the only scene where the Chief Of Elders is talking, is when she politely assigns him to the role of Receiver Of Memory whilst following the apologizing speech protocol.  

 This makes the written story better because in the movie it feels like only one person is after him and it’s a game of villain and hero but in the book it feels like everyone is out for him because they cant understand what he knows. It makes Jonas feel more alone and different in the book rather than just feeling like the victim of a bully in the movie. This is powerful because it helps readers understand loneliness in knowing something you cant explain, feeling something “not allowed” which can relate to social standards nowadays that disregard and scold people that are different than them. This is a lot deeper than the book because everybody knows there are bad and unreasonable people in the world like the Chief in the movie. Things like this make the movie less emotional or impactful, but there are other film devices that make the movie less important than the book.

 In this essay, I showed how the written story of “The Giver” was more powerful than the movie version of “The Giver” because of the characterization, imagery, and setting in the book. As a result of this essay, I hope that you will think about how changing the plot or script of a story can severely alter the interpretation, inferences, and perceptions that readers make.