MovieChat Forums > The Polar Express (2004) Discussion > The black girl wasn't in the original bo...

The black girl wasn't in the original book. More forced diversity from Hollywood.


They created an unnecessary character and drastically altered the story for diversity points and it just makes the movie dumber.

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Luckily these days they don't do that sort of thing anymore. It was a one-off, get over it.

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Like hell they don't!

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😂

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I never read the book, but I can't possibly see how her character is a problem.

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Her character is a "problem" because she was completely unnecessary to the story. The main protagonist "Hero Boy" does everything in the book just fine himself. In the movie, the black girl becomes something like a guide to him, seemingly knowing more than him and pushing the story along. She was created purely for female/black diversity points.

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The black girl wasn't in the original book.


*Most* of the movie's characters weren't in the book either - it's just not that long. The book doesn't even count as a "short story". I read this to my sons a hundred times and I think it's a ten minute read at best.

The only characters in the book itself are Hero Boy, his sister Sarah, Santa, the chefs serving hot chocolate, and the unnamed rabble riding on the train with him - there is no Hero Girl, no Know-it-All, no Hobo, no parents, no elves with speaking parts, no "Lonely" boy, no train engineers, etc. Even Tom Hank's conductor isn't in the book - he's mentioned but that's it.

All those characters were added to be able to make a movie that was more than 8 minutes.

I don't disagree with your claim of the diversity aspect of Hero Girl at all and, indeed, I really don't care one way or the other, but if they made the movie that only included characters and speaking parts that were in the book, Polar Express would be the length of a TV commercial.

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It's a 32 page kids book that was made into a movie. Of course they are going to add to the story along with additional characters. Her character was harmless.

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