Comparison : All You Zombies & Predestination

Today i will be comparing the short story All You Zombies (1960) by Robert A. Heinlein and the movie Predestination (2014) that was based on the short story. In the movie there is no snake (ouroboros) ring, like In the story, the bartender character wears a ring of a snake eating it’s own tail on his ring finger. In the short story Jane works as a family helper while attending the W.E.N.C.H.E.S. school at night. In the movie it is only after she has been kicked out of space academy that she becomes a family helper and goes to etiquette classes at night. In the short story Jane got kicked out of W.E.N.C.H.E.S. for being pregnant, whereas in the movie she thinks she got kicked out from fighting, however it is because she is a hermaphrodite. The short story benefits from the viewer having to form their ideas of the characters. The movie does not have this privilege. Both In the movie and book, the narrator John is explaining that she was not an attractive woman, in the movie this doesn't work to well as the camera is aimed at the attractive actress playing Jane. Another interesting difference between the movie and the short story was the decision to burn johns face off in the movie so that he would look different later on in life. The short story doesn't need to do this as it benefits from the viewer having to imagine the characters. It was necessary for the movie to come up with a way for the audience to not know that the bartender was just an older version of John. Different again was the introduction of the story line of the fizzle bomber, in the movie he was given more emphasis and ties into the story nicely, whereas in the books he is only mentioned.  He is becomes johns purpose in life, that meaning John exists to stop him. Later on we are revealed the the fizzle bomber is John himself. John confronted with his older self kills his future self ending the chain of life and birth that started with him and ended with him.

It’s great that in to movie we get more of an insight into the date between John and Jane. In the Short story the bartender blatantly draws attention to the song playing on the jukebox, the song being played is “I’m my own grand pa”. In the movie it’s much more subtle the other bartender tell the guy to turn it off and he say let him play it. The time machine in the short story is a case with a net attached to it. In the movie it’s just a violin case. When reading the short story the pace of the story is much quicker.