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Henrietta Lacks Movie And Book Comparison Essay

704 Words3 Pages

Most of the time when a book is adapted it doesn’t do justice to the abstract beauty of the book. This is where the film “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” differs from the exception. The movie manages to portray the relationship between the family members that wasn't very direct in the novel. The film allows the novel readers to see the complexity and hardship that Henrriet Lacks & her family faced that wasn’t very clear in the novel.

In the film, Henrietta is depicted as a kind, caring woman who adored her kids. However, in the novel Henrietta in the novel is said to be caring with her children, yet readers don't really see her interacting with them. If readers do, it is briefly mentioned. Furthermore, the movie shows Henrietta with …show more content…

For instance, the scenes where Henrietta is spending time with her family are absent in the book. In addition, The portrayal of Deborah's struggles with mental illness and her journey to trying to know more about her family is not seen in the movie. In the book Henrietta’s personal life is glossed over, readers read more about her struggles with the medical field. But the movie adds background information on her, it humanizes her more. In addition to Henrietta’s story not being very much involved in the book, her children are similar. They were focused on a few pages, but readers didn’t see much of the struggles they were going through besides them not getting any payment from the John Hopkins hospital, as well as other things. But it never involved their personal struggles. In particular, Deborah's struggles with mental illness. In the movie viewers can see Deborah is a very distrusting person as well as paranoid. For good reasons to, but it also connects back to her mental health. Deborah can be seen lashing out on Skloot, accusing her of working for John Hopkins. There is also a scene of her having a mental breakdown, due to the overstimulation she has learned of the news of her sister, the fact that this place brings back traumatic memories adds to her episode. This wasn’t included in the book. Lastly, one thing that stands out is the fact the author of the book is seen in the movie. In the

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