Awakenings: Comparing the Novel and Film.

Paper Summary:

The exercise of comparing the film adaptation to Dr. Oliver Sacks' volume "Awakenings" has been helpful in realizing that the written word and the film produced for a commercial and entertainment market, represent two very different kinds of expression. This paper involved a rereading of Sacks' "Awakenings" after viewing the acclaimed film of 1990 in which Robert de Niro played the character of Leonard, the first of several patients upon whom L-dopa medication is tried by the neurologist, Dr. Malcolm Sayers, s played by Robin Williams. From its opening minutes, the film is only based vaguely upon the account provided by Sacks of his treatment provided to a Miss Frances D. The book centers on this particular doctor-patient interaction while the film shows a young neurologist dealing mostly with the character of Leonard, the first to try L-dopa, but who also interacts with the other patients affected by the same condition.

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