Adaptational Angst Upgrades in Films.
- King Leonidas from 300. Turns his wife into a major character and makes her the voice of reason and confidence.
- While Apollo 13 is famous for its technical and historical accuracy, it greatly exaggerates the amount of emotional distress that the real crew of Apollo 13 displayed while attempting to get their spacecraft back to Earth—partly for dramatic effect, partly to make them more relatable to the audience, and partly because many moviegoers wouldn't have believed that three men could stay that calm and collected throughout such a harrowing experience (let's be real: you don't become a NASA astronaut without having Nerves of Steel). Comparing clips from the film to audio recordings from the real mission is quite telling.
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Compared to the book, the film considerably plays up Robert Ford's hero worship of Jesse James as well as the angst the Ford brothers feel about "assassinating" him. In the book, Charlie's spiral downward is caused by his terminal tuberculosis and related morphine addiction, while in the film it's implied to be regret. For Robert, the book follows him escaping the popular blowback against him by leaving the South and becoming a successful businessman. His eventual murder is caused by an unrelated feud. In the movie, Robert is portrayed as spending the rest of his life languishing as a social pariah and getting murdered for it.
- The eponymous hero in the epic poem Beowulf was a dude who slew monsters. The 1999 film version starring Christopher Lambert made the character a Half-Human Hybrid who is tormented by the idea of him turning completely non-human and fights monsters because of it.
- Film adaptations of Bible stories will typically add this — for example, the book of Exodus never says that Moses had no idea of his Hebrew heritage. In fact, it implies the opposite, but most versions have his true heritage be a surprise, to up the angst. Other such examples are:
- A film version of the Book/Life of the prophet Joel gives Joel a love interest who is killed (in front of him) by the oppressors, spurring Joel onto his passionate, even frenzied preaching.
- The story of Ruth, already an impressive one in and of itself, is given an extra punch by making Ruth a priestess of the Moab religion, rather than just a Moabitess, and therefore her conversion to Judaism is much more meaningful.
- The Bible gives no indication that Delilah was anything other than The Vamp, i.e. that she manipulated Samson because she was evil and had no second thoughts about it. In most screen versions, she genuinely loves Samson and is conflicted about betraying him. And while it's a Foregone Conclusion that she does betray him, it's customary to portray her as a Regretful Traitor afterwards.
- The Bravados:
- In the film, Douglass is chasing the outlaws to avenge his wife and wants to kill all of them himself. In the original book, he's merely a member of the Posse and has never been married.
- Emma's rape is treated as a more brutal and traumatizing affair than in the book (where some characters are merely annoyed when she lies about what happened due to Defiled Forever concerns).
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gave Willy Wonka the Freudian Excuse of an overbearing dentist father who disapproved of his passion for chocolate. This has made him a socially awkward Manchild who distrusts families.
- Peter in The Chronicles of Narnia films, especially Prince Caspian, is far less confident and kingly than his book counterpart. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader also adds sub-plots: Edmund angsts about his time as a traitor to the White Witch, and Caspian has daddy issues. The first movie also gives Edmund the psychological excuse of being the sibling most affected by their father being off fighting in World War II; in the books, the war is pretty much just a device to get them all to a big strange house in the countryside and is barely if at all mentioned after the first page.
- DC Extended Universe
- Man of Steel: Superman is quite a bit less sunny and more of a brooding figure due to his burgeoning powers giving him a great deal of grief and being bullied by his classmates as a child. As the movie runs on Decon-Recon Switch, a big part of the story centers on Clark's feelings of alienation from humanity but ultimately deciding to be Earth's protector and reconciling the two sides of himself.
- SHAZAM! (2019): Our main hero Billy Batson is a cynical, aloof teenager instead of a pure-hearted Cheerful Child in the classic comics. Much of Billy's angst comes from his history of parental abandonment and shifting foster families, making him less willing to open up to others. However, once he gets superpowers, he lightens up considerably and ends the movie as a much nicer person, going so far as to lead his foster family's pre-dinner ritual as a gesture of cooperation.
