Butler - Sleepy Hollow

When adapting the story Sleepy Hollow from Washington Irving’s story, Tim Burton took a lot of artistic liberties with the story. Burton changed the character of Ichabod Crane from a lanky, awkward schoolteacher into an attractive police officer. Burton does this in order to make the relationship between Crane and Katrina Van Tassel more believable. Burton also made Crane’s character look more towards reason and science at first instead of embracing the supernatural as Crane does in the original story. Burton does this in order to create conflict in his adaptation of the story. Burton also made Katrina fall in love with Crane in the movie, while in the story Katrina’s and Crane’s relationship is quite the opposite. The showdown in the original story between the Headless Horseman and Crane is also very different than it is in the movie. In the story, the Headless Horseman throws his head at Crane, and Crane disappears the next morning. However, in the movie the final showdown between Crane and the Headless Horseman is much more intense and thrilling. This is done in order to make the climax of the film much more interesting and action packed than the story’s climax. The story of how the Horseman came to be is also different in both the story and the film. In the story, a cannonball shoots off the Headless Horseman’s head in random battle. In the movie, American soldiers cut off the Headless Horseman’s head. Burton elaborated on the story of the Headless Horseman’s demise because it gave the audience a new perception of the character of the Headless Horseman. 

All of these changes do have a purpose though. By changing some aspects such as Crane’s job and appearance, Burton was able to make the story of Sleepy Hollow much more interesting and complex. All of the changes Burton made helped give the characters more depth, which ultimately helped the story become more enjoyable to audiences. The changes Burton made helped transform the story of Sleepy Hollow into something more. The world that Burton created in his version of Sleepy Hollow is much interesting and enjoyable to audiences than Irving’s normal story version. Burton’s adaptation of Sleepy Hollow helped improve its original source material by bringing the story to the next level. The film Sleepy Hollow is much more compelling and interesting to audiences, and Burton’s changes from the original story really helps the movie’s story become much more enjoyable.