Plot
There are many differences between the short story version of this story and the movie. The general concept of Benjamin Button growing younger, falling in love, going to war, and having a child seem to remain constant. In the movie, he was always accepted even though of his differences, but in the story people had trouble accepting someone who was so different and they tried to make him as normal as possible. When he was born in the story, he was physically and mentally an old man. In the movie, he was mentally a new born but had the characteristics of an elderly man. In the movie, he had a longer life of 85 years. However, the short story diagnosed him as a 70 year old when he was born. He was curious just as any other small child as when he almost fell of the front porch of the retirement home. Benjamin was given up and raised by his foster mother Queenie and then but Daisy, where as in the story, the Button family cared for him and raised him through out his entire life. Once he was older, the woman he fell in love with was named Daisy, not Hildegarde. He held an interest for her for many years even though obstacles tended to keep them apart. Benjamin and Daisy always accepted each other, for example when Benjamin becomes a child, she returns to him to care for him. Benjamin's marriage with Daisy resulted in a a daughter named Caroline who never had the opportunity to know her father, where as in the story he had a boy named Roscoe who he grew up with and later took care of him. In the story, Hildegarde and Benjamin part ways when she become too elderly. When he went to war in the movie, he became a part of the navy. Benjamin's death in the movie was caused by dementia, where as in the movie, Benjamin simply dies and no reason is fully given to the reader.
Point of View
The story that Caroline reads from Benjamin's journal is in third person limited point of view. The rest of the movie, however is told in first person. The hospital scenes are in Benjamin Button's point of view but are read by Caroline. Therefore, we do not get to know anything about what the other people were thinking. He is the author of there journal and every word in it is his own thoughts. The rest of the story where Benjamin is alive is him telling us about his life. We are able to see his actions and various times he does a voice over to explain to us his personal thoughts and feelings. This helps us have a better understand of his true feelings. We do not have to assume what he feels by using his actions because there are multiple times when he acts differently from what he feels. A good example of this is when Thomas Button tells him the true story about his birth and that he is Benjamin's father. He shows no emotion to this new knowledge, and simply leaves. Later he tells Queenie about this. He soon has an understanding for what his father did and forgives him.
Characterization
This movie has a great amount both direct and indirect characterization. The characters have very detailed physical qualities. Benjamin's wrinkles that he is born with are the first sort of proof given to people that he is different. From then on we are able to see how his disease progresses and do not need to be told about it. Occasionally, he explains to us that he is feeling stronger and stronger every day and more full of life. When Daisy is first introduced, Benjamin describes her as “all knees and elbows.” With that description we can already picture that she is an extremely skinny little girl before we get to actually see what she looks like. When Caroline is reading from Benjamin's journal, he describes Daisy as “the most beautiful woman he's ever seen,” which gives us another image of what she looks like. The Captain of the tugboat, which Benjamin works on, has many tattoos that he ultimately describes to other people throughout the movie, including Benjamin. For the reason that this is a movie we can see exactly how people react to the circumstances they are put in. We can see when people cry, laugh, or smile.
Setting
The setting of the movie has been changed from the short story. It now takes place in New Orleans rather than Baltimore. It opens with Daisy and Caroline talking in a hospital with Daisy almost at death. It takes place during hurricane Katrina. When they begin to read from Benjamin's journal, it also begins in the same city but on the day the World War I ended in 1918. In the story, it began in 1860, during the middle of the Civil War. As Benjamin begins to grow the next location we are taken to is upon a tugboat in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. From there, he goes to multiple other places along Florida and up the Atlantic which we learn about from Daisy talking to Caroline. Later Benjamin is in Russia, where he meets Elizabeth, his new love interest. From then on he goes to war in the Pacific, then back home to New Orleans in 1945. Later he goes to meet Daisy in Paris when she is dancing, which was quite a surprise. He returns there once more when she gets into the accident.Once back in New Orleans with Daisy they go sailing into the Gulf then move in together. After Caroline's birth he journeys to India before coming back home before his death.
Theme
The themes of the movie is still very much similar to that of the short story. Benjamin still teaches us that we should make the most of our life while we have the time to do so. Benjamin says that he was “thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is.” Him and Daisy didn't have that much time together but the time they did share, they made it meaningful and memorable and she was certain that “things happen when they are supposed to.” His condition also caused him to be rejected in his life, except in the movie it was by his father rather than a college. Benjamin is still able to live an enjoyable life and was touched by many of the people he met including a couple of the elderly women that lived at the retirement home. Two of those women were Queenie and the woman who taught him how to play the piano. Right before his death, while he was in India, his advice to Caroline was written in a letter saying, “For what it's worth, it's never to late, or in my case to early, to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change, or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that scare you. I hope you feels things that you've never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” This is good advice for anyone to take opportunities when they come to us and not wait. His love for his family lasted all the way until his death. Queenie was everything a mother should be to him, Thomas was remorseful for what he did, and him and Daisy loved each other with all their hearts. These three people are the perfect example of what a family is.
