History Literature / HighFidelity

** Marie [=LaSalle=] in the novel becomes Marie ''de''Salle in the film, probably for euphony more than anything else.

Rob, recalling his five most memorable breakups, sets about getting in touch with the former girlfriends. Eventually, Rob's re-examination of his failed relationships and the death of Laura's father bring the two of them back together just as Rob revives his disc jockey career. Realizing that his fear of commitment being a result of his fear of death of those around him, and his tendency to act on emotion are responsible for his continuing desires to pursue new women, Rob makes a symbolic commitment to Laura.

* AdaptationExpansion: The Kinky Wizards were not in the book (though Rob at one point muses upon the idea of starting a label).

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In both novel and film, Barry chewing out a middle-aged customer for ''daring'' to ask if the shop has a copy of "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Music/StevieWonder really sets out what an obnoxious superior JerkAss he is. What makes it worse is that the customer clearly establishes that ''he's buying the record for someone else''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Barry sarcastically labels Hasselhof a German during a conversation.

* HeelRealization: Early on, Laura's friend Liz storms into the shop, calls Rob a "fucking asshole" and storms out again, following which Rob realizes that Laura must have told Liz all of the nasty things Rob did to her during their relationship. He then admits that Liz is absolutely right.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite his HeelRealization above, immediately afterwards Rob goes right back to rationalizing away his actions and becomes, if anything, even ''more'' self-absorbed and inconsiderate than he was previously, not less.

* IndulgentFantasySegue: Three in a row, dealing with how Rob ''wants'' to deal with Ian when the latter shows up at the store to talk about Laura man-to-man. The first time he loudly tells Ian off; the second time, he threatens him with violence and sends him running from the store like a coward. It culminates with a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown where Rob, Dick and Barry lay him out and crush his head with an air conditioner unit. What ''actually'' happens is Rob reacts like a sensible person and says he'll consider Ian's suggestion to drop the matter.

* InUniverseSoundtrack: Most of the songs in the film soundtrack are played InUniverse by Rob and his employees in the record store. This includes a cover of Music/MarvinGaye's "Let's Get It On" performed by Creator/JackBlack, whose character Barry sings it in the film.

* KavorkaMan: Downplayed in Rob's case: he fully expects the reader to be baffled as to how, in spite of the fact that he is grumpy, moody, runs a failing business, hangs out with his two employees who are even more pathetic than him and spends his life obsessing about vinyl records, he has nevertheless had sex with seventeen women in the course of his thirty-odd years, including a moderately famous American singer-songwriter.

* ShoutOut: ''Several'' when Rob, Dick, and Barry discuss music (since they work at a record store, this is rather frequent).

* TakeThatAudience: In the book, after listing the four worst things he'd done to Laura, Rob challenges the reader, before judging him, to list the worst things they've done to their partners, ''especially'' if the partners don't know about them:

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Dad died."]] Or in the series, [[spoiler: Rob admitting she cheated on Mac the very night they got engaged!]]

* MsFanservice: Charlie played by Creator/CatherineZetaJones. So much Rob feels insecure about dating her.

* GenderFlip: Rob is made a woman in the series.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Dad died."]]

->''What came first, the music or the misery?''

* BiTheWay: The series has Rob be shown as dating a woman previously, although most of her exes [[ButNotTooBi are men]] in the flashbacks.

* BiTheWay: The series has Rob be shown to have dated at a woman previously, although most of her exes [[ButNotTooBi are men]] in the flashbacks.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: Barry is particularly bad at treating people with "terrible taste in music" as if they have committed a high crime.

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: As Rob puts it in the movie when referring to the store's assistants Dick (a quiet, awkward, mildly creepy nerd) and Barry (an obnoxious asshole):

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: As Rob puts it in the movie when referring to the store's assistants Dick (a quiet, awkward nerd) and Barry (an obnoxious asshole):

** Barry in the movie is ''such'' an ''asshole'' you want to just punch him in his soft, flabby, stupid face and force-feed him one of his oh-so-beloved records, but he actually does care for his friends, and he pulls through for Rob's show at the end (instead of turning it into an obnoxious trainwreck like Rob was rightfully worried about).

* GenderBlenderName: Due to the series making Rob a woman, the name becomes one (it turns out that her full name's Robyn).

-->I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week, and they just started showing up, ''everyday''. That was four years ago.
* ToplessnessFromTheBack / {{Sideboob}}: Charlie is shown like this post sex with Rob as she putting her shirt on

* GenderBlenderName: Due to the series making Rob a woman, the name becomes one.

** In the series, Rob discovers that one of her boyfriends was cheating with a woman he was already with before dating her.

