History Literature / TheBeach

* AdaptationDistillation:
** '''Many''' side plots and characters were cut, most obviously Jed, but most key plots went from the book to the movie. Still, in the book, [[spoiler:Richard never has sex with Sal nor Françoise, though he often considers it.]]
** Richard's frequent references to UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, and pop culture related to it such as ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' and ''Series/{{MASH}}'', are absent in the movie, although he does look in on a theater showing a piece of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' in Thailand towards the beginning. It is a part of the famous Napalm Bombing scene. [[note]] "Bomb them to stone age, son" [[/note]]

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In the book, Richard never sleeps with Françoise despite having feelings for her, which he thinks are reciprocated, saying that he considers Étienne a good guy and would not want to do that to him. He also never sleeps with Sal

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Richard never sleeps with Françoise despite having feelings for her, which he thinks are reciprocated, saying that he considers Étienne a good guy and would not want to do that to him. He also never sleeps with Sal

* AntiVillain / NobleDemon: [[spoiler:In the movie, the head farmer appears to be genuine when he says that he doesn't want to hurt anyone and just wants to farm his marijuana in peace. Case in point, the revolver he gives to Sal to kill Richard with turns out to be unloaded, and judging by his smirk when he sees everyone else's horrified panic that Sal would have actually killed Richard, he was planning on getting them all to leave without killing anyone else. In the book, he's darker but still prefers to scare the beachers than kill them.]]

* DrugsAreGood: The characters smoke pot casually and rejoice when they discover a large field of cannabis plants. Averted when they realize that it's being guarded by armed men, which causes alot of negative drama.

* AntiVillain / NobleDemon: [[spoiler:In the movie, the head farmer appears to be genuine when he says that he doesn't want to hurt anyone and just wants to farm his marijuana in peace. Case in point, the revolver he gives to Sal to kill Richard with turns out to be unloaded, and judging by his smirk when he sees everyone else's horrified panic that Sal would have actually killed Richard, he managed to get them all to leave without killing anyone else. In the book, he's darker but still prefers to scare the beachers than kill them.]]

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul:
** Richard never sleeps with Françoise despite having feelings for her, which he thinks are reciprocated, saying that he considers Étienne a good guy and would not want to do that to him. He also never sleeps with Sal

* UnderwaterKiss

* CompositeCharacter: Jed is dropped for the film but much of his role remains, going to Etienne, Keaty and Sal.

Made into a film by Creator/DannyBoyle in 2000, starring Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, Creator/VirginieLedoyen, Creator/TildaSwinton, Creator/RobertCarlyle and [[RocknRoll Guillaume Canet]].

* Hypocrite: Francoise is definitely one. She calmly cheats on her boyfriend with Richard, then gets outraged when Richard sleeps with Sal.

* DrugsAreGood: The characters smoke pot casually and rejoice when they discover a large field of cannabis plants. Averted when they realize that it's being guarded by armed gangs, which causes alot of negative drama.

* UpperClassTwit: Richard, as well as most of the characters are young and financially well-off to the point of making global travel a hobby, and they cluelessly charge into dangerous or tenuous situations seeking adventure. It blows up in several of their faces.

* ThreateningShark: There are a couple of brushes with sharks in the water surrounding the island paradise. Richard kills one with a knife, but another dude gets attacked and gravely injured.