- Wonder Woman (2017): Diana of the comics has never had to leave on the heels of a family member or mentor being killed by invaders. Heck, in the original comics, the Amazons played bullets and bracelets as a casual game, and getting shot at wouldn't have been a major surprise for any of them. Steve Trevor is far less sure of himself and far more battle-worn in this incarnation than he starts out in any mainstream comic continuity.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: In the books, Greg's jerkish behavior and his less-than-stellar relationship with most of his family and friends is Played for Laughs. In the movies, it's played more seriously and usually leads to a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure which Greg has to resolve by the end.
- Disney Live-Action Remakes:
- Played with Aurora in Maleficent. In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora becomes heartbroken when she learns her identity as the daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah, meaning that she'll have to leave her simple life in the woods with her aunts and marry a prince, never able to meet up with the nice guy she met in the woods (of course, said guy turns out to be Phillip, her betrothed all along). In Maleficent, Aurora is told by her aunts about her curse (to fall into eternal sleep) and even about Maleficent, who cursed her. However, in this continuity, Aurora has grown to know Maleficent as her Fairy Godmother, and even planned on moving into the Faerie Moors with her when she turned sixteen. As a result, this film places more emphasis on how Aurora feels betrayed by the people she grew up seeing as her family while adding on the angst that any teenage girl would get when they learn they're essentially doomed to die.
- Cinderella (2015):
- Somewhat; Cinderella in the original film took her step-family's abuse as stoically as possible, only breaking down when she's denied a chance to go to the ball. In this film, Ella is shown to be clearly affected by her mistreatment, well before the dress-tearing scene. Nonetheless, she tries to make the best with what she's got.
- Tremaine is given a more sympathetic, deeper personality, as opposed to her flat portrayal in earlier adaptations. Of course, she can hardly be considered anything but the villain, just one with a better argument. In something the original Lady Tremaine would never do, this Wicked Stepmother is perfectly willing to let Cinderella marry her beloved prince... however, even then she has ulterior motives for doing so.
- The prince loses his father in this version, although apart from the death scene itself, his mourning period is offscreen. Ella's grief at her own parents' deaths is also more vividly dealt with since the film opens with them both alive and highlights her bond with them, whereas in the animated version their deaths are only backstory.
- Goku in Dragonball Evolution suffered this trope. In the movie, he has zero self-confidence and feels that he "can't get the girl", a far cry from his actual Stock Shōnen Hero personality, where he had no worries in the world at all, and initially had trouble identifying what a girl was.
- Zigzagged with the Thing in Fantastic Four (2015). While unlike other versions of the Thing, he has an abusive brother, this one lacks the Ultimate version's suicidal thoughts.
- The Harry Potter films actually tend more towards the reverse, mostly due to the obvious need for compression. Nevertheless, there are instances of more angst being added:
- In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione is offended and upset after being called a "Mudblood," and the explanation of what that means is partially an exercise in cheering her up. In the book, she herself doesn't know what the term means, and the whole explanation is conducted in a more matter-of-fact fashion.
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Slughorn is seen to harbor much guilt and sadness over the death of Lily Potter via an anecdote about a gift she once gave him.
- Near the beginning of the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 film, there's a heart-breaking scene in which Hermione bewitches her parents to forget about her for their own protection. This did happen in the book, but it was not shown and only briefly mentioned in passing.
- Though her hiding from others is not shown as much in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, Katniss' concern for Gale, Prim, and especially Peeta is played way up in comparison to the book. For example, when she gives her demands to Coin in exchange for being the Mockingjay, she does not include her demand that she be allowed to kill Snow personally, only concentrating on saving the victors (and keeping Buttercup). This is especially shown in the mission to save the victors. While in the book, she was concentrated wholly on Finnick's revelations about Snow and therefore developing an increasingly complex relation with him as a result in their friendship, the revelations are more or less in the background, including the fact that Finnick was a Sex Slave not even having him on screen at the time of the comment, with her focused entirely on the screens involving the secondary purpose of the reveals.
- A rather minor case with Jack in the film version of Into the Woods, who develops a bit of angst due to his mother's treatment.