''High Fidelity'' is a 1995 British novel by Creator/NickHornby (also known for ''Literature/AboutABoy''). It was adapted into a [[FilmOfTheBook 2000 film]] directed by Creator/StephenFrears and starring Creator/JohnCusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name. A series based on the film and starring Creator/ZoeKravitz as Rob is due to be released February 14, 2020 on Creator/{{Hulu}}.

** AdaptationDistillation: In the book, we learn Rob stole Jackie from his friend when they were dating, Jackie got married to his friend, Rob meets up with them during his tour of his romantic history, and they bore him to tears with all the talk about their kids, but in the movie, Rob simply says her their breakup didn't mean anything.
* AdaptationNameChange: Marie [=LaSalle=] in the novel becomes Marie ''de''Salle in the film, probably for euphony more than anything else.

*** Rob's exes Allison Ashworth and Jackie Allen were renamed as Allison Ashmore and Jackie Alden.
*** Barry's band name is also changed: both in the book and film, they are called Sonic Death Monkey, but in the book they start out as Barrytown (which Rob ridicules Barry for), something that is never mentioned in the film. At the night of the gig, Barry mentions the names Kathleen Turner Overdrive and Barry Jive and the Uptown Five in the film, and the names the Futuristics and Breakbeat in the book, for no apparent reason.

* AsideComment: In the movie, Rob talks to the audience frequently.
** This happened in the book, too in a sense; occasionally, Rob would take a moment to personally address the reader.

* AGoodNameForARockBand: Sonic Death Monkey, Barry Jive and the Uptown Five and Kathleen Turner Overdrive.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Barry in the movie is ''such'' an ''asshole'' you want to just punch him in his soft, flabby, stupid face and force-feed him one of his oh-so-beloved records, but he actually does care for his friends, and he pulls through for Rob's show at the end (instead of turning it into an obnoxious trainwreck like Rob was rightfully worried about).

* RaceLift: Marie in the film; she was said to resemble Susan Dey in the book, but is played by Lisa Bonet in the film. What's particularly amusing is that Dick's description of what she looks like in the film is identical to his description in the book, except that he appends "except, you know, black" to the end of it in the former case.
** [[WordOfGod Frears]] has explained that the reasoning behind this is that Marie is supposed to be an exotic character: for a novel set in England, a white American woman is exotic; for a film set in America...

''High Fidelity'' is a 1995 British novel by Creator/NickHornby (also known for ''Literature/AboutABoy''). It was adapted into a [[FilmOfTheBook 2000 film]] directed by Creator/StephenFrears and starring Creator/JohnCusack. It also served as the basis for a 2006 Broadway musical of the same name.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Barry in the movie is ''such'' an ''asshole'' you want to just punch his soft, flabby, stupid face in and force-feed him one of his oh-so-beloved records, but he actually does care for his friends, and he pulls through for Rob's show at the end (instead of turning it into an obnoxious trainwreck like Rob was rightfully worried about).

* BunnyEarsLawyer: For all their incompetence, Rob, Dick, and Barry prove to be decent salespeople during a busy period. Rob is also pretty good as a music producer and DJ, and Barry can actually sing.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: For all their kookiness, Rob, Dick, and Barry prove to be decent salespeople during a busy period. Rob is also pretty good as a music producer and DJ, and Barry can actually sing.

** In the movie, Rob introduces himself to the audience by first listening to 'You're Gonna Miss Me' by the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, staring directly into the camera with an expression of abject heartbreak, and then asking "What came first? The music or the misery?" It clues us into his knowledge of music and his overall mood throughout the film, but also foreshadows how he (doesn't) deal with his problems.

** In the movie, Rob introduces himself to the audience by first listening to "You're Gonna Miss Me" by the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, staring directly into the camera with an expression of abject heartbreak, and then asking "What came first? The music or the misery?" It clues us into his knowledge of music, but also his overall mood throughout the film.

-->'''Sarah'' (in the flashback): I mean, Michael was such an asshole.

** While he's not as obnoxious as Barry, Rob is revealed to be arguably worse in a low-key, long-term, high-functioning kind of way. He is a selfish, insensitive, immature, all-round toxic person who objectifies the women he dates, and prefers to wallow in his own misery instead of getting a grip on his life like an adult, and he doesn't notice that he infects the people who love him despite himself. That said, much like Barry, he does care for his friends, and by the end of the movie seems to be making a change for the better by making a commitment to Laura and actually pursuing a career in producing music (instead of just complaining about bad music).

* ManlyTears: Rob cries a couple of times in the film.