A comparison between The Awakening and Grand Isle by Kate ChopinGrand Isle is the film adaptation of Kate Chopin's 1889 novel, The Awakening. Turner Network Television (TNT) made the film in 1991 and stars Kelly McGillis as Edna Pontellier and Adrian Pasdar as Robert Lebrun. To say that this film is based, even loosely, on The Awakening is an insult to Kate Chopin's colorful literary work. A People Weekly critic called it a "tedious melodrama" and considered it a "vanity project" of Kelly McGillis because she is star, producer and narrator ("Grand Isle" 13). Grand Isle is an example of how Hollywood's rush for audiences can destroy a gripping piece of literature. This film completely misses the novel's subtle commentary on society. The first example is the role of Léonce Pontellier. In the film, he is portrayed as a hateful and neglectful husband. It is tempting to make Léonce an easy villain in the novel, but he is simply a chauvinistic man, which was not an uncommon role in his society (Skaggs 88). Chopin was trying to address society as a whole, while the film turns Léonce into a tyrant. Only scenes where Léonce is angry with Edna are shown, leaving aside his confusion and concern for her. The film shows Léonce scolding Edna for neglecting the children, asking her to go indoors instead of sleeping in the hammock, and getting angry with her when he discovers she skipped her reception day. This does not show the real concern he has for her, which he confides to his doctor, nor his confusion about her behavior. By creating a villain in Léonce, the film misses the point Chopin was trying to make about his society in general. Another aspect of the film that falls short of Chopin's novel is the relationship...... middle of paper.... The dunes and sunsets don't make up for the film, but they do help reduce the feeling that watching this movie was the biggest waste of time of the viewer's entire life. People reviewer says, “Watch it without the sound.” ("Grand Isle" 13) Whenever a work of literature is made into a film, the producers have the difficult task of making the film as good as the novel. Grand Isle producers Turner Pictures and Kelly McGillis failed miserably. Their dominant mistake was missing everything Kate Chopin was trying to say about her society and human nature in the novel. They turned the story into an adventure story, as opposed to the story of a woman's journey of discovery. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. Awakening. New York: Bantam, 1889. “Grand Isle,” People Weekly July 13, 1992. Skaggs, Peggy. Kate Chopin. Boston: Twayne, 1985.