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The Book versus the Film of Tuesdays with Morrie
Have you ever heard of a book, Tuesdays with Morrie? It is the best-seller not only in Taiwan but also in other countries such as America. Due to its popularity, it was adapted into a film in 1999. The story is about the Tuesday meetings of Miche and his professor, Morrie, who is diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL). However, Morrie is a wise man and still filled with passion in his life regardless of the incurable disease. The elements of the story attract innumerable readers and audiences. Based on Morrie’s philosophy, although the book and film may seem similar in some ways, they have striking differences.
First, there’s a noticeable difference between the book and film, the focus of the story. In the book, the author depicts the story by Morrie’s life story and his life philosophy. That is, the book connects the fourteen lessons Morrie talks about as a whole structure of the story. Nevertheless, contrary to the depiction in the book, the film adds a lot of plots as the connection between Miche with Morrie’s philosophy. It seems that the film wants to attract the audiences, and so it presents a lot of Miche’s life events. Information about the association between Morrie himself and his philosophy rather than Miche’s own life story is missing in the film. The focus of the story apparently shows the difference between the book and film since they focus on different elements.
Next, the arrangement of lessons in the book and film is apparently different. The author divides the book into fourteen chapters. Each chapter is based on one lessons on Tuesday and they met continuously over fourteen weeks. However, the film itself just shows four lessons through the plots, for instance, the fear of aging, marriage, love and death. Besides, these four lessons are even not pointed out specifically in the film. Compared to the film, the book clearly presents the ideas that Morrie wants to convey with simple description and words choice. As a reader, I can understand his ideas or stories in each lesson since the author orderly arranges those ideas in each chapter. When it comes to the film, indeed, several plots may attract the audience, but the film lacks the other Morrie’s philosophy as the book mentioned. After all, the book is about every Tuesday’s lesson with Morrie. It would be better if the arrangement of lessons in the film is obvious enough as the book.
The last difference between the book and movie is the way Morrie’s state of illness is presented. The book just describes the state of illness in a vague way without too much description. I merely get a picture of Morrie’s condition that he is sometimes hard to breathe, always coughs and nearly can’t lift up his hands and legs. Unlike the brief description in the book, the film vividly shows Morrie’s state of illness to the audience. Similar to the points mentioned before, the film wants to draw people’s attention, so they undoubtedly present these unforgettable scenes for the audience. Until now, I can still remember how tough it is for Morrie struggling with the ASL due to the stimulation of image from the film. Morrie’s state of illness presents a subtle difference between the book and film, which gives the audience diverse feelings.
To sum up, the depiction, the arrangement of each lesson on Tuesday and Morrie’s state of illness are the three conspicuous differences between the book and the movie. Based on my personal experience, after reading the story, Morrie’s life philosophy indeed changes my view of life. You will get the deepest sense of Morrie’s life philosophy by reading the book, or indulge in the more dramatic story by watching the film. I highly recommend you to either read the book or watch the film of Tuesday with Morrie!
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