The Lottery was written by Shirley Jackson and was first published as an issue in the New York Times in 1948 (Sari & Tur, 2019). The story has been adapted in several ways, including the radio version, graphic novel, and the 1969 film (Sari & Tur, 2019).). The text and film versions present the same characters, plot, themes, and styles. However, they contain distinct similarities and differences, as discussed in the following sections.
Firstly, the text and the film versions have a similar plot and theme, presenting contemporary life in a small American town where the residents practice the “lottery ritual”. The precedence of preparation events before the ritual is the same in the film and the text. While the ritual is meant to prepare the villagers for bulk harvest, the idea of “scapegoat” is followed blindly in both text and film. The text embraces suspense, which drastically unfolds in the film, with people quarreling uncontrollably. The horrifying scenes created in the text unfold visually in the film, heightening the levels of suspense among the audience.
The major difference between the text version and the adapted film is the nature of the presented. The film is in audiovisual format and its length is assessed in “duration”. The text, on the other hand, can be measured in “pages”. The contract between the two formats extends to the adoption of styles and characters. Readers are expected to create a mental picture of the disagreement and rebellion that arises on the northern side of the village. In the film, the chaos arising is directly presented to the viewers, aiding them in grasping the provided content. The textual format allows the readers to make divergent conclusions on the themes while the film presents all that the target audience needs to know.
Reference
Sari, F. A., & Tur, A. P. A. (2019). Reshaping the Society Face through The Culture of Horror Told in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. NOTION: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Culture, 1(1), 1-7. Web.