Divergent: Movie vs. Book

A movie and a book are two separate things. To convey thoughts and intentions on a screen is very hard to do. With a movie you are limited to the things you can do, compared to what you can do with a book. In a book you can know the thoughts, and reasoning behind every action. With a movie however, you can’t explain every detail. In the book Divergent written by Veronica Roth there are certain elements in the movie that are different from the book, like violence, action and suspense, and the overall pace of the story.
In almost every story, there is violence and a villain. There needs to be violence and a villain that the main character can overcome to complete the ending of the story. To transfer the violence from the book to the movie is a difficult thing and often a lot of things are left out. The main character in Divergent, Tris goes through hard times.
In the book she spends a lot of time getting beat up from other characters like Peter. In the book, Peter is so much more violent. He spends his time lying, cheating, and trying to get to the top. In the book Peter doesn’t like Tris, he thinks she is weak and pathetic and should suffer for it. In the movie Tris does get beat up, but she recovers quickly and becomes stronger and faster. In the movie, Peter is not as violent and mean; he brings a sense of humor into the story, changing the way Peter is perceived in the book.

Action and suspense are key factors in making a story interesting. There needs to be something happening to get you keep reading or watching. In a movie it’s hard to balance how much action is too much. In a book it’s easy to have all this action and suspense and still have it make sense with the story.
In a movie it is easy to have to much action and suspense, so they change it slightly to have it fit better. In Divergent there are many scenes that are changed slightly. Like when the two main characters Tris and Four go in to Four’s fear landscape. In the book when they go through all of Four’s fears that are dangerous and scary, Tris finds that slowing your heart rate is the way to get out of that fear. In the movie, however, when they go through the dangerous fear landscape, four tells her that to get out of the fear she needs to find practical ways to fight it off.
One of the major differences is the pace the movie is set at compared to the book. In Divergent the movie moves much faster. Tris doesn’t get beat up as much, and recovers quickly. This is because the movie has to move at a faster pace to keep people watching and not to get bored. In the book Tris gets beat up a lot and is in and out of the hospital. She has a lot longer struggle in the book than the movie.
Divergent is a good story, and the movie did a great job following the book. Although they did a fine job with the movie there are still some essential things they changed to add to the entertainment value, like violence, action and suspense, and the overall pace. The book and movie of Divergent are both excellent. The story line is filled with action and love and leaves you anxiously wanting to know what happens next. While there are many similarities between the book and movie, there are also many differences. That can be over looked because of the great story that Veronica Roth has written.