Free Adaptation In South Pacific Essay Example

South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical adaptation of Michener’s book Tales of the South Pacific, takes fascinating departures from the source material while also maintaining a deep sense of connection to Michener’s dedication to addressing racism and the ways it complicates relationships. Michener’s storytelling is, by its nature, far more realistic and detailed in its artifice than the broad, big emotions of a large-scale musical like Rodgers and Hammerstein provide. The musical deals in huge, passionately-drawn emotion, while Michener’s short stories delve into the intricacies and little details of these characters and their complicated wartime situations.
For instance, the romance between Joe Cable and Liat is much more clear cut in the musical as it is in the book – in “Fo’ Dolla,” the Michener story in the novel in which they appear, Liat and Cable’s romance is complicated by her existing commitment to Jacques Benoit, a French plantation owner; in the musical, they only have their racial differences (and the war) to overcome. In the musical, it is Cable who must overcome his own racism, while in the story he must instead shrug off the racial comments made by others; the Cable of the musical is far more worried about the reactions his friends and family will have about bringing home a Vietnamese girl than the Cable of Michener’s story. In this respect, these changes in the adaptation make the conflict far more personal, as the problems come not from without, but from within the racist upbringing of Cable. In both instances, love is shown to conquer racism due to Joe’s commitment to Liat; however, Cable’s death in the musical dooms him to not follow through with their life together. These elements make Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical bigger and bolder with its use of emotion than Michener’s story.