The Film: Water for Elephants

This last week I had the pleasure, and misery, of watching Water for Elephants as a film adaptation. 

In my humble opinion, Water for Elephants was terrible. Besides the cut of characters from the story, the plot was changed in subtle ways to create Marlena and Jacob (played by Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson respectively) into different character's from the novel's image.

Jacob is suppose to be a Polish, virgin, red-headed, young man who is, slightly, passive and unsure of asserting himself. As a senior at Cornell, he has never seen a naked woman and is in love with a peer of his, Catherine. In the film, Catherine is in love with him and he is planning on being in her bed the night they finish their final exams. Continuously though the film, Jacob is depicted as sexually experienced, although it is not said one way or the other. Even in the novel, one drunk night Jacob is not sure if he's still a virgin. Pattinson just smiles his way through rows of women, and acts like an expert during his, implied, sex scene. Not only does this Hollywood-ized version of Jacob, seemingly, have manhood in sex, but in aggression. Instead of having trouble asserting himself, he has trouble hiding his assertion. He acts out in the open instead of in the shadows. Mr. Macho, Pattinson, does not have a emotional reaction to putting down a horse, regret allowing his elephant to get beaten, have a relationship with any other animal besides his elephant, and take care of them when the circus falls. Jacob's only concern is his elephant and his woman, but that does not encompass his written character. 


Similarly, Marlena and August's character's are not depicted to the truth of their real nature. Marlena's backstory is changed to create a softer, and more fragile, woman. In all reality, Marlena made her decision and suffered because of it. August looks like a man with anger issues, and its never said that he is diagnosed with schizophrenia. His crazy moods are explainable in the book, which makes the film version lacking. He looks crazier because no one explains his condition. 



Really, all I have to say is don't judge a book by its movie. 
Slightly disappointed,
Emily