The Princess Diaries 

Book vs. Movie 

Paxton Goates 

Style 

• Both:

Words used are very common and relate-able to students.

• Book:

The sentence structure mostly takes place within Mia's thinking, but she describes some dialog that goes on between other characters. 

Dialog Example

Chapter One

Tuesday, September 23

Sometimes it seems like all I ever do is lie.

My mom thinks I'm repressing my feelings about this. I say to her, "No, Mom, I'm not. I think it's really neat. As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

, right? That makes about two million of them guys. So out of TWO MILLION guys, she has to go out with Mr. Gianini. She can't go out with some guy I don't know. She can't go out with some guy she met at D'Agostinos or wherever. Oh, no.

She has to go out with my Algebra teacher.

Thanks, Mom. Thanks a whole lot. ETC...........

Wednesday, September 24, Fifth Period

Plot 

Mia Thermopolis is a teenage klutz who's openly mocked by the popular Lana Thomas. In fact, Mia's only friend at her exclusive prep school is the socially outcast Lilly . Mia's life takes a dramatic turn, however, when her mom announces that her late biological father was in actuality the crown prince of a small European nation, Genovia. Now Mia is the sole heir to the throne, and her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi  wants to tutor the awkward teen in royal behavior. It's a daunting task given Mia's lax table manners, poise, and hair care, but the girl perseveres with some makeover help from her grandmother's security chief  and a style expert. In the meantime, Mia's romantic affections are torn between the handsome, popular Josh and the more appropriate Michael, who also happens to be Lilly's brother. 

http://www.fandango.com/theprincessdiaries_32082/plotsummary

Setting 

• Both:

The series is set in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Some of the books take place in Genovia, a fictional European country. The Genovia depicted in the films differs significantly from the Genovia described in the books.

• Book:

Genovia is referred to as a principality between France and Italy that is ruled by Mia's father, Prince Philippe Renaldo.

• Movie:

 Genovia is located between France and Spain, similar to real life Andorra and is a kingdom ruled by Mia's father, Prince Phillipe Renaldo.

Characterization 

• Both: ​

Josh, Lana, and their followers are pretty much the same in both book and movie. They're the stereoptypical In Crowd, and they don't even see Mia until fame is involved.  

• Book: 

Mentions other friends of Mia's that are not portrayed in the movie. 
In the book, Lilly's older brother is a nerd who belongs to the Computer Club and is always holed up in his bedroom, working on his webzine

• Movie: 

In the movie, Lily' older brother works in a mechanic's shop and plays in a band. 

The movie did a good job with Mia's best friend, Lilly. She's highly intelligent and considers herself a feminist and activist. She's fun, quirky and outspoken, but she's also blunt, sarcastic and judgmental. She feels completely betrayed when Mia is forced into a princess makeover, and it takes her a while to forgive Mia for being royalty. 

Characterization 

• B​​ook: 

 In the book Mia's Grandmere is tough, mean, and a little crass. She smokes, wears skimpy nightgowns, and has her eyeliner tattooed directly onto her face

In the book, Mia is tall and flat-chested with triangular dirty blonde hair. 

• Movie: 

Mia's Grandmother is In the movie, Grandmere is portrayed by Julie Andrews and she is refined, elegant, stately and gracious.

In the movie, Anne Hathaway is . . . well, Anne Hathaway.

​

Theme 

• Both:

The Search for Identity.. Although it is a lighthearted approach, the main theme of the book is for Mia to find out who she truly is and stick with it.  As well as Mia finding her place within social cliques and within the royal family. 

             The beach party goes well at first, but spirals out of control when the media learns of Mia's presence. Josh uses her to get his fifteen minutes of fame by publicly kissing Mia, after which Lana and two popular girls trick Mia into undressing in a tent. They remove the tent as she is semi-nude and humiliate her by calling the paparazzi, who snap photos of her covered in a towel. Mia's gym coach shoos off the paparazzi and takes Mia home

Point of View 

• Both: 

The Princess Diaries is told exclusively through Mia Thermopolis' first-person point of view. The author seeks to convince the reader that Mia, the fictional narrator and protagonist, is recording the events of the novel in diary form. As such, the text is written in a stream-of-consciousness style in an effort to mimic the diary format(http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-princess-diaries/style.html#gsc.tab=0)