The Rocking-Horse Winner
Uploaded by frollypoo on Mar 02, 2002
Many essential steps must be implemented when taking a written story and turning it into a real life motion picture. D.H Lawrence, author of the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” depicts a common demon we all face; greed, society’s need for more possessions and money often drives people to do drastic things. This is true in relation to a young boy named Paul who is growing up large unfriendly lavish house, with a mother and father who are obsessed with money and materialistic things. This results in them not caring much about anything else, not even their son. In the transition from the short story to the short movie, many effective changes are made in the fairy tale opening, the plot and the characterization.
The fairy tale opening, though effective in the written story would not be as successful on screen. The beginning animosity between the parents when they are in the house arguing with Paul watching closely on the stairs clutching the rail is not characteristic of a fairy tale. This scene proves to be extremely helpful in illustrating the parents’ financial situation and lack of love and compassion in the household. Also, the night and the darkness of the house are usually representatives of evil or some sort of corrupt influence. The shadowy tone causes the reader to feel that the house is unsafe or maybe has some sort of evil force in it. This additionally conveys that there are problems within the house and that there will be some sort of negative conflict to come. As well, the anxious appearance of the mother and father in the movie is very fitting. They both look stressed out and desperate for organization in their lives, especially the mother. Their physical appearance illustrates the tension and worry they feel for money all the time and their loss of love and concern for each other. Choosing not to use a high-spirited fairy tale opening worked well because the story would not flow well since the tone of the rest of the story is melancholy.
The plot of the story was very detailed and brought onto screen in a well-organized manner. In the short story Paul had more siblings, but in the movie he was an only child, since the other children were never actually introduced the producers of the movie were wise in not including his other siblings. By using only...