Comparing Nabokov's Humbert from Lolita with the Humbert presented in Adrian Lyne's film adaptation

Carson
English XI
Humbert/Humbert

When we read a novel, we are undoubtedly given the author’s perception of his/her own characters. We are told what each character is, and how we should regard them. Decisions are made for us. When we watch a movie, however, the camera works as the main narrator, and we are invited to judge characters and make plot analyses on our own. How a director chooses to shoot his/her movie, what he/she directs the actors to do, and, most importantly, what parts he/she chooses to include or omit alter the meaning of the adapted literature and change the way we receive the characters and material. Adrian Lyne’s presentation of Lolita, whether intentionally or not, is geared toward making the viewer feel a certain degree of sympathy for Humbert Humbert, as he makes Humbert the most tolerable, and of the most “normal” characters in the movie. More than anything, Lyne presents a Humbert that audiences can identify with, in contrast to Vladimir Nabok...