Insurgent: The Book vs. The Movie

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Photo provided by Summit Entertainment.

From Harry Potter to Twilight, from The Hunger Games to the Nicholas Sparks books, many popular book series are being turned into movies. All of the films proved to be very successful among the young adult population and received breaking box office results. After the movies’ release, the books become more popular as more people are interested in the series as a whole, and begin to analyze the difference between the books and the movies.

The newest book series to be converted into a film series is the Divergent Trilogy, written by Veronica Roth.

The second film in the Divergent Trilogy, Insurgent, opened with much fanfare and $54 million dollars at the US box office, and $101 million globally. The second film is about Beatrice Prior, played by Shailene Woodley, trying to get over the death of her parents and facing her worst fears to save the ones she loves.

The second book of the Divergent Trilogy, Insurgent, was released on May 1, 2012. The book received high praise following the weeks of its release, and Roth also received recognition for her brilliant writing in this sequel. This book received many awards including Favorite Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction in 2012, given by the Goodread’s Choice Awards.

The Insurgent film continues with Beatrice; Peter, played by Miles Teller; Tobias Eaton, played by Theo James; and Caleb Prior, played by Ansel Elgort; hiding at the faction Amity. After the faction is set to be searched and tested to find divergents, the four must leave and attempt to find the rest of their fellow Dauntless.

Along the way, they run into “old friends,” and the choice to join forces with the Factionless in attempt to overthrow Jeanine, played by Kate Winslet. Her plan is to eliminate all divergent. She believes that divergents are the cause of all chaos in Chicago. The only one stopping her is Beatrice, the strongest divergent, who is trying to prove to her that all divergents are vital to the factions, and to the city of Chicago.

When Jeanine gets her hands on a box found in the home of the Priors, she believes it’s the answer to the termination of all divergents. However, only a 100% divergent can open it and complete all 5 simulations that represent all 5 factions (Dauntless, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Abnegation.) The only one that is able to do it is Beatrice.

Although the film’s plot is action packed, with tons of suspense, the book allows the reader to create their own sense of imagination, better than what the film allows.

Following the first book in the series, Insurgent continues with Tris Prior trying to keep Jeanine Matthews, leader of Erudite, from taking over all of the factions with her simulations.

314772_281427445217498_151780294848881_1152897_737238917_nTris and Four must face many challenges when trying to get the other factions on their side. After being ambushed at the Amity Compound by Dauntless traitors, the remaining Dauntless must try to find refuge in other factions. Along the way they find a potential ally in the faction-less, led by Evelyn Eaton, Four’s mother.

With the help of the faction-less and the remaining people in other factions, Tris and Four plan to try and defeat Jeanine and her simulations. They plan to stop the simulations so Jeanine will not be able to control all of the factions like she plans to.

Throughout the book, Tris must struggle to find the balance between her desire to find the truth, her split loyalties between factions, and wanting to be able to differentiate between the right thing to do and what she really wants to do. It is hard for her to do what she believes is right because it seems that everyone is against her at some points.

It’s hard to put the book down once you started because it is full of plot, action, and teenage angst. However, while the book never had a dull moment it was sometimes difficult to follow along with the story and it was occasionally overwhelming to try and keep up. Like the book, the film is action packed, although you feel as if the directors held back a lot and didn’t show the true colors of the book.

In the book, there were many aspects to the war that was waging between the factions. It wasn’t solely based off of Tris being Divergent, but about the Divergent in general. The Erudite were trying to become all powerful with their simulations and working towards a common goal, however they didn’t have the other factions on their side. Throughout the story, Tris must face many obstacles that weren’t shown in the film, such as the tension that was rising between her and Four, the difficulty of making the right decisions, and not knowing who to trust in this quest to destroy the simulations.

While this was present throughout the book, there were many differences that came about in the film adaptation. The first major difference being the box found under the Prior’s home, which contained information Jeanine thought would control all of the factions and destroy the Divergent. Many of the main characters from the book were reduced to the background, and didn’t play a major role in the movie like in the book. A main issue with the movie was how it strayed from the plot of the book. There were major discrepancies with how the plot was in the book compared to what actually happened in the movie. The ending also caused some confusion with the audience because of how different it was from the book, and how it is supposed to tie in with the next book or film in the series.

It is safe to say that the book version of Insurgent was more appealing than the movie. The book left nothing to be desired because it had everything you could possibly ask for and more, while the movie had some blank spaces and left you wanting more at the end. The book was overwhelming at times. However, the movie took out too much of the plot and tried to change it around enough to keep it interesting. The book and the movie were both great in a sense, but the book definitely put more on the table than the movie ever could.