Compare And Contrast Essay on "Sleepy Hollow" And Tim Burton's Film

Introduction

The legend of sleepy hollow is quite a pretty story. I have noticed it has many similarities as well as differences that come out with clarity given that the movie sought to depict what is written in the book. This paper will underscore the similarities and differences portrayed between the book and the movie. While starting with the film, it is evident that much more has not changed from the text. For example, Ichabod Crane in the movie looks a lot more of the description given in the book (Bassil-Morozow, 45). He is represented as an individual has a long skinny neck that supports the big head with a long protruding none. In both the movie and the book, when Ichabod initially appears through the woods, he is scared by the strange noises emanating from the trees.

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Similarities Between the Book and the Movie

The movie and the book seemingly have similar ideas. Firstly, the setup and the settings are alike. Both are seen as taking place within the city oh Sleepy Hollow. For almost the entire story the town is described as a town of its own, which is quiet and covered with tranquility. This is directly represented in the film. When the film commences, the town is relatively calm with trees punctuating its beauty demystifying any thought of danger (Burton, Tim, Ron and Jenny, 33). Both the book and the movie versions have the same characters with Ichabod being the main character. Another character deemed minor yet is described both in the movie and the book is Ichabod's horse gunpowder. The portrayal given to the gunpowder in the film exactly matches the written account of it in the book.

One of the characters in the movie called Katrina is described as being disgusted and feels unpleasant about the conversation she heard between Ichabod and Baltus Van Tassel about her. This she discloses to Ichabod immediately "after the harvest feast." In the same context, we can find several descriptions of different meals and myriads of comparisons with food (Burton, Tim, Ron and Jenny, 35). Irving describes a simple meal that makes one salivate "the meal is sumptuously made."

Another similarity noted in both the film and the book is the zeal of lust. Washington Irving tells articulate of a story of a school teacher who finds himself enamored by a lady. The lady is the daughter of a wealthy folk landowner. Katrina is the lady having two suitors, Ichabod Crane the school teacher and Brom who is attractive and popular in town. Tim Burton simulates the idea by creating a movie "Sleepy Hollow." The character's name, as well as the site of the town, is left constant within the movie bringing out the similarity between the movie and the story (Cheu, 39). Tim successfully brings out a film of a ghost story which is taking place in "Sleepy Hollow."

Although the plot of the movie and that of the book ensemble some difference, still there are some similarities some of which include the autumn party which was organized in Van Tassel. The setting of the movie as well as that of the book shows commonality in both (Cheu, 41).

Differences Between the Book and the Movie

Despite Ichabod being the most and central character in the two accounts - the film and the short story- some differences are portrayed on account of the character interpretations. One of the different points on both the film and the book is the career of Ichabod. In the short story of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod is the town's school head teacher who teaches the students. Apart from being known for his strict ways, Ichabod is painted by Irving as more popular among the families of his students, particularly those that have pretty daughters and sisters (Nienaber, 61). The description given to him in the story presents a man with a small head "flat at the top with huge earlobes, large green glassy eyes and long snipe nose,...". He spends fall evenings among the old widows sitting by the fire as they tell the stories of demons and ghosts and other supernatural beings which are roaming the Sleepy Hollow. In the movie, Ichabod in no longer depicted as the school teacher (Nienaber, 62). Tim paints him as a detective who travels from afar to Sleepy Hollow to help in solving the Headless Horseman mystery. At this point, Ichabod's level of respect is different in the story as compared to the movie.

Looking at the personality of Ichabod, what the movie exhibit does not relate precisely from the book. The story presents a self-assured smart man who always is in the know of what he is doing as well as what goes around him. This is unlike his character; Burton's Ichabod frequently faints and does not seem to know anything (Kevorkian, 27). From this point, Ichabod is a two different character in the Legend Hollow compared to Sleepy Hollow.

The movie is in a Sleepy Hollow is about a detective called Ichabod. He arrives in the town and meets Katrina, a lady whose beauty attracts Ichabod and him quickly fall in love with her against the wish of Brom (Kevorkian, 29). The beginning f the story ideally looks precisely like the original story, however, in this case, Ichabod is a detective trying to unearth the mystery of death toll where three individuals have been beheaded, and their heads are nowhere to be found. Even though Burton is seen to have included some of Irving's original tale in the story, his version accounts for what has just happened with Brom pretend here to be close to Ichabod.

With a sudden contrast, magic and witchcraft are introduced by Burton into his tale. What is entailed behind the horseman is a demon which was the reason behind the death and killings. "All these are controlled by a witch." As opposed to the original plot, greed and lust are no longer in the mind of Ichabod but belongs to the witch (Parks, 55). The movie took the plot, therefore, is its own as it answers the question of whether the headless horseman was a reality or not.

In regards to the characters and setting, the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" significantly shows differences. The movie portrays Ichabod as undeniably more attractive punctuated with an innocent and a lovely smile. On the other hand, Katrina too is charming with blond hair that got any man envied (Parks, 59). In this episode, the movie's plot is taking a path of its own which finally paints Ichabod as having solved the case. The story, the desire of Ichabod for the estate belonging to Van Tassel leads him to chase after the girl. His greed can, therefore, be accounted to be the source of his destruction.

Coupled with a lot of literary devices that are ostensibly omitted by the book, the play is well modernized. The characters are portrayed as intelligent and can carry out an investigative task. Ichabod comes to the town to investigate to find out the cause of the death tolls while in the book, his work is so crude and involve belief in the existence of demons alongside being with a vengeance in his motive (Irving, 22). In the movie, the feeling of love and lust are just but a few intellectual signs that the characters are no longer extricated in the olden days but are in the era of modernization.

Conclusion

Both the conclusion of the book and the movie also present a significant difference from the other. Towards the end, seemingly there is one major point, the story has it that Katrina failed to choose Ichabod whereas, on the film, the notorious headless horseman has gone and is no longer out to kill (Irving, 26). While in the story both Katrina and Ichabod do not end up together, and the films show the opposite as the two ends up together. In addition to the differing of Katrina and Ichabod's relationship portrayal, both the scripts end with different themes. Despite sharing basic and similar ideas, Irving's opines more on mythical romance while Burton shows a different picture of a horror story.

Using the wealth of his choices, Irving's chooses to use suspense to bring an end to the story as well as building imagination. When he talked about the horseman, he employs a vivid description which contributes to creating an eerie mood (Irving, 30). His motive was to let one use an image as opposed to the book. Despite describing the scene, he enables the reader to imagine and fill in on the missing pieces.

Work Cited

Bassil-Morozow, Helena. Tim Burton: the monster and the crowd: a post-Jungian perspective. Routledge, 2013.

Burton, Tim, Ron Magliozzi, and Jenny He. Tim Burton. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2011. Print.

Cheu, Johnson. Tim Burton: Essays on the Films. , 2016. Print.

Kevorkian, Martin. "" You must never move the body!": Burying Irving's text in Sleepy Hollow." Literature/Film Quarterly 31.1 (2003): 27.

Nienaber, Daniel. Comparison of the supernatural elements in Washington Irving's short stories. GRIN Verlag, 2003.

Parks, Lori. "Corporeal Mediation and Visibility in Sleepy Hollow." Tim Burton: Essays on the Films (2015): 54-69.

Irving, Washington. Irving's Works - Vol Ii. Place of publication not identified: Read Books, 2007. Print.