Differences between the book and movie

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!
I haven't included details of the endings, but I have included major plot points, so don't read this if you don't want to be spoiled.


--The movie is set in the 90s and is about white-collar girls; the book is set in the 50s and is about blue-collar girls. This really has an effect on the meaning of the movie because in the book this is so relevant to why they formed the gang in the first place. In the book it was their mutual distrust of adults and particularly men--due to their past experiences--that united them. In the movie, it was just one event of revenge on an abusive male that united them, and their bond in the movie is much less strong than in the book.

--The movie takes place in Portland, Oregon, while the book takes place in Hammond, New York.

--In the movie, Legs is a brunette who is just passing through town when she meets up with the other characters. In the book, Legs is a blonde who has been friends with the others since childhood. (The hair color is more important than it would seem)

--In the movie, the name FOXFIRE is never mentioned. There is a scene in which "FOXFIRE BURNS & BURNS" is spray painted on a wall, but they never declare a name for themselves or say that they're a gang. In the book the girls' identity as FOXFIRE is vitally important to them; it's who they are.

--The movie takes place over a few weeks or so (it's hard to tell), but the book spans more than three years.

--There's no character named Lana in the movie; in the book there is. It's easy to see why they took her out, though, because Lana is not very important to the story, despite the fact that she's one of the founding members.

--In the book the FOXFIRE sisters are violently forbidden from dating guys, whereas in the movie it's perfectly acceptable.

--In the movie, Goldie is a mostly-quiet but rebellious girl--and when she says something, it's usually mean; in the book Goldie is a tough, loud, angry girl who no one likes to mess with.

--In the movie, Violet is promiscuous; in the book she's just really beautiful with lots of guys after her.

--There are many plot differences. Nearly every event in the book is left out in the movie; those that are not are vastly different so as to be almost unrecognizable. For instance, the scene with Mr. Buttinger comes from an event in the book, but while in the movie they beat him up, in the book they paint insulting things on his car so that he drives home without knowing why everyone is staring at him. The movie's scene in which they break into the school to get Maddy's portfolio does not happen in the book at all, and neither did Goldie's drug problem. In the movie there is no description of Legs' time in jail, while in the book all of Part 3 is devoted to it. Basically, the movie has fewer important events than the book: the movie has five (Mr. Buttinger, breaking into the school, the tattooing, the car chase, and the kidnapping), while the book has so many they are uncountable. Of course, you could never fit the entire book into a movie anyway, but many of the important plot twists are left out of the movie. The ending is also very different.

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