Adaptational Angst Upgrade

Sometimes when Hollywood decides to do a movie adaptation they'll try to make a character more interesting by giving him some angst not present (or not discussed) in the book. Reasons vary: it makes the character easier to empathize with, it is an attempt to avert a Boring Invincible Hero, it adds more conflict to the story, etc. Often used to add more Character Development.

It may be caused by historical Values Dissonance. Many of the examples below are adapted from older works, or even The Oldest Ones in the Book. In the past, The Hero of the Monomyth was expected to accept his destiny as a great hero and leader, but modern ideals would rather support the character of a Cincinnatus-style humble everyman.

Compare and contrast with True Art Is Angsty.

Examples of Adaptational Angst Upgrade include:

Anime and Manga

• The title character of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha in The Movie manga continuity. Fans gave this version of Nanoha the Fan Nickname of "Emoha". This is especially noticeable in the part after the movie's events where, in contrast to the anime where she's pleased with the outcome but somewhat worried about Fate, she believes in the movie manga that she failed to help anyone. At the beginning of their mock battle in the manga, Fate believes that since she caused Nanoha trouble, she doesn't deserve to be friends with her.
• The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime had this happen on a few occasions. Ed had a Ten-Minute Retirement from being a State Alchemist after hearing about Nina's death and Tucker's execution which actually turned out to be a cover-up.
  • There's also the scene from the manga, when Al thinks that Ed may have fabricated his entire personality when binding his soul to the armor. Originally, it only takes Winry telling him that the question Ed was scared to ask was whether Al hated him to bring him to his senses (that and hitting him on the head with a wrench). In the first anime, he parts ways with Ed, but realizes the truth when helping a pair of Ishvalan refugee brothers.
• Surprisingly inverted in the Slayers franchise in regards to Zelgadis' chimeric state; despite being used as a Butt Monkey ploy several times in the anime, he's actually less prudish in regards to his appearance, and even embraces the awe and nicknames that he recieves from strangers (i.e "The Heartless, Mystical Swordsman); if for nothing else, he gets upset when he's being used for a silly ploy (such as being used as an anchor.). In the original novels, he is far more sensitive about his appearance and not frivolous at all; a side-story featuring him emphasizes this angst in which he broods over the fact that he made friends who see beyond his appearance in the first place.
• Vision of Escaflowne's Darker and Edgier movie adaptation begins with Hitomi Kanzaki attempting suicide, and a huge part of her Character Development involves overcoming her depression. In the series she was fairly more balanced, with most of her issues stemming from her romantic conflicts and lack of confidence.
• While Kyo Sohma from Fruits Basket does angst quite a bit (and very understandably) about his mother's suicide and not having saved Tohru's mom Kyouko from being hit by a car because he feared his Hereditary Curse would be revealed if he did so, his brooding levels are quite higher in the second anime than the manga. That fact that he had Trauma-Induced Amnesia in the second series about all of this doesn't help the poor boy's case.

Film

• Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films reveals his inner conflict more often than in the books, and is not convinced that he should return as king until the last movie. The DVD commentary for the film outright admits this was done as a way to give him a character-building arc, although it is easier to rationalize considering the opinion the film's Elves hold about the will of Men in general during the story... which also wasn't so prominent in the books.
• Peter in The Chronicles of Narnia films, especially Prince Caspian, is far less confident and kingly than his book counterpart. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader also adds subplots where Lucy worries a lot about her looks and the consequences of worrying about it, Edmund angsts about his time as a traitor to the White Witch, and Caspian has daddy issues. Arguably all of these are justified, given that the movie adds a villainous island that enhances/picks at their worries and fears.
• King Leonidas from 300. Turns his wife into a major character and makes her the voice of reason and confidence.
• The eponymous hero in the Christopher Lambert version of Beowulf.
• This happened to James Bond in the latest movies.
• Stuart Little was changed (understandably) so that Stuart was adopted instead of Mrs. Little actually giving birth to him, leaving George with disappointment about getting a mouse instead of the "real" brother he'd wanted and a bit of a complex about being overshadowed by the novelty of Stuart. In the book, George was a fairly minor character whose defining characteristic was being something of a know-it-all.
• Hook, a movie sequel to Peter Pan, makes the grown-up Peter into a distant workaholic dad who has to learn that his kids are more important.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gave Willy Wonka Daddy Issues.
• The Last Temptation of Christ.
• Film adaptations of