Parents need to know that roots 2016 is a remake of the critically acclaimed 1977 miniseries of the same name that won nine emmys, a golden globe, and a peabody award. Roots 1977 versus roots 2016 the journal of the civil war era. Lots of amazing books have been turned into movies, and lots of great movies started life as books, so now its time to decide, which is better for these stories, the books or the movies. It tells the story of kunta kinte, an 18thcentury african, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in africa, transported to north america. There is only one exception, the rosie project, which is currently. Roots tells the story of kunta kintea young man taken from the gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slaveand seven generations of his descendants in the united states. For one thing, story structure has long been championed much more stridently by screenwriters than novelists. As we have learned in these pages, the roots of the kinte family are african.
My husband is from an american family with african roots. Legend of the jungle vs disney the jungle book live action. Amazing roots returns after 40 years, dredging up alex haley. The differences between the ending of gone girl, the film, and gone girl, the book, are miniscule. Adapted from the alex haley book of the same name, the miniseries. I was initially skeptical about the roots remake especially because of the. Something roots didnt show there were also thousands of asian and caucasian slaves in the antebellum us south. I vastly prefer watching the movie first and then reading the book. The saga of an american family, author alex haley created one of the classic stories of slavery. It was also unsparing in its depictions of slavery.
Historys engaging new roots is faithful to the original and woke to the present. The saga of an american family roots, alex haley roots. Book vs movie gone girl replay book vs movie podcast. History channel plans to remake historically problematic. Alex haley 19211992 was a bestselling and awardwinning writer whose works, including roots and the autobiography of malcolm x, centered on the struggles of african americans. In december 1988, abc aired a twohour madefortv movie. Back in january, entertainment weekly ran a cover story on the then upcoming adaptation of gillian flynns bestselling novel gone girl. There are many spoilers in the gone girl book to movie comparison. Parents need to know that roots is the classic 1977 miniseries based on the bestselling book by alex haley, who spent years tracing his genealogy back to 1750.
In this episode, we talk about the second half of the season episodes 610 of the spooky, different, incredible and. Alternate scene of breaking kunta when he was forced to say his name. The saga of an american family is a novel written by alex haley and first published in 1976. Visual poetry scores over the prose in gone with the wind. Roots, the book and series, had a problem with gender because alex haley was really only interested in advancing the narrative from kunta in the 1700s to haleys birth in the 1900s. I just finished gillian flynns gone girl after weeks of only being able to read a little bit at a time.
The book will always be better than the movie overall. Authors margaret mitchell and alex haley each took personal issues for the. Which is the better version of gone girl by gillian flynn. At the time this series was set, the irish people were slaves to the english not allowed to own land or property or go to school or work in any but laborer jobs, and british landowners could kill or maim irish at will. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Skip to main content area hello, if this is your first time here, login with facebook or create a free account to get started. It was published as nonfiction, and purported to be the result of alex haleys quest to discover his ancestry. Before roots came out in 1977, gone with the wind was actually the. Gone with the wind didnt give a damn about slavery film. The film concludes with amy and nick going on television to announce amys pregnancy, as opposed to in the book, when its a more private matter. Every book in the top ten of dymocks annual top 101 books for 2016 as voted by australians has been made into a movie.
Haley himself once compared anyone attacking the historical truth of. In graphic and heartrending detail, the miniseries shows the brutality and misery of slavery, from people who were kidnapped from their villages in africa to the slave auctions that separated families to the. The movie made from the book whose spoiler page has become by far my all time most popular post on book journey. Gone with the wind turns 75 this year, a long enough period to establish it as an artifact, a museum piece. Award winning books are usually weighed down with this superfluous fluff. It received unprecedented nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third. Neither does mitchells book have what it takes for vladimir nabokovs. For those of you who watched roots, the blockbuster television miniseries in 1977, but never read the novel, you will be dazzled by the written version, and reminded why you were so mesmerized by alex haleys epic story in the first place. Haleys book, first presented as a work of research. With an authorpenned script, a talented director, and rumors of a brandnew and shocking ending, is it possible gone girl.
With levar burton, robert reed, john amos, louis gossett jr a dramatization of author alex haleys family line from ancestor kunta kintes enslavement to. The gift, a christmas tv movie, starring burton and louis gossett jr. Roots is an american television miniseries based on alex haleys 1976 novel roots. Roots was based on the late alex haleys pulitzer prizewinning runaway.
