Garcia-Ruiz, Sleepy Hallow

Tim Burton takes on a loose adaptation to develop his film based off of the Washington Irving short story. He uses the same title and character figures but he takes ideas from the story and changes them up a bit to make them Burtonesque. Beginning with the main character Ichabod, in the Washington Irving story, Ichabod is similar to Burton’s in the sense of same personality but their physical appearance is different. The Ichabod in Washington Irving was unattractive and only liked by elderly women because he was always around to lend a hand and he was educated. The Ichabod in Burton’s film is more appealing to the eye and he is able to attract Katrina Van Tassel unlike in Washington Irving. In the short story it does not mention that Ichabod went through torturous time because he watched his mother die but in Burton’s film, Ichabod is haunted by these nightmares. It takes much more than a pumpkin head to scare off Burton’s Ichabod.Both Sleepy Hallows end differently which is another difference that they have. In the Washington Irving post, Ichabod leaves the town of Sleepy Hollow after the “headless horseman” attacks him with a pumpkin thrown to his head. In the end I think it was Bones that dressed up as the headless horseman just to scare off Ichabod and marry Katrina. In Burton’s film, Ichabod is asked to leave the town and he feels out of place with the supernatural events that have occurred to him like the horseman’s appearance and Katrina’s drawings in which he later finds out they were meant to protect him. He later returns back to find Katrina and then a bunch of crazy stuff happens. Her stepmother who controls the headless horseman is holding Katrina, and Ichabod is out to save her and end the headless horseman for good. I think that after all of that happens, Ichabod gains some belief in superstition and regains his faith.