- Zig-Zagged in John Carter. On one hand, the movie version of Carter is somewhat more bitter over the outcome of the Civil War. On the other hand, the film skips over much of the angst that plagues his courtship of Dejah Thoris in the novel, there's no mention of his profound fear of the dark, and because the ending differs dramatically from the novel, Carter is not teleported back to Earth in the middle of a Suicide Mission to restore Barsoom's atmosphere, and so he is not left to spend the rest of his years wondering if his wife and unborn child are still alive.
- Land of Oz:
- The Wizard of Oz adds more conflict for Dorothy at the beginning of the story than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has. While the book portrays Kansas as a drab place, Dorothy herself is a Cheerful Child and the cyclone that blows her to Oz occurs almost immediately. In the film, before the cyclone, she has to deal with witchy neighbor Miss Gulch trying to have her dog Toto killed, feels ignored by her busy Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and longs to escape to "a place where there isn't any trouble." This gives her more of a character arc than she has in the book, as her journey through Oz teaches her to appreciate her home and her aunt and uncle's love for her.
- The Wiz, in comparison to the play and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, depicts Dorothy as having a stronger fear of leaving the safety of her Aunt Em's house to venture into the outside world.
- In Return to Oz Dorothy is mistaken for mentally ill by her aunt and uncle. She hasn't slept well since the tornado six months ago and she won't stop rambling about Oz. Dorothy ends up being sent to a Cuckoo Nest for help. The original Land of Oz books contain no similar conflict. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry don't think much of Dorothy's fantasies of Oz and Dorothy doesn't have nightmares of Oz.
- The Last Airbender: Movie!Aang spends most of his time angsting over his job as the Avatar and being the last airbender. While Cartoon!Aang isn't a stranger to angst, he's The Pollyanna. Also people are quick to notice that Movie!Sokka never cracks a single joke when he was known as the funny guy in the series.
- In Let Me In Owens life was much more miserable than his counterpart in the Swedish novel or film. In the book he had an older friend who would hang out with him, while Owen had absoultely no friends. His parents were more involved with him, his mother while busy with work would spend time with him and had a loving relationship with him, While Owen's mother was a self-pitying alcoholic who neglected him. Owen's father doesn't appear in the film, only being involved in a phone call wheres it's made clear he hasn't seen Owen in months, while his Swedish counterpart would see him every weekend. The Swedish bullies torment of Oskar consisted mainly of childish pranks and several of them were clearly being pressured into taking part of the bullying and did so very hesitatntly. While each American bully deeply enjoyed causing Owen as much pain and humiliation as possible and their torment of Owen consisted of brutal assaults.
- Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, the only film so far of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, has a plot condensed from several of the books plus some stuff that's just made up. A few characters suffer Death by Adaptation; in particular, one midshipman is Driven to Suicide by a major sub-plot expanded from a minor and suicideless one in one of the books. Presumably due to Values Dissonance, the decision to have a sailor flogged is also played as a rare event and significant moral dilemma for Aubrey, while in the books it's treated as a routine if sometimes distasteful part of his job.
- In 1998 film The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, the title character is a bit less fearless and more prone to sad moments than her literary counterpart, and eventually she's forced to live in an Orphanage of Fear, which breaks her optimistic spirit, although thankfully she gets better (and gets out of the orphanage) by the end.
- Peter Pan:
- Hook, a movie sequel to Peter Pan, makes the grown-up Peter into a distant workaholic dad who has to learn that his kids are more important.
- Likewise PJ Hogan's Peter Pan greatly expands upon Wendy's reasons for running away to Neverland. Not simply just afraid of growing up, Wendy is afraid of what growing up will actually mean — becoming an Old Maid or Stepford Smiler and being unable to have her adventures. This is all for the sake of undergoing Character Development as Wendy realises that she was only afraid of growing up because she was not ready for it. Meanwhile, Peter gets plenty of angst as well, not being able to understand the nature of his feelings for Wendy, as falling in love is a part of growing up which Peter refuses to do. The film even ends on a bittersweet note with the narrator describing Wendy's happy family as "the world he could never be a part of".
