How Does Ben Stiller Use Film Techniques In The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Extended Analysis
“To what extent has director, Ben Stiller, used film techniques to adapt John Thurber’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to appeal to a contemporary audience?”
Characterisation
The characterisation of Walter Mitty in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has been adapted to appeal to a contemporary audience as modern conventions have been used. To start, in both the film and short story, Walter Mitty is portrayed as a 40-year-old man with no aspirations which leads to him to daydream regularly to escape reality. However, they are portrayed slightly differently to appeal to different time periods and audiences; the short story was issued in 1939 while the film was released in 2013. In the short story, Walter is portrayed as a husband

This shows the audience the character development that Walter Mitty ultimately went through to become more aware and enjoy life more. Colour is a new addition to the film as it cannot be seen in the short story and appeals to a contemporary audience as colour is used frequently to create an ambience where the audience may feel certain emotions.
Director Ben Stiller uses colour to create a division between Walter’s life and his daydreams which contrasts as his real life is dull while his daydreams are vivid and heroic (as seen in figure 1). This allows the audience to see what his life is like versus what he dreams of it being and affects them as they may relate to this as their life may not be as great as their dreams.
This is contrasting compared to the short story as ellipses are used to display the difference as colour is not apparent in the short story. The colour in the film has been adapted by Ben Stiller to engage the audience as it can create a division between Walter Mitty’s daydreams and his real life which creates interest. Thus, Ben Stiller has effectively used colour to engage a contemporary