The Outsiders (1987): An Adaptation

“When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.”

                I first read this book a few years ago and I believed (I still do) that every teenager should read it at least once. The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton is a great coming of age book that shows valuable lessons about family, friendship and societal discrimination. The book was written from the perspective of Ponyboy Curtis, part of the “Greasers gang” of Oklahoma. He writes about the rivalry about the deprived and delinquent Greasers and the rich and snooty Socs. The Socs are always fighting with the Greasers because of social standing and territory. Things go way out of control when Johnny, Ponyboy’s friend, kills a Socs because his gang was trying to drown Ponyboy. The plot continues from there.

               

       Ponyboy is a character that’s not what you would expect a Greaser to be. He has this sense of innocence about him that he can see and appreciate things as they are. He shows what people think of the Greasers, how they are treated and how the greasers are really like; he sees how everybody is really like, whoever they are. What’s so great about Ponyboy is that he sees things differently from others, like people are not merely Socs and Greasers—they’re just people. This can be applied in different social situations as well. As Johnny says to Ponyboy, “Stay gold.”

Ponyboy Curtis (C. Howell)

The Greasers

                So, I watched the movie today, part by part c/o of Youtube and I didn’t know what I’d expect. I kinda expected it to be like the Bronx and really thug-like, but I realized the book was written by 1967 and the movie was set during the 1980s in Oklahoma, a place where you wouldn’t expect thugs and hoods to be. From what I read in the book, I thought the greasers would be a bunch of no-good hoodlums but they were actually pretty decent in the movie—more Elvis Presley-like with their hair than thuggish and rough. Well, maybe hoods back then were pretty decent compared to now, but I wouldn’t know for sure.

              The movie went accordingly with how it was described in the book (rare feat nowadays). From Ponyboy’s introspective thoughts, the world from the perspective of the movie seemed loud and different (but that’s just an introvert like me thinking.) Personally I appreciated it since the book was very special to me and I recommend it as a coming of age genre to see where real character comes from.

                And now realizing that the movie is quite old, I’ve also taken the time to see how the actors are like now. Oh, how time has passed. Check vid below. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5cnC15SHaY&feature=related