Boys and Girls Essay

Film Adaptation Assignment
"Boys and Girls", by Alice Munro portrays the gender inequality and stereotypes present in the society through the point of a view a young girl who aspires to overcome these differences.   The movie, "Boys and Girls", directed by Don McBrearty, depicts a similar scenario using Munro's characters and plot in an interesting and slightly different way. The film is an inaccurate but effective adaptation of the story due to the stark contrast in the development of themes and characters and similarities in settings and symbols. The development of the theme in the film is completely different from that in the story.
                The theme in the story illustrates societal and parental expectations when it comes to being a girl and how the narrator eventually gives in to these expectations. For example, the grandmother tells the narrator, "girls don't slam doors like that." (Munro 52) The narrator thinks, "A girl was not...joke on me." (Munro 52) She realises that she is expected to fulfill the duties of a girl by helping her mother in the kitchen. As a result, she tries to fight these stereotypes by slamming doors and working outside with her father. However, by the end of the story, a change is seen in the behaviour of the narrator.   She begins paying more attention to her hair, cothes, room etc. For instance, the narrator says, "A story might start off...story was lost." (Munro 58) On the contrary, the theme in the film focuses on the expectations from a girl and how the narrator continues to rebel against them. The narrator wishes to free herself from the stereotypical expectations of her family. She tells her brother, "they'll never be able to catch me." (McBrearty) It portrays how she still wishes to live an adventurous life and rebel against her family's expectations. The film ends on a very hopeful note, amplifying the original theme of the narrator rebelling against societal expectations. Hence, it makes the adaption inaccurate in...