The Rabbit Proof Fence has been published both as a book and as a film. Being a reader or a viewer entirely changes the point of view on the story. A reader may get a descriptive insight in the situations and emotions of the characters. Then the reader is able to re-create these situations and emotions visually using the imagination and have freedom doing so. As a viewer, that creativity is somewhat restricted. When reading the book the reader does not imagine the characters’ physical appearance, the locations or the overall situations in the same way as the viewer. These elements are already given to the viewer. Throughout this essay it will be explored how the music and the filming creates a great visual emotional impact on the audience and in contrast when reading the book, the detailed mental descriptions are the main focus. Emotions are felt entirely differently from reading the book to watching the movie. Therefore, the statement is valid that the film impacts viewers on a more emotional level while the book gives a more historical background to what the story in the book ‘Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence’ is actually about.

There is a major distinction between the beginning of the book and the beginning of the movie. The beginning of the book gives the reader a detailed description of the historical background about the ‘Stolen Generations’ while the movie goes straight into one example of the ‘Stolen Generations’. The contrast of a detailed understanding of the history of the Stolen Generations compared to one example of it may not connect with the emotions of the story as well as watching the film. The film doesn’t focus on the overall history. Instead it starts with the girls with their family in their normal lifestyle. After the mayhem occurs where the children are separated from their family, the viewer follows the journey with the girls back to the settlement. It is a long journey that takes the viewer through a visual experience but in the book, the scenery was described in more verbal detail. In the journey home the film made the surroundings look just like desert and not much else but in the book’s description there seems more bush-land and other trees and grasses around them.

Music in a film plays a crucial role. In the Rabbit Proof Fence, most of the music consists of melancholic melodies. Often, a heavy and deep drumbeat is heard in the background adding to the sense of doom. This is not present in the book. When the girls are taken away from their families, a scene that differs greatly from the book to the film and this affects the