“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” versus Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” tells the story of the self-important, intellectual schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who wants to marry Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy farmer. Crane is nervous and superstitious and during a party he is regaled of stories of the mysterious headless horsemen who haunts the roads at night. His rival is Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt, who is known for playing pranks. Crane meets with a rider who apparently has no head, and who then throws his pumpkin head at Crane. Crane is never seen from again, and is not missed very much, since he was always an outsider and not liked by the insular town of Sleepy Hollow. The story is humorous rather than spooky in nature and implies that Brom Bones was the one who dressed as the horseman to scare Crane away.
In stark contrast, Tim Burton’s 1999 film Sleepy Hollow is a horror film. The horseman is very real. Ichabod Crane is a policeman, not a retiring schoolteacher. Instead of a legend, there have been a series of real, brutal murders in the town. Rather than superstitious like Irving’s Crane, Burton’s Crane initially does not believe that the story about the horseman is real, and looks for a more plausible explanation. Crane does have a love interest, Katrina, but Katrina genuinely cares for Crane. Katarina does have a suitor named Brom, but he is killed by the horseman. The end of the story involves Crane sorting out the supernatural mystery, determining who is really controlling the horseman, and then leaving in safety with Katarina. In short, the film makes Crane into a hero, while in the Irving story Crane is a figure of fun. Crane is an outsider in both film and book, but in the film his outsider qualities are positive ones that free the town from the curse it is under.
Works Cited
Irving, Washington. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Project Gutenberg. Web. March 28, 2019. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41/41-h/41-h.htm
Sleepy Hollow. Directed by Tim Burton. Paramount Pictures, 1999.
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