"The Lottery" Adaptation

PLOT

I would not change a lot with the plot; however, I would switch up a few things. I would create more suspense in the film, which would help build up the climax. I would have a baby cry in the silence of the gathering in order to foreshadow bad things to come. I would keep the climax the same by having Mrs. Hutchinson draw the wood chip with the black dot on it. I would add a resolution to the film where it would jump to the future and view the changes in the village. The village will have discontinued the lottery and moved on in a more modern world. The old man in the town would have died; these changes are significant in that the village will no longer be blindly following traditions.

POINT OF VIEW

The short story is told from the third person omniscient point of view. I would have the film be told from this point of view as well. With the third person omniscient the narrator is able to portray the film in an unbiased manner. This in turn will give the audience a better depiction of what the village stands for as a whole. The use of the third person omniscient point of view is significant in that the village has to act and think as a whole. Individuality is non-existant. I would keep the point of view the same as the short story in the film because it helps to emphasize the climax and contributes to the greater meaning of the work.

CHARACTERIZATION

Throughout the short story, some of the families suggest the idea of ridding the village of the lottery; whereas, others are strictly for the lottery because it is a long standing tradition. I would continue the unsettling desires and conflicting ideas of the villagers. There needs to be some sort of dislike toward the lottery and a slight desire to rid the village of the practice in order to completely eliminate the tradition of the lottery by the end of the film. I would portray the oldest village man as a man set in his ways, similar to the short story; however, the man will die in the end of the film. The death of the old man will be significant in that it will foreshadow a new age for the village. A new time full of new ideas and practices and the death of old ideas and old practices.

SETTING

The setting of the film would be a similar setting of a small village. The town gathering space would be elaborate with decorations and pictures of the lottery traditions of the walls surrounding the gathering space. The pictures will provide a source of suspense for the viewer and a foreshadowing of bad things to come. I would change the time of the lottery to dusk from midday. Changing the time of the lottery to later will set the scene for a greater climax toward the end. Also, the village is not happy, bright, or peaceful; therefore, I want the setting to reflect the sort of darkness that can be indirectly seen in all of the characters.

THEME

I would also keep the same theme in the work when adapting it into a film. The theme is blindly following old traditions. If one were to significantly change the them, then it would not be the same story; therefore, I would portray the same thing, but rather add more to it. The theme will be reinforced by the idea that not one of the villagers will stand up and fight against this odd and brutal tradition. The theme will also have a theme of selfishness. The story touches on this theme when the children cheer as they see they have pulled blank wood chips. The film will display a greater significance of this theme by having the other women scoff at Mrs. Hutchinson as she arrives late. Individuality is a key in the short story and will be in the film in order to portray a broken society that is in need of reform.