Talk:The Beach (novel)

Book and film
I propose splitting this page - keeping this as the novel and creating The Beach (film).

A precedent is Trainspotting (novel) and Trainspotting (film).

Stu  ’Bout ye!  15:38, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm doing this now since there are other uses for 'The Beach'. This will be left was a DAB article.  Vegaswikian 21:35, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

The plot summary is of the film and not the novel on this page.

A couple of quick examples: In the book he is from England not from America, there are issues with Richard being Sal's enforcer in the book, and some other stuff I can't think of right now.

Also, his companions are not two Americans, but actually a French guy and girl.

Apocalypse_now references: I cannot judge the differences between Heart_of_Darkness (didnt read it) and apocalypse now, but "the beach" makes very obvious references to the movie. Daffys last words to Richard are "the horror, the horror", which are also Kurtz last words. Richard mentions the movie quite often and his insanity is comparable to the things that happen to Kurtz and Duvall. Also, the idea of westerners loving/hating apocalypse now is tackled. Although its an "anti war" movie, Richard loves the idea of hunting down vietcong, inspired by apocalypse now and the vietnam war. The war and apocalypse now produced some of the images (southeast asia, the rainforest, hunting asians) he longs to see on his "tourist" trip. How can we put these connections on the wiki page? Leobard 08:06, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

The famous last words "the horror, the horror" are a quote in Apocalypse Now: namely, they quote Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness. I recognize that you didn't read this novel, but the "very obvious reference to the movie" is a very obvious reference to the book in the movie. I agree, however, that the imagery used in the film recollects Western culture images of this part of Asia. I would support the suggestion above to separate the article into two, as proposed above.

Early in the film,Richard is watching "Apocalypse Now" on the tv in his cheap hotel.The film uses this to connect the story to a bigger canvas.If The Beach is in any way equal to Conrads "Heart of Darkness", it would be a great achievement, but it's only a shadow of Conrads work. I recommend "Heart of Darkness" as a work that not even the pathetic ineptitude of Hollywood can tarnish, and should be read.Ern Malleyscrub (talk) 12:37, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

graphic novel
Back when he first film came out, there were reports that Garland originally intended the book to be a graphic novel. I haven't added this to the main page, because I don't have sources to hand, but it's worth checking up on. Kelvingreen 20:43, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

There are no mentions of the references to the Vietnam War which frequent the novel, or that the lead character is obsessed with the war. Also, it is incorrect to say that he went mad after the Americans were killed, as he had already been talking to Daffy (who was dead).
 * I agree, I'm not even sure its right to say that he's "going mad"; Richard just has hallucinations, he still has a fairly strong grasp of reality, enough to begin organising a sudden departure from the island ( with Jed, Keaty, F. and E. )on the night of the tet celebrations, during which most member of the beach community go crazy and start ripping apart the bodies of the rafters.Overall, this article is riddled with mistakes.. it sure needs a bit of work! Kotare 05:32, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

On The Road and On The Beach
Can anyone who has read the novel please explain the relevance of these two books to this one? I'm struggling to see it myself.--Stephen Burnett 18:11, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Also appear in Bridget Jones 2
Also appear in Bridget Jones 2, a girl ( her friend ) and a boy, read it on the plane. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.149.54.15 (talk) 16:58, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

Roxxy?
I’ve just read the book and there is no mention of a character called Roxxy as described on this page. It all seems to have been added by one anon user recently, quite confused whether this is an earlier edition that has since been edited out but no results on Google for any Roxxy character in The Beach and no character by that name appears in the film 223.27.224.25 (talk) 08:12, 14 January 2023 (UTC)

Pop culture references
Except for Daffy Duck, Bugs is obviously a reference to Bugs Bunny, and Unhygienix is a fish-monger from the Asterix comics. Is it too trivial to warrant a mention? 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 19:02, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Also, the arc "Prisoners of the Sun" (where the original French title "Le temple du soleil" has less appropriate connotations), is a reference to a Tintin album, and in the final chapter of the arc, "The decisive moment", Richard falls asleep and mentally travels back in time to meet Daffy Duck as a kid, where they hold a lengthy discussion about the different Tintin albums... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:25, 31 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Before considering whether they are too trivial to warrant mention, they'll need to have been discussed by a reliable source, else inclusion would constitute WP:original research. --Paul_012 (talk) 03:42, 1 August 2023 (UTC)