ABSTRACT
The success of the screenplay adaptation of Kramer versus Kramer is apparent for several reasons. By following a tighter structure and eliminating extraneous characters and subplots, the screenwriter is able to keep up the pace of the story and hold the audience’s interest. By changing his characters, the writer is able to intensify the conflict of the piece and manipulate the audience between two likable characters, Joanna and Ted. The one-sided characterization, “good guy” and “bad guy,” has been eliminated. This change in characterization reinforces the question of the social issue. If both parents are sympathetic and likable, and the case for both sides is so well presented, then who would be the more appropriate parent to raise Billy?
It is this key question that keeps members of the audience on the edge of their seats, waiting for the resolution at the end of the movie. That there is no clear-cut answer is what makes this issue so interesting and this movie so appealing. It’s no surprise that this was a box office hit. The question is: Why aren’t other adaptations of novels as commercially successful as Kramer versus Kramer?