They normally take all the fun stuff out of the book and replace it with tedious exposition masquerading as deep and meaningful prose. Read this literature bookmovie report and over 89,000 other research documents. Gone with the wind as film and roots as television miniseries cloaked race and. After viewing the movie and reading the novel, i shall never be the same. Black aint black 1990 tv episode jim compares ula to kunta kinte in roots. Gone with the wind is an extremely atypical bigbudget studio project of its era in that it concerns itself with racial matters at all, though it. Finally, 10 days after the opening of the movie, i made it to see gone girl. Ive started doing the same thing after i read mystic river and was then disappointed by the movie. But that was before haley was forced to settle a plagiarism suit out of court conceding the following year that parts of it were lifted from a 1967 novel. Kevin garcia period 2 51806 roots the story of roots starts in africa during the 1700s.
I am also from an american family with german roots. Major spoilers on the gone girl film adaptation and book ahead. Every single american, unless native american, has roots from somewhere else. Both miniseries are based on alex haleys 1976 novel roots. A related film, alex haleys queen, is based on the life of queen jackson haley, who was alex haleys paternal grandmother. I know these movies were both critically acclaimed which makes it feel weird to find them disappointing. The visuals are graphically violent and painfully realistic and range from whippings. History channel plans to remake historically problematic roots. Roots historian matt delmont on how the remakes reception differs. For another, the vibrancy and leanness in visual storytelling has lent much to our necessarily windier, lusher written literature however, its also important to realize books vs.
In graphic and heartrending detail, the miniseries shows the brutality and misery of slavery, from people who were kidnapped from their villages in africa to the slave auctions that. Roots received 37 primetime emmy award nominations and won nine. The saga of an american family has climbed to the tippytop of my alltime favorite books. The original miniseries roots was about history, and it was history itself. But that doesnt mean the movie isnt better than the. Considering both answers are by users who havent experienced both book and movie ill say my peace or is the phrase ill say my piece.
In 1977, roots did a rare double, winning a pulitzer prize and a national book award, in both cases a special citation. Boy meets girl, girl is a secret sociopath, girl fakes her own death, and. Whats missing is more realistic and common daytoday slave resistance. Is gone girls movie ending different from the book. The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television. Airing on abc in january 1977, this generational saga of slavery was a kind of answer song to the 1976. While reading the road i was both intrigued and interested as to how hollywood would portray this story, and after seeing the movie i was impressed with how closely the film followed the book. In roots, haley mixes historical and fictional accounts to tell the story of an american family. Ive mentioned before that i actually dont find it horrible to watch the movie before reading. The most popular and beloved american historical novel ever written, margaret mitchells gone with the wind is unparalleled in its portrayal of men and women at once more want to read. While i wasnt familiar with the authors name either of them, i did recognize the title from perusing the list of clint eastwood movies on netflix and imdb.
I was enthralled by gillian flynns 2012 novel gone girl, but, like so many readers of the marital mystery, i was lessthanpleased with the lackluster conclusion. The tv miniseries which was based on the book affected the way a generation felt about slavery and the slave trade. For all the glory, accolades and accomplishments, roots is still deeply. Seriously, here are the stats since i wrote the post in 2012. The title of this book says the saga of an american family. Margaret mitchells gone with the wind was an immediate and overwhelming success. Missing, therefore, from the canonical, 2,800page norton anthology of african american literature, co. In the wake of successful slaverythemed movies like 12 years a slave, the butler and lincoln, the history channel just announced plans to. The 30th anniversary edition apparently commemorating the show, not the original book, published on may 22 by vanguard press, carries a talk given by haley to his readers. The film that captures a different kind of isolation. The articles author stephen lee quotes director david fincher the social network, se7en on the authorpenned screenplay for the filmwhich stars ben affleck and rosamund pike as nick and amy respectivelyindicating. Alex haley, the author of the celebrated book, said it was based on his own. A few months back, my fatherinlaw, an avid reader who i often trade books with, passed me two novels by a guy calling himself trevanian real name rodney william whitaker titled the eiger sanction and the loo sanction.
Based on characters from the book, it starred levar burton as kunta kinte, avery brooks as cletus moyer, kate mulgrew as hattie carraway, and tim russ as house slave marcellus all four actors later became prominent as leading actors in the star trek franchise. Mitchell maintains a perverse kind of honesty that indirectly roots for. The next generations, first aired in 1979, and a second sequel, roots. The saga of an american family paperback may 3, 2016.