The Major Differences Between the Book and Movie Adaptation of "The Hate U Give"

The Hate You Give (THUG) is a realistic fiction book by Angie Thomas. The plot focuses on a black girl named Starr who witnesses the death of her best friend Khalil due to a white police officer. Due to Khalil's death, Starr and her friends and family have to overcome the protests, riots, and racism that happen in her neighborhood, school, and social life. I first read this book for a project in my subbie Language and Literature year. Overall I found the book to be pretty interesting with a few shortcomings here and there. When I first told my parents I was doing this book for an essay they recalled there being a movie about it. So when our family had free time we watched the movie and after reading the book I could tell they changed, or more specifically toned down a lot of the things that made the book worth the read.

The first change I want to talk about is the overall violence throughout the story. As stated earlier Starr's neighborhood and community aren't taking Khalil's death too well. Throughout the book, you see people yelling at funerals, and protests/riots that end up with police brutality. But the movie kind of takes that all away. It makes it seem like it was protests that came first but then at the very end riots start to take place.

Also while researching for this blog post I remembered another thing the movie left out. Which I feel was a bigger deal than the last paragraph. It removed the character DeVante who is part of a gang around Starr's local neighborhood. This was important as Starr's Uncle Carlos who is black and part of the police force would try to help DeVante get out of the gang. And Uncle Carlos would deal with being a part of his community while being part of the police force where an officer killed his niece's friend. 

These are just two of the things the movie got wrong and to avoid this being any longer, I just want to let you know that this is mostly just opinion. You can read and watch the book/movie and you probably should. I also feel like there are things the movie did better like incorporating Starr's youngest brother into the plot more and talking about why so many black people live in poverty. I would love to hear your opinions on if you agree with me or if you are interested in reading or watching The Hate You Give. 


-Akeel Dixon

Comments

  1. AndrewMarch 4, 2024 at 10:58 AM

    Hey, Akeel! It's nice to see another book vs movie review, especially with some criticism. My guess is that they toned down the violence and swearing in order to keep the PG-13 rating. This movie is rated pretty highly online, so it seems its not a bad movie, its just less extreme.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gail F.March 4, 2024 at 11:02 AM

    Hey Akeel! I remember watching the movie! I've been meaning to read the book, but haven't gotten the chance yet. I'll definitely go read it at some point now!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lily RowellMarch 4, 2024 at 11:11 AM

    hi akeel! I watched and read the book in 7th grade because we had read it for english, but the book overall is so beautifully written but the movie could have been better. nice blog post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ian MMarch 4, 2024 at 11:18 AM

    Hey Akeel! I always love comparing different forms of the same media, especially book to movie adaptations. I remember reading the first few chapters of The Hate You Give and finding it very intriguing. Unfortunately, I don't own the book and was not able to get that far into it, but this blog has reminded me of it and I definitely want to check it out when I get a chance. Also I think its fairly common for movies to get toned down so they are marketable towards a larger audience, which, in cases like this one, seems like a pretty big detriment to the film. Overall, great comparison!

    ReplyDelete
  5. RobenasMarch 4, 2024 at 11:22 AM

    Hello Akeel. Even though I never read it, I remembered seeing The Hate U Give getting pretty popular when I was in middle school. I actually didn't know there was a film adaptation, but I should check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  6. EmmaMarch 7, 2024 at 2:22 PM

    Hi Akeel! I first heard about this book from my friend, and was kind of interested in it. But I never knew it had a movie adaptation! It's nice that you said that the movie did some things better, because a lot of multi-media comparisons always bash the movie in favor of the book. I will definitely check out either the movie or the book over spring break! Great blog

    ReplyDelete
  7. AbbyMarch 8, 2024 at 2:44 PM

    Hi Akeel, I have heard a lot about this movie but never knew it was based off of a book. Can't wait to read the book and watch the movie!

    ReplyDelete

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