Book and Movie Comparison Life of Pi the book and movie is a story about a boy, Piscine Patel, who must face surviving being stranded in the middle of the ocean, and questioning his religious beliefs. The tale opens with the backstory of Piscine’s childhood. Piscine is a Hindu who goes to a Christian school- which is where he professes himself as Pi- and who lives at a zoo. Pi’s adolescence is filled with the fascination of more than one religion: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, but also the more scientific side of zoology, with the understanding of the dangerous animals that surround him and their workings. Both works follow the polytheistic boy who ends up stranded on a boat with a tiger, having only his wits and what’s available on
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The movie attempts to elicit more sympathy for Pi by introducing a love interest. The girl adds a reason for Pi to continue living when his immediate family dies, but the movie glosses over this factor, only referring to the girl in her introduction and the carnivorous island. The first words spoken between each other foreshadows the island with the girl saying, “God is hiding in the lotus/forest.” (Life of Pi) The movie suffers from the “Hollywood touch” by creating a love interest and making a more reckless main character who the audience is supposed to relate to, coupled with an overall faster pace (which takes away from the desolation of Pi). Also, Pi and Ravi’s personality are switched. For example, in the movie Pi is shown to be the one to tempt Richard Parker and on the night of the storm, his actions are defended by Pi thinking, “I don’t know why I got up that night. It was more the sort of thing Ravi would do” ( Martel 101), something the movie doesn’t address. Pi is readily more understood and empathized with, however his character lacks the needed skill and information required to tame Richard Parker, an important component of the story- if Richard Parker is to serve as a reflection of Pi. Richard Parker serves as a dangerous motivator, which the story is definitely able to portray the risk of, if not quite as graphic as the novel(with the movie having a MPAA PG rating). The audience was spared the violent images of animals being eaten and the effects of being stranded in the middle of the ocean, and focused more on the cinematic aspect of the film. The film lacks the feeling of absolute loss that Pi suffers from, therefore creating a more hopeful and lighthearted story, but which is still able to draw out intense feelings. Without the graphic
The movie attempts to elicit more sympathy for Pi by introducing a love interest. The girl adds a reason for Pi to continue living when his immediate family dies, but the movie glosses over this factor, only referring to the girl in her introduction and the carnivorous island. The first words spoken between each other foreshadows the island with the girl saying, “God is hiding in the lotus/forest.” (Life of Pi) The movie suffers from the “Hollywood touch” by creating a love interest and making a more reckless main character who the audience is supposed to relate to, coupled with an overall faster pace (which takes away from the desolation of Pi). Also, Pi and Ravi’s personality are switched. For example, in the movie Pi is shown to be the one to tempt Richard Parker and on the night of the storm, his actions are defended by Pi thinking, “I don’t know why I got up that night. It was more the sort of thing Ravi would do” ( Martel 101), something the movie doesn’t address. Pi is readily more understood and empathized with, however his character lacks the needed skill and information required to tame Richard Parker, an important component of the story- if Richard Parker is to serve as a reflection of Pi. Richard Parker serves as a dangerous motivator, which the story is definitely able to portray the risk of, if not quite as graphic as the novel(with the movie having a MPAA PG rating). The audience was spared the violent images of animals being eaten and the effects of being stranded in the middle of the ocean, and focused more on the cinematic aspect of the film. The film lacks the feeling of absolute loss that Pi suffers from, therefore creating a more hopeful and lighthearted story, but which is still able to draw out intense feelings. Without the graphic