The movie Easy A deserves a C. Although the movie’s screen writer, Bert Royal, shows no real parallels the The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) admits in the end, that the biggest point the movie was trying to compare with Hester Prynne was how it felt to be an outcast and how to deal with all the social pressure.

One huge comparison between the two plot lines is that adultery proved to be the ‘biggest problem’ for both girls. Hester cheated on Chillingsworth, whereas Olive only pretended to be an adulterer. Ironically, there was adultery in the movie between her favorite teacher and his wife. However, a failure of the two stories was that the climax of the two girls’ hardships was at different times. The Scarlet Letter began with her public humiliation, and plateaued there, whereas in Easy A her adultery problems start out slowly and then overwhelm her near the end.
After having read the book and seen the movie, the most noticeable comparison between the two was of the scarlet letter itself. The letter stood for adulterer, but when Hester embroidered it with gold, and Olive decorated her wardrobe with it, they were taking control of their punishment which was a success. Taking control of their punishments allowed the girls to use the control how they pleased and convince themselves that they were happy living that way in society.

Overall, the movie wasn’t a complete disaster, but if it is being based on the book then it could use a lot of work. The main theme in the book was fairly different from the main theme in the movie. The audience and readers learn that coming clean in the beginning is better than holding out a lie, as Olive did. Hester had a much clearer conscience through the whole book. That would be a good life style to adapt from watching the movie or reading the book.