TKAM Juxtaposition

          I think that the most important difference between the written and filmed version of To Kill A Mockingbird, was the fact that Boo Radley wasn't developed throughout the movie as much as it was in the book. In the book, the children slowly start to find gifts in the knot-hole of the tree. It was Scout who found the gum first, and then later both kids found the rest of the gifts together. The finding of the gifts were spread out and were pleasant moments. The finding of the gifts in the movie however, were short and not as pleasant. In the movie it was only Jem that found the gifts and he kept them hidden from Scout. The movie also only showed one scene where the gift-finding took place. 

          The movie also left out other moments involving Boo Radley that were crucial to the plot. One of them was when Scout, Jem, and Dill tried to give a note to Boo Radley. This was an important moment of the plot because it showed the first attempt of an interaction with Boo Radley. It is also important because it wasn't an attempt too subtle or too forthright. Without it, the first interaction in the movie, to me, felt as if it came on too strong. Another moment that the movie left out was when Scout and Jem were outside one of the coldest nights in Maycomb. There was a fire at Miss Maudie's house in the middle of the night, and Jem and Scout were told to go wait in front of the Radley house for Atticus. Once the fire was out Scout and Jem returned home with a blanket. Scout was confused about where it had came from. Atticus stated, “‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you’” (72). This was important because it showed that Boo Radley actually did exist and was not a myth. It also showed that he wasn't the infamous Boo Radley they had thought he was. It showed that he cared for the children. 

          The purpose of having different versions of a story is so that one could see the importance of an event. The movie left out scenes that happened in the book. In the book it mentions that the children got guns for Christmas, and that was when the famous quote; “‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’” P.90 came up. In the movie the children never got guns, but the famous quote still came up. The movie just left out a detail which was that the children got guns. This implies that those scenes weren't as important for the movie as it was in the book.