Old Yeller Movie And Book Comparison Essay Sample

At first glance, it appears that the Old Yeller book and the Old Yeller movie are nearly identical. However, looking beyond the slight plot differences and further into character interactions and tone elements reveals distinctions between the two related stories. The storyline of each follows an identical path, with the main character seeing the dog as his bitter enemy at first, loving him as his greatest companion later, and finally being tragically forced to destroy what he loves, and kill the dog. Made in 1957, the dramatic Disney film Old Yeller was closely based upon the 1956 novel by Fred Gipson. Although the Old Yeller film and the Old Yeller novel are comparable in character relationships and tone, the vastly different climax and other plot elements are what reveal the “Disneyfication” process of the Old Yeller story.

First, it is important to mention how the interactions between characters are alike and how they differ between the stories. This story takes place in Texas, shortly after the civil war. The main character is a young teenage boy named Travis. Travis and his younger brother, Arliss, are raised by their two parents, Katie and Jim Coates or, as simply referred to in the story, Mama and Papa. The characters in each story have identical traits. Travis is adventurous and in the phase of becoming a man. Arliss is curious and very interested in nature around him. Mama is focused on keeping her boys safe and out of trouble. Not too much of the story is focused around Papa, but he is also focused on his family and is a person that Travis looks up to and desires to be like. At the very beginning of both stories, Papa leaves their farm home to sell cattle for “cash money.” Travis is then expected to fulfill the roles that his father left behind, harvesting the crops and tending the animals. However, events that occur following his departure are the first places where plot elements differ between the two stories. In the book, Travis is able to get the work done pretty well without his father. On the first day, he plows the cornfield with just a little trouble from his mule. In the film, while Travis is plowing, a stray, “yeller” dog runs up and spooks his mule, causing the mule to run off, destroying a fence along the way. After this incident, the dog is caught eating the family’s meat hanging outside in both the book and the film. A reason that the movie changed this small part of the story would be to further dramatize the story. In the film, the first appearance of Old Yeller is when he causes the destruction of the fence, whereas, in the book, the first appearance is when he eats the family’s meat. This dramatized the story by making higher highs and lower lows. This makes Old Yeller appear to be more of a villain in the beginning as he not only stole their food but also a fence, to make his transformation to Travis’s best friend later in the story much grander.

In terms of tone, the pattern throughout is the same in both stories. The author sets the tone of anxiousness at the beginning of the story, as Travis is unsure if he will be able to get along without his father. The tone shifts more towards bitterness, as Old Yeller comes along to bring opposition to Travis, making his role of making sure the family has food more difficult. After Old Yeller saves Arliss from the bear and helps Travis to gather the hogs for marking, the tone changes dramatically to joyfulness and hopefulness for the future. It becomes a despairing tone when Travis must kill Old Yeller when he develops hydrophobia at the risk of him hurting Travis’s family or their other animals and spreading the terrible disease. The author does leave the story with positive tones of hope and tenderness though, as Papa returns with a horse for Travis and as Travis accepts the new puppy given to him by Lisbeth as his dog. Disney did not change this tone pattern for a reason. It is clear that Disney loves happy endings, which of course would cause Disney to keep the hopeful conclusion. The story was well thought out by Fred Gipson, with very dramatic changes in the tone of the story, which Disney obviously liked and did not feel the need to change.

With a direct plot comparison from the book to the film, the most obvious difference between the two is in the climax of the story. While burning the carcass of a mad cow that Travis had to kill, a rabid wolf is attracted by the scent and attempts to attack Mama and Arliss. Old Yeller jumps at the wolf and fights him. Travis sees that Yeller is not going to win the scuffle and grabs his gun to kill the wolf. He is able to shoot the wolf without harming Yeller, but it is clear that Yeller was bitten and hurt badly in the fight. In the book, Mama suggests that it may be best to kill Old Yeller, just in case he develops hydrophobia from the wolf. Travis then begs Mama to wait and see if he actually does develop the disease, but Mama insists that it’s not worth the risk. Travis finally realizes that Mama is right and that the deed must be done. Travis calls Yeller over to him and pulls the trigger. In the film version of this story, after Mama suggests that it would be best to kill Yeller, Travis insists more strongly on waiting to see if Yeller develops hydrophobia. Mama reluctantly says that it would be ok to wait, as long as Travis fenced him up. The dog does not develop any symptoms for a couple of weeks, but Mama still insists on keeping him fenced up a little longer, just to be safe. After Arliss nearly let Yeller out of his enclosure, Mama and Travis rush out to find Yeller barking, growling, and being very aggressive - symptoms of hydrophobia. It is at this point in the film that Travis shoots Old Yeller. Disney changed this climax to further emphasize the love of Travis towards Yeller as well as to dramatize the emotional journey of the story further. This shows just how hard it was for Travis to kill Yeller. Travis flat out refused to kill him until he completely knew for sure whether he developed the disease or not. This alternate climax also makes the emotional journey more complex, as it adds a time in between the fight with the wolf and the killing of Yeller where the film leads one to believe that Yeller will recover from the attack without developing hydrophobia. In this time, Disney uses a hopeful tone, almost becoming the familiar joyful tone used before, before interrupting the gladness with further disparity. As mentioned before, many changes, like this, were made by Disney to bring higher highs and lower lows to the story, amplifying the emotional effects of the film viewer.

In conclusion, a thorough analysis of characters, plot, and tone in the Old Yeller book and film reveals the “Disneyfication” process. Two stories that seem nearly identical from the surface can be broken down to discover the reasoning behind and deeper meanings in the differences between them. In Old Yeller, Walt Disney obviously liked most of the elements in the original story by Fred Gipson. However, he decided to change some plot elements, causing variations in the tone of the story. The majority of these changes were made to amplify the emotional effects of the mood changes for the viewer. The Old Yeller film is a prime example of elements that are important to Walt Disney Studios when “Disneyfying” a story.