KATIE MARIE

Wow, it feels like ages since I’ve written one of these kinds of letters to you. I’m not sure why that is. I try to keep my letters to you varied so that you don’t get sick of me writing to you, but somehow, I’ve got out of sync.

Also, while I’m having a little ramble, how is it SEPTEMBER already?!

Time is a lie!

Anyway, getting back on track today I want to write to you about I Am Legend. In particular, about how the book and film differ.

The book, a novel/novella, was written by Richard Matheson and published in 1954. It tells the story of a post-apocalyptic land where everyone has become vampires. Everyone saves one man.

The film stars Will Smith and was directed by Francis Lawrence and released in 2007.

I read this book when I was in college; I remember two things about my first read-through of this. The first was just how happy I was to find another interesting interpretation of the vampire monster and the other was that I could not get over that this was published in 1950. It felt a lot more modern to me.

I went to the cinema to watch the film and I remember enjoying it a lot; I broke when the poor doggo died. The bloody killing of dogs in films should be illegal.

Minor changes

They changed some of the character names. Virginia became Zoe, Kathy became Marley, and Ruth became Anna.

The location of the story changed from the suburbs of LA to New York City. I think they probably did this because New York is an iconic city, more so visually than LA.

The doggo in the book is a doggo that Neville finds and tames. In the film, Samantha is the family pet already. They probably did this to save time, though it is a shame, as taming the doggo was a nice character moment.

Time/dates have changed, most likely done because of when the book was written vs when the film was released.

Neville’s wife and child are infected in the book and die. His wife is a vampire. In the film, they both die trying to escape the city in a helicopter crash.

Vampire murder takes some extra effort. They can’t be shot in the book. We need stakes. In the film, they go down after being shot.

Major changes

Where did my vampires go? In the book, everyone became vampires, obviously vampires. In the film, not so much, more like zombies with a strong aversion to sunlight.

Neville is the only survivor in the book. He is so isolated that it is unreal. The only human in a world full of intelligent creatures that want to eat you. In the film, it is established that at least 1% of the population is immune to the virus. 1% might not sound much but it’s approx. 80,000,000 people. Over 1, that’s for sure. The world is a big place so spread out that many people are still going to be very lonely, but it’s a lot more hopeful than the book.

Speaking of hope, the book has a strong feeling of hopelessness. The odds are very much stacked against Neville. He’s an ordinary Joe who knows nothing about viruses and has to self-teach himself in his crusade to find a cure. So, the chances of him managing this are slim. In the film, Neville is a military virologist, so military training and expert on viruses.

In the same vein (haha vampire joke) as hopelessness, let’s look at how oppressive the book is. The vampires know where Neville lives in the book; they spend nights outside his house trying to lure him out. His wife is a bloody vampire, for crying out loud. In the film, Neville is not exactly safe, but the angry zombies don’t know where he is.

Let’s talk about Ruth. In the book, Ruth is part of a society of infected people who have subdued the infection in their system. Despite this is they are hateful towards Neville for killing their vampire bros. in the film, Anna takes the place of Ruth. Anna is a survivor, not infected, and is en route to a refugee colony.

The disease is not cured in the book. Neville dies before he could find a cure and the likelihood of him finding one even if he didn’t die is always low. In the film, Neville finds a cure. He is the cure, happy endings all around, except that Neville still dies and more importantly the doggo dies in both the book and film.

My Thoughts

Overall, I liked both versions of the story; it depends on what you’re looking for which you might prefer. If you’re looking for something introspective, and character-driven with a look at what makes a man a man, then the book is for you. If you want a story of hope, where one man can really make a difference, then the film will be more your cup of tea.

However, despite how much I liked both versions, they both score 0/10 because the bloody doggo died.