“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Film or Short Story

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is best represented by the film. This is because the movie has a slew of characters and goes into more depth for each of them. The film talks about Walter Mitty’s job, his love interest, his family, and more. And it also talks about Cheryll’s (love interest) life too. The movie does a better job making the characters seem more interesting. And even some minor characters play a decent part in the movie. Like the helicopter guy, or the guy who saves him from the volcano, etc.  But in the short story, it is much more narrow. There are only 2 major characters, Mitty and his wife. And although we get to see directly into Walter’s mind, it is not as diverse as the film’s version of Mitty. Short story Mitty has a fixed mindset, one fixed on wanting to be special and daydreaming. “Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful. Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.” Mitty doesn’t want to change his mindset, but he wants to change he he was as a person. Film Mitty also wanted those things. BUT, movie Mitty changes the way he thinks. He had a growth mindset in contrast with the other Mitty’s fixed mindset. That is what makes him a better character overall than the short story’s version. The same goes for all the other movie characters as well.

Also, staying with analysis on characters, the short story lacks in the area of character development as well. This is because the movie is more in-depth than the short story. And the film shows plenty of character development from Walter Mitty, while in the story he shows no development at all. Instead, at the end of the story, Mitty’s last daydream shows the opposite. “Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful. Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.” This passage implies that Mitty will continue to daydream until he dies. And he will be proud to do so. The word inscrutable, which is in the passage, means impossible to understand. He shows the reader that he doesn’t want to change, and that he never will. However, the movie goes a different route. Like the short story, Walter daydreams constantly. He wanted to make his life less dull, as his job was to be “the manager of the negative assets sector”. But, one of the negatives gets “lost” so Mitty goes on an actual adventure to find it. An adventure that he would usually have in his daydreams. And at the end of the movie, when all is said and done, the film faintly implies that he will stop daydreaming. This is because he had a big adventure, goes on a date with his love interest, and is now happy (also he was on the cover of the life magazine). 

The setting in the film also succeeds over the short story’s setting. This is because movie watchers can actually see the setting, rather than just reading about it in a book. The New York in the movie is better than the New York in the book also because there is very little description about the setting. The reader can barely tell the it is winter in the short story. The descriptions are very minuscule and easy to miss. “He kicked at the slush on the sidewalk. ‘Overshoes,’ he said to himself”. Overshoes are boots, therefore this signifies it is winter. There are 1 or 2 more clues to this being winter. As you can see from this passage, it’s just so random and so insignificant that a reader could easily skim over it. And another way the movie succeeds over the short story is that it has more locations. Mitty goes to Greenland, he goes to Afghanistan, and he lives in New York. 2/3 more than the short story. It can’t even compare in terms of setting. 
And with more settings in the film, it makes it more interesting. 

The conflict in the short story is much less intriguing than that of the movie. In the short story the conflict is man vs. self because Mitty is just contradicting his character so much by wanting to change so bad. He is literally fighting himself because he doesn’t want to be an average loser, he wants to be someone special, someone important. This is evident as the reader can see Mitty placing himself in important or interesting roles. On the contrary, the film does something much different. Of course, Mitty daydreams, and he wants to be cool, but, he gets sent on an adventure. His adventure to find the missing negative makes him forget about being a loser and actually turns him into a sort of hero. He travels the globe in search of Sean O’Connell. He changes from zero to hero, so he isn’t constantly fighting himself. This conflict is man vs. society because he has to go and find Sean in sometimes some dangerous places. And this story choice leaded to a more satisfying product.

The theme in the film is very positive while the short story is the opposite. The short story’s theme is a need for change. And if a person really studies and thinks about the short story, they will come to a conclusion that it is negative. This is because Mitty is constantly fighting against himself, almost like having two personalities. And this signifies that he is not satisfied with who is is. And that in a way is sad, because he wants to change who he is. On the other hand, movie Mitty also feels this way. But after his big adventure he does change, he changes to become a better person. And one doesn’t even need to go on such a big adventure, they could just think differently, and see things differently, and they would change for the better. This outcome in the movie is much more positive and definitely better.

Finally, the plot in the movie is much better than the plot in the short story. This is because the film focuses on more things than the short story, and goes into more depth into those things. While the short story still has the same recurring thing. Mitty just has a bunch of daydreams and wishes he was better. But the movie sends Mitty on an exciting adventure which really makes the plot much more intriguing. Films goers don’t want to be bored by a movie, so it was a good thing that the director decided to completely scrap the short story’s plot and go for an entire new one. It is much more interesting to see someone go places and do exciting things. Even his daydreams are much more appealing and more eye catching. A short story can’t compare to a movie unless its plot is better, which in this case, it is not. That’s why the movie is exceeding in every standard presented here. Usually the book is better than the movie, but here, it is not.