- The original team in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were longtime friends and straight-laced students, helping charities and kids build their self-esteem. They were, as Lord Zedd put it, "goodie-goods". The version in Power Rangers (2017) are outcasts and/or dealing with personal demons and don't know each other before the movie. More specifically, Jason is a former football star who injured his knee while fleeing from the cops during a prank and crashing, and is under house arrest and lost his father's respect as a result; Kimberly's a former cheerleader who was a former Alpha Bitch who had a Heel Realization after humiliating one of her friends; Billy's autistic; Trini's The Quiet One and questioning her sexuality; and Zack is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who constantly skips class because he's taking care of his sick mother alone and is afraid of her dying while he's gone. Even Zordon gets it — you'd think the And I Must Scream nature of being trapped in another dimension and only able to communicate as a fuzzy graphic of your face is enough, but he was the leader of the previous Rangers, was there when they were betrayed and killed by one of their own, and is considerably less sure of himself and the Rangers, with whom he has a rockier relationship. Jason even notes at one point that though he hides it, he's as afraid as the teens are.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Maya pretty quickly recovers from Mia's death, or at least is able to act as if she has. In the movie, she is more upset and, at the end of her trial, screams at Red White and demands to know why he hurt her family so much. Also, while the backstory of Yanni Yogi was plenty tragic in the game, the movie actually shows him having to suffer through being accused of murder, having Robert Hammond say to his face that he doesn't care if Yogi is innocent or not, being harassed by his neighbors, and coming home to find that his wife has committed suicide.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2020):
- Dr. Robotnik reveals to Tom that he grew up in an orphanage where he was bullied as a child. In the games, his past is left vague but is implied he had parents, as he at least had a grandfather. With Shadow making a cameo in the sequel, it's possible said grandfather existed in this continuity as well.
- Downplayed with Sonic. In the games, he is frequently portrayed as being a fairly popular figure, beloved by the little animals he rescues, always with a large group of friends and a boundless source of confidence. Here, he spent ten years of his childhood in almost total social isolation, and desperate for companionship, even though he masks that with his usual snarky attitude and playful charisma. Not to mention that, at least in the videogames, he has no backstory to speak of.
- Spider-Man:
- Peter Parker was always as angsty as he was in the films but between the good he does have in his life and his snarky battle commentary he's a fun character; not so in the Spider-Man Trilogy where the angst is pretty much wall-to-wall.
- The Amazing Spider-Man series makes it a Zig-Zagged Trope: He has more problems, adding the baggage of missing parents on top of Peter's responsibility and love interest woes. (Other versions tend to gloss over just why he's living with an aunt and uncle at the beginning. This Peter has to solve the mystery of his missing parents, who turn out to have been murdered for their role in the science that would eventually lead to radioactive spiders and genetically altered super villains.) However, it also returns Peter's snarkiness when fighting as Spidey, and we even see him and Gwen Stacy enjoying being together in a way we never saw with the always-strained Peter/MJ relationship in the original trilogy. Of course, Gwen meets a fate similar to her comic counterpart in the end.
- From the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while this incarnation of Spidey was intially the opposite, he becomes this in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Peter's got a bad case of Survivor's Guilt after the events of Avengers: Endgame, made worse by the fact that "Nick Fury" is trying to turn him into a SHIELD operative.
- Stuart Little was changed (understandably) so that Stuart was adopted instead of Mrs. Little actually giving birth to him, leaving George with disappointment about getting a mouse instead of the "real" brother he'd wanted and a bit of a complex about being overshadowed by the novelty of Stuart. In the book, George was a fairly minor character whose defining characteristic was being kind of a know-it-all.
- Tolkien's Legendarium:
- In The Lord of the Rings films:
- Aragorn reveals his inner conflict more often than in the books and is not convinced that he should return as king until the last movie. The DVD commentary for the film outright admits this was done as a way to give him a character-building arc, although it is easier to rationalize considering the opinion the film's Elves hold about the will of Men in general during the story... which also wasn't so prominent in the books.
