Written in 1930, William Faulkner’s twisted short story “A Rose for Emily” is still being discussed eighty-five years later. Having been made into a major motion picture in 1982, the cryptic story’s legend lives on into a new age of discussion. Miss Emily Grierson made a name for herself in the small southern town, and both forms of media convey the deep twists of her life in one way or another. The movie and book contain similarities like the odor problem and the townspeople’s views on Emily, as well as differences in the introductions and also the role her father plays.
Whether she knew it or not, from a young age Miss Emily was the center of the town gossip. That is the price she must pay having been born into the Grierson …show more content…
Introductions are supposed to set the stage for what you are about to watch or read. The two different introductions to “A Rose for Emily” resulted in questioning as to why the movie director 's stray from the famous story line written by Faulkner and which was more effective? When the story opens up with, “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, and the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant- a combined gardener and cook- had seen in at least ten years,” the reader is automatically informed that someone important has died and it sets the stage for the personalities of the townspeople (Faulkner I). People of the town as a whole were curious, jealous and wary of the Grierson family; the women keying on the material things while the men showed respect, but all were suspicious. On the contrary, the film opens up in an examination room with the medical examiner’s and coroner declaring Miss Emily dead and stating how she died. The film does not convey important details that were provided in the story, therefore making the story’s introduction stronger than the films. Though Miss Emily’s father was not mentioned until his death in Faulkner’s story, Mr. Grierson makes an appearance in the film. The viewer is given an understanding of his possessive and superior personality whereas in the story, nothing is made clear. The importance of this is huge as it later contributes to an understanding of the attitudes and accusations made of the Grierson’s ego. Another scene that was lacking in description in the novel was the reactions of the relatives of Emily when they find the dead body that had been locked away. The story does not elaborate beyond, “For a long while we just stood there,