Compare And Contrast The Movie And The Most Dangerous Game

“‘Even so, I rather think [the prey] understand one thing -- fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death,’” said Whitney, a character in the story of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. Whitney’s companion, Rainsford, disagrees, saying that the hunted can not think or reason. When the roles are switched, Rainsford learns quickly how it feels to be stalked ceaselessly through the night by one whose only intentions are to capture and kill. As with many famous pieces of literature turned film, the movie version differs from the written. While the main setting and some characters remain the same, the characters and plot contrast, changing the overall theme and resolution as well. In any book turned visual, some main details should be …show more content…
The main moral of both versions is that even the hunted know fear, love, joy, and other human feelings. Perhaps they know it more so than the hunter because only a sick, demented person, deprived of happiness, would kill men simply because he was bored. Yet, in the written version, the hunted somehow turn to become the hunters. Rainsford becomes what he fears; after killing Zaroff, the man who put him through several brutal trials not only for the body, but also for the spirit, the reader can infer that he took over Zaroff’s role in society. Zaroff may have lost his life, but Rainsford lost his soul. However, the movie keeps the protagonist sane. Rainsford does not murder in the end; he defends himself after being attacked when rescuing Eve. Zaroff only dies because of his need to kill his prey. He runs to the window to shoot the escaping victims, and then falls only to be eaten by his own dogs, coming to the same end that Rainsford and Eve almost faced. In conclusion, many characteristics remain constant, but some changes altered the theme overall. Rainsford said in the film, “‘Those animals I hunted, now I know how they