Dan Rush's film adaptation of “Why Don't You Dance?” by Raymond CarverRaymond Carver is very well known for his minimalist style when it comes to his literary works. Since Carver wrote this way, Everything Must Go writer-director Dan Rush had no choice but to expand this story by adding more elements to the characters, theme, and plot of Carver's original work. In the film adaptation of the story "Why don't you dance?" by Raymond Carver, Rush, while departing from the original plot and shedding a new light on the important topic of alcoholism, manages to successfully show how this disease has the ability to ruin someone's entire life. There are a few ways in which Carver's tale differs from Rush's film adaptation. The first way is how the main male character is portrayed and how much is revealed about the situation at hand. In “Why Don't You Dance?”, although it is obvious that the male protagonist struggles with alcoholism, that is all that is really disclosed about him, along with the fact that his wife, for an unknown reason, left him. In Everything Must Go, Rush makes the issue of alcoholism the main focal point of the film and builds on it, showing that it is actually what ruined the character's marriage. As for the character's background, Carver doesn't reveal much about the main character, except that he's an alcoholic who doesn't know how to deal with the cards he's dealt. Rush, in keeping with some of Carver's original work, still portrays Nick, the film's main character, as an alcoholic who doesn't know how to deal with the situation he finds himself in. However, as more things are revealed... .. middle of paper ......ing Must Go is a somewhat loose interpretation of “ Why Don't You Dance? It separates people, but it also brings people together. The latter is shown as Nick makes new friends who, in the end, seem to double as his new family. Although each main character in the film has a different background, they are all united by the feelings they have in common, particularly the feelings of loneliness and the desire to help Nick overcome the difficult moment in his life and his ongoing battle with alcoholism , simply as if a real family wanted to help one of their relatives. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. What we talk about when we talk about love: stories. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Print. Everything has to go. Dir. Dan Rush. Lionsgate, 2011. Film.