- In the books, Elrond is shown to be entirely morally upright and supportive of humanity, with his only real moment of moral ambiguity being handing Aragorn an Engagement Challenge (and it's all but stated that he wants Aragorn to succeed). The film, meanwhile, portrays him as, though generally still wise and well-meaning, also having a good deal of apprehension toward humanity due to Isildur's failure to destroy the Ring. He ultimately grows out of this when he orders Anduril reforged, something moved from halfway through Fellowship to halfway through Return of the King.
- Faramir in the books was able to refuse the ring when Frodo offered it to him without a second thought. In the movie, Faramir being tempted to take the ring like his brother was, but ultimately realizing that he had to let Frodo go, was the driving force behind his entire arc in the second movie. The Extended Edition of the second movie and further shown in the third indicates this has to do with his father Denethor's own Adaptational Villainy playing up his emotional neglect and abuse of Faramir, which made Faramir far more vulnerable and eager to be a "Well Done, Son" Guy.
- In The Return of the King, Gollum turns Frodo against Sam before ditching him at Shelob's lair, and Sam is left walking back home in tears after pleading with Frodo not to believe him. In the books, they merely get lost in Shelob's lair after Gollum abandons them.
- In the film, Bilbo breaks into tears when realizing the trouble he has caused Frodo by passing the Ring on to him. In the book, he merely slaps him on the back to cover his emotion. When Frodo pulls Sam from the river, he embraces him and bursts into tears because of Sam's loyalty in following him. In the book, he calls Sam a "dratted nuisance" before admitting he is glad Sam came after him. The difference between old-fashioned British stiff-upper-lip and Hollywood touchy-feely?
- The Hobbit:
- Thorin's background. He seems reasonably content in the book and his reason for returning to Erebor mainly seems to be to regain the treasure. In the film, it's a source of great pain to him that his people lack their rightful home, and he also wants revenge for the deaths of his kin.
- In the second film, Beorn's scenes are not a funny and lighthearted break from a desperate ordeal with goblins because Beorn isn't a cranky but reasonable force-of-nature-like person who has to be conned into sheltering the company for a couple of nights. Instead, he's the Last of His Kind escapee from Azog's gladiator pits who only helps the Dwarves because he hates Goblins more.
- In The Lord of the Rings films:
- In The Visitation, the book, Travis's wife died of cancer, which led to him feeling disillusioned about his ministry. In The Visitation, the movie, she was brutally murdered and her killer never found, which led to Travis becoming an atheist. And then his dog dies.
- Watchmen: While Ozymandias always had issues in the comics, the film ramps up his emotional broken-ness up several levels. He shows approximately three times the guilt, self-loathing and painful isolation of his comic book counterpart, even admitting that he "often [feels] stupid at being unable to relate to anybody". Furthermore, according to actor Matthew Goode, Veidt was motivated to give away his inherited wealth out of shame for having parents who were Nazi sympathizers and war profiteers. While he still succeeds in killing millions in the name of world peace, just like his comic counterpart, he seems genuinely horrified and remorseful for his actions, so much so that he lets an emotionally distraught Dan beat the crap out of him. It's rather telling that Ozymandias spends his last few minutes of screentime in a shell-shocked state, staring into space and looking about ready to fall over as the camera zooms out on him.
- Being a "Weird Al" Yankovic parody, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story turns this trope up to 11, with the film jammed full of lurid embellishments that contrast with Al's actual squeaky-clean and mundane life.
- X-Men Film Series:
- Zigzagged with Professor X. The films claim that he had a much harder time dealing with his mutant powers as a child. In the comics, Xavier's abilities came easily, and he had no trouble using them (even cheating during school). It wasn't until he was a young adult that he started developing problems, due to service in Korea. Also, his home life in the movies is much more stable, with no mention of Brian Xavier's death, his mother's marriage to Kurt Marko, or Charles' antagonistic relationship with his stepbrother Cain Marko. The film incarnation gains a happier childhood in exchange for a much worse adulthood.
- Played straight with Rogue. While the comic version of Rogue would sometimes angst about her powers, she was still generally written as a sassy and confident Southern bruiser. The cinematic Rogue, by contrast, was very shy, withdrawn and timid, and a much greater emphasis was placed on her fear of her own mutant ability. Over time, some of this characterization made its way into the comics as well.
