The ‘Outsiders’ was written in 1965 by S.E Hinton when she was 16 years of age. The novel was inspired by two rival gangs at Hinton’s high school, ‘the Greasers’ and ‘the Socs’. She wanted to show sympathy towards the ‘Greasers’ by writing her novel from their point of view. The ‘Outsiders’ film was produced 16 years after the novel came out and was produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The novel was the most enjoyable as it was gripping and engaging. The film on the other hand tended to focus on the violent scenes at the expense of the emotional aspects in the novel. ‘Outsiders’ is about two rival gangs, the ‘Greasers’; ‘white trash with long greasy hair’, they are poor and the ’socs’; ‘white trash with mustangs and madras’, they are rich. In the novel the central character Ponyboy, who is a part of the Greasers, is writing the story form his personal experiences and thoughts. The story is enriched with emotion of love, anger and distress. The themes are Ponyboys emotions and his nature, how he is not like the other Greasers. Other themes include childhood innocence; the things that children have no yet experienced, for example death or great tragedies. By the end of the novel Ponyboy and his friend Johnny loose there childhood innocence and learn a lot from it.
The film version of the Outsiders contrasts with the novel when parts of the novel are left out of the film because they are trying to focus on the competition between the ‘Greasers’ and the ‘Socs’ as well as Ponyboy and Johnny’s tight friendship. For example the story of Soda’s horse Mickey Mouse is cut out and only shows a few little things, like watching the Mickey Mouse cartoon and Two-Bit’s shirt has a Mickey Mouse image on it. The film’s main focus is the physical conflict between the ‘Socs’ and the ‘Greasers’ for example the amount of violence displayed in the waste ground. Whereas the novels main focus is to hear Ponyboy’s inside thoughts and feelings in his first person narration throughout the novel.
Ponyboy’s narration throughout the story gives the reader his inside thoughts and feelings which gives the novel its emotion. He draws the reader’s attention by his first person narration and descriptive language. In comparison to the film, the novel is more descriptive which makes the story more interesting to read, and it has more sub plots, for example; Soda’s horse Mickey Mouse and Bob’s blue mustang. Sunsets are symbol of Ponyboy and Cherry’s sensitivity and how they are so very different to the other Socs or Greasers. Ponyboy and Cherry have more understanding and imagination of the world around them, they are more calm, reflective and innocent then any of the other Greasers or Socs.
The characters in the film all appear to be similar to the characters in the novel, although Ponyboy seems to be more sympathetic towards Cherry and sunsets in the novel. The film allows bearly any imagination in terms of setting and levels of violence, making some scenes unpleasant or even gruesome. The different shot types they use can make it seem more or less violent. For example, the scene where the Greasers are all lined up ready to fight against the Socs, they use a close up to show their anger and determination and also to show the way they are standing.
In conclusion, the novel provides more detail about Ponyboy’s journey through the written word whilst the films main focus is the visuals, e.g. fighting and the friendship Ponyboy and the other Greasers. The novel is more productive in stating what the main ideas are. It brings more emotion when tragedies occur.
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