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Posted on Apr 21, 2015

Why The Changes To Insurgent Matter

***SPOILER WARNING*** The changes made adapting the book to the movie change a lot about the core themes and the heart of the novel.

by maddiew7

Community Contributor

Via tumblr.com

We've seen Veronica Roth's Divergent rise as a phenomenon from when the first book of the series debuted at number six on the New York Times Children's Chapter Books Best Seller list on May 22, 2011, and remained on the list for 11 weeks. The hype only increased when the movie adaptation was announced, and when Divergent premiered on March 21, 2014 it went on to make over $288.7mil. The much anticipated Insurgent grossed $54 million over its opening weekend proving the popularity and love the world has for the books, the movies, and the compelling characters.

Who couldn't love the fierce, courageous Beatrice (Tris) Prior and her struggle to "confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side?"

Even with the popularity of other novels-turned-movies within this dystopian, fiction, young adult genre (such as The Hunger Games or Maze Runner), the Divergent series stands out in its own right through its strong leading lady, Tris, and the complex relationships she has with her partner, Tobias (Four) Eaton, her family, her friends, and her tumultuous society.

And you can't help but love the entire cast! The Divergent cast is extremely talented including Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, and Miles Teller (and many more wonderful peeps of course!). In Insurgent the cast added to it's prestige by bringing on other amazing talents like Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, and Daniel Dae Kim.

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Some changes to the characters and plot were too drastic, changed entire themes, and completely removed and diminished the messages and take aways from the novel.

Jeanine and the Box

In the movie, there is a mysterious magic box that has an important message from the founders of their city. In order to open the box, a Divergent must pass all the initiation simulations for all of the factions. In the book, however, there was not a box at all and no simulations were required to open it. Instead, it was a file that included the video message and the Abnegation leadership sacrificed their lives trying to share the video with the rest of the city. Jeanine had seen the message and knew that it would change everything about their society so she pushed against Abnegation and that conflict grew into the war in Insurgent.

Edith Prior

The woman in the video from the founders was named Edith Prior. When Tris watches the video, she is blown away with the new knowledge that one of her ancestors founded their society.

However, I could have even moved past these plot changes, but the following changes to the characters really altered the heart of the story for me.

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In many of the posters advertising for Insurgent, Tris is pictured holding a gun, but this is actually a point of great distress with Tris throughout the novel. After being forced to shoot and kill her friend Will near the end of Divergent, Tris is faced with the guilt of what she has done in order to survive. This trauma results in her dealing with severe PTSD throughout the book, which is especially triggered by holding guns. Because of her inner turmoil and mental health issues she is dealing with, her actions become more and more reckless, and her PTSD holds her back from being able to defend herself. The description of her own thoughts while enduring panic attacks and such mental anguish resulting from the PTSD was so powerful and accurate to what it feels like to have to process trauma. Removing her struggle with PTSD in the movie took away a huge piece of who Tris is as a character and took away the depth of what she had gone through and was working through within herself.

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Along with her PTSD, Tris deals with suicidal thoughts throughout the novel. She has to come to terms with her own desires to stop feeling the pain and continuing to live after the loss of so many people she loved. Her PTSD and feelings of guilt and shame at what violence she has committed herself also contribute to her feelings of hopelessness. In the movie, all of these important messages of what it feels like to go through depression and survive through feeling suicidal are all dumbed down to a message that Tris just needs to "learn to forgive herself." Even though forgiving yourself can be an important step towards recovery, that is not the only thing Tris is trying to come to terms with and it trivializes her experience. The movie made it seem like in order to work through trauma you just need to accept it and get over it, instead of the complex way in which the novel addressed the issues.

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In the movie, Marcus is punched in the face and then left in Amity, or who knows what happens to him. In the novel, there is an entire plot about how Marcus knows about the video message that Jeanine is trying to keep secret from the rest of the citizens. Marcus wants to fulfill what the Abnegation leadership tried to do in finding a way to share the video message with everyone. Tris and Marcus end up teaming up near the end of the novel. While Tobias and Evelyn lead the Dauntless and Factionless to invade Erudite headquarters, Tris and Marcus work together to access the video message. Tris tries to get Tobias to see that they must work with Marcus to find out what the message says throughout the book, but because of the abuse Tobias had suffered under Marcus, Tobias didn't want to listen to him at all. This results in more conflict between Tris and Tobias, particularly at the end when he realizes Tris' betrayal in working with Marcus behind his back.

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The conflict between Four and his mother was an important side note in the movie, but in the book the dynamics of their relationship were completely different. When Tris and Four meet Evelyn, Tris is extremely skeptical of Evelyn's motives but Four wants to trust her. Despite the fact that Evelyn abandoned Four with his abusive father, Marcus, and allowed him to believe that she was dead for years, Four still wants to have some sort of relationship with her. The complexity of their relationship is so compelling! There is tension between how Four hopes for the best about Evelyn, but in reality Evelyn is just using him as a tool for her plan to take over the government and create a factionless society. This adds to Tris and Four's conflict because Tris is skeptical of Evelyn's leadership, while Four is blinded by his desire for reconciliation with his mother. In the movie, however, Evelyn is not shown to be as manipulative towards Four and he is immediately confrontational with her while Tris is the one pushing for them to trust Evelyn.

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As stated in the other points, there are many factors that contribute to more and more conflict between Tris and Four as the novel progresses. From Tris' deteriorating mental status pushing her to reckless behavior to Tris' relationship with both of Four's parents, the conflict continues to grow. All that Tris and Four have already had to fight through in Divergent is built upon in Insurgent, and the conflict between them nearly rips them apart in a time when all either of them has is each other. The movie portrays a very different picture of their relationship because it left out too many large plot points, and even though they must work through a couple disagreements, these are easily overcome. As Tris and Four are the two main characters carrying most of the plot and heart of the story, fundamentally changing their relationship this way is unjust to the way they were written.

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This is a deleted scene with Tris waking up to find out Edward, a fellow initiate who ranked first (right ahead of Peter **hint, hint**) just got stabbed in the eye and will have to become factionless and leave Dauntless because of the injury (and results in him wearing super cool eye patches in Insurgent)
THE VIDEO

youtube.com

This is a deleted scene with Tris waking up to find out Edward, a fellow initiate who ranked first (right ahead of Peter **hint, hint**) just got stabbed in the eye and will have to become factionless and leave Dauntless because of the injury (and results in him wearing super cool eye patches in Insurgent)
THE VIDEO

There was apparently this guy named Ben Lamb who was cast and shot at least this scene as Edward in Divergent. But poor Ben got robbed of a major role and this intense, important scene. Some other guy (no offense Jonny Weston-I'm sure you're a great person and everything) was cast for Insurgent as a character named Edgar (come on, really? Edward...Edgar...???) to play the right-hand-man to Evelyn that was supposed to be Edward! And he didn't have an awesome eye patch or anything!!!