Essay on I Am Legend: Book vs Movie

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Pages: 11

When one hears the title I Am Legend being mentioned, they usually associate it with Will Smith and the terrific job he did in portraying the protagonist of the story Robert Neville. However, what they typically leave out is the equally terrific job done by author Richard Matheson coming up with the storyline and writing the original book version. While Richard Matheson’s post-apocalyptic science fiction book, I Am Legend, and Francis Lawrence’s post-apocalyptic science fiction movie, I Am Legend, both have similarities and differences, in the end, the original book version prevails mainly because the movie version alters the original storyline too much. In the movie, Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the …show more content…
I went to see Dracula and the thought occurred that, if one vampire was scary, a world filled with vampires would really be scary. I did not write the book until 1952. We lived in Gardena, California and I set the story there, using our house as Neville's house. I think that ascribing metaphors to a book after it is written is silly. My son Richard provided a much more likely one- that it was prophetic because of AIDS. I don't think the book means anything more than it is: the story of a man trying to survive in a world of vampires. If people want to assume it later, that's up to them. It has been said that a writer is entitled to an interpretation of his work that people choose to give it” (Scoleri). The main literary element used in the book to help plot progression as well as assist in character development was also flashbacks. Once again, flashbacks played a big role in clarifying the plot and also giving background information on Neville and his family. Without the flashbacks, written vividly and in detail by Matheson, the plot would not have made sense and many readers would be left very confused. For example, through the use of flashbacks, it is communicated that Neville is still hurting from the loss of his family as well as the outspread of the vampirism. Being the only uninfected human pays a toll on his mentality because he has no interaction with others. Another element that had