FREE ESSAY ON COMPARISON OF MOVIES AND BOOKS

COMPARISON OF MOVIES AND BOOKS

Many people compare an English literary work to different movies of their time. An example
of this is Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. A story about a woman transformed into a
spectacular beauty pushed into royalty, but never loses her identity, is very similar to
a movie directed by Don Bluth called Anastasia. Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and Don
Bluth's movie Anastasia, show that one can change a person's appearance, but the person
deep within has never left the surface. The two have a large array of similarities and
differences. What is also fascinating is that the background of both the English writer
and director are very similar in how they began. I will compare both movie work and
literary work of two exceptional people.
Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856. He was essentially shy, yet created the
persona of G.B.S. The showman, controversialist, satirist, critic, pundit, wit,
intellectual buffoon and dramatist (http://www.sites.netscape.net/bernardshawinfo) . Shaw
grew up in a family with a drunken father, whom worked in a corn mill, a mother whom left
home when he was fourteen. Bernard never went to school past the age of fourteen. After
his mother left his father had gotten worse
(http://www.spartacus.schoonet.co.uk/jshaw.htm) . So he embarked on a journey to London
in 1876, where he would become an active Socialist and a brilliant platform speaker. His
heart was in writing and seven years later he wrote five unsuccessful novels. He was
successful with his journalism; he contributed Pall Mall Gazette
(http://www.sites.netscape.net/bernardshawinfo). One of the many people that influenced
him in his newspaper career was William Stead. Shaw attended a lecture on nationalization
that was given by Henry George, which had a profound effect on his ideas of socialism. In
the year of 1884 he joined the Fabian Society and in 1885 the Socialist League. Bernard
gave a lecture on socialism on November 13th which would result in the Bloody Sunday
Riot. 
Shaw was considered one of the best writers of his time. He wrote many plays such as Arms
and the Man (1984), Satirizing romantic attitudes toward love and war. In 1897 The
Devil's Disciple, a play on the American Revolution, was produced with great success in
New York City (http://www.sites.netscape.net/bernardshawinfo). He also wrote a play known
as Pygmalion, which satirizes the English class system through the story of a cockney
girl's transformation into a lady at the hands of a speech professor. The movie My Fair
Lady was produced to amplify what Pygmalion was all about. Of Shaw's later plays, Saint
Joan (1923) is the most memorable; it argues that Joan of Arc, had to be killed because
the world was not yet ready for her. Among Shaw's other plays are John Bull's Other
Island (1940), The Doctor's Dilemma, Fanny's First Play, Back to Methuselah, The Apple
Cart, Too True to Be Good, and The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism
(http://www.spartacus.schoonet.co.uk/jshaw.htm). 
Bernard conducted a strong attack on the London Theatre and was closely associated with
the intellectual revival of British theatre. His many plays fall into several categories:
Plays pleasant, Unpleasant Comedies, chronic- plays metabiological Pentateuch.
Don Bluth was born into a family of seven children in El Paso, Texas. After watching Snow
white and the Seven Dwarfs he found his calling. From the age of six he could always be
found drawing (http://www.movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=180001539&cf=bios) . His family
moved to Santa Monica, California, and upon graduation from high school he took his
drawings to Walt Disney studios in Burbank. He accepted a position as an in betweener. He
worked with Disney from 1955 through 1956 on the classic motion picture "Sleeping
Beauty". He continued his education at Brigham Young University, studying English
literature. 
In 1977, he returned to Disney Animation Department as an Animator. He was promoted
within two years to Directing Animator and to Producer/ Director the following year. From
1971 to 1979 he worked on " Robin Hood", " Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too", "The
Rescuers" and the "Small One"
(http://www.movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=180001539&cf=bios) . He has created many
prestigious animated films and laser disc video games. 
He was usually known for his animated movies that showed fun, laughter, togetherness, and
teamwork. He is known to a lot of animators as an inspiration to their writing style and
their joy for the job. Don was overly attached and dedicated to his work, and loved every
bit of his day to day life (http://www.movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=180001539&cf=bios).
Pygmalion, a play written by Bernard Shaw tells the story of rags to riches. It begins
with a young flower girl that is poor and she sells flowers to get by. A man that thinks
she is repulsive approaches her. He bets a general that he would be able to change this
despiteful young flower girl into a beautiful duchess. She goes to him to learn how to
speak respectfully and etiquette. He decides not only will he help her but he will also
change her into a duchess to fool the high society. She attends balls and parties to win
over the rich that are present. Eliza doesn't feel right about what she has done, but it
is to late. She has fallen in love with the speech therapist and is overwhelmed with the
life style that was given and created for her. She feels that the feeling that once made
her whole is no longer there, she feels that she is no longer Eliza Doolittle but someone
he has created. He doesn't want her to go because he loves her, but she doesn't feel that
he really loves her. Unlike most stories this one did not end happily ever after. 
The movie Anastasia begins in a castle in London, where soldiers are attacking it.
Anastasia is a young girl that is the duchess of London, she is shown away out of the
castle along with her great aunt. As they pass through the passageways they are
separated. A little boy placed her on a train to Russia. While on the ride she hit her
head and got amnesia. Six years later while selling flowers she was approached by a young
man, that asked her to pretend she was the duchess of London. If they could pull it off
they could receive a large sum of money and she could live the high life. The queen, whom
was her aunt, was giving a ball in search of her lost niece. So they attended, and were
sent away because the queen was tired of being insulted by all of the people trying to
fool her. Later on that night, they crept into her bedroom and demanded she see them.
After talking to Anastasia for a while she realized she was the niece that she had lost
so long ago. And they lived happily ever after. 
Bernard Shaw and Don Bluth are very similar to one another. These two men have many of
things in common, at a young age both had found their calling. They had decided they
would take jobs under big companies to advance their careers. Bluth and Shaw both wanted
to revolutionize their fields of choice. They wanted to see play writting and animation
in a new light. Like Bluth, Shaw had written and produced some of the top plays and
movies. 
Pygmalion and Anastasia have a lot of similarities. The stories are both based on two
women that are turned from rags to riches. At the beginning of both stories, you are told
that they sold flowers for a living. Both had dreams of making it big by having their own
flower shops. The men that transformed them into duchess, in the end would soon become
the love of their lives. They felt guilty for pretending they were something that they
were not. They felt that they had lost their identity and wanted to go back to normal.
Bluth and Shaw are not all together alike. They grew up in different parts of the world,
with different family backgrounds. Shaw had a drunken father and a mother whom abandoned
him. Bluth was born into a family of seven with no major problems. Bluth was given a
chance at education, while Shaw left school at the age of fourteen. Their careers were
different in the sense of the time they lived. Shaw in the 1800's to the middle 1900s and
Bluth from the middle 1900's until now. One life ended so another could begin.
Even though Pygmalion and Anastasia have similarities, they also have differences. Some
of these differences are the settings, one in London and the other in Russia. In
Anastasia, Anastasia starts out as a duchess, and is hit over the head and comes up with
amnesia. She is then found and transformed back to her duchess state, while Eliza was
from the beginning poor. While Anastasia was pushed into poverty because of her lose of
memory. Named were some of the differences between Pygmalion and the movie Anastasia.
Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and Don Bluth's Anastasia exhibit that a person's appearance can
be changed but they never lose their identity. Comparing a movie work to a literary work
was very inspirational and interesting. Hopefully people will be able to except a person
for whom they are, and not try to change their inner beings. Our individuality is what
makes us, us.