Push by Sapphire "Movie-Book Comparison"

The movie "Precious" was based off Sapphire's "Push". After re-watching the film there was one major difference between the book and the movie that struck me as important. The difference was the amount of Precious' ideas we actually hear as viewers, versus the amount of detail of her thoughts in the novel. Not having that constant dialogue about how Precious feels really takes away from some of the pain and the torment Precious goes through during this time in her life. For example, during the part of the novel where Precious is getting kicked out of school, there is major dialogue within her own mind about how much she hates Mrs. Lichenstein. You hear about how much she likes her math teacher and doesn't want to be kept from class. Also the character of "the file" is brought up in the novel, but is not mentioned, not even in the silences, in the film. The File is an important part of the novel that is almost entirely left out of the film. The File runs Precious' life and seems to determine who she is and who she will be. Leaving that out, not even focusing the camera on the file for a second, really takes that character right out of the film. In this scene within the novel Precious says, "Mrs. Lichenstein look at me like I got three arms or a bad odor out my pussy or something. What my muver gon' do I want to say. What is she gonna do? But I don't say that. I jus' say, 'My muver is busy.'" This is a great example of how important that internal monologue of Precious' character is. In the film all we see/hear is Precious sitting there, silent, and then, "My muver is busy." This leaves out everything about Precious' discomfort with the mention of her mother, and leaves out a lot of information. In that same scene, a lot is left out. Precious does not fight with Mrs. Lichenstein over being kicked out, she doesn't try to flip her out of the chair and go running out of the school. This changes Precious' character in the film greatly. It turns her from being aggressive and angry to passive. The changes from the film and the book are the reason why the film is an adaptation rather than a direct copy of the book.