The Conservation and Deterioration of Stevens Character in the Film as Compared to the Novel

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The Conservation and Deterioration of Stevens Character in the Film as Compared to the Novel Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day is a powerful story about a British butler who spends much of his time reminiscing times when he served Lord Darlington, prior to his death. It is written in a first person point of view, placing the reader inside the head of Stevens. Here is the issue regarding the film adaptation. The novel only lets the reader know whats going on right in front of Stevens, the film however goes above and beyond this first person limitation and gives the viewer a third person view. Everything discussed in the novel has a specific purpose and furthers the story, although the film adaptation seems to have misinterpreted many scenes. Also, there are some blatant inaccuracies. The most noticeable one is the deletion of Mr. Farraday from the novel, and replacing him with Mr. Lewis in the film. The first person point of view is central to the understanding of Stevens and the complexity of his character, which the film somewhat ruins by making him seem quite simplistic. However, the adaptation did not only deteriorate the character of Stevens, as it also portrays scenes very similar to that of the novel. There is no doubt that Stevens character in the film is greatly altered, but James Ivory, the director of the adaptation, still managed to maintain some of his key traits. Although the film would not properly satisfy some of the readers of The Remains of the Day, it must be understood that this transformation was no easy task and James Ivory did what he could to maintain as much of Steven's character as he could, even if it meant altering some key parts. Specifically, Mr. Stevens is just portrayed as something he is not. He is extremely professional, proper, and a prime example of the perfect butler. The film shows this as well, but on top of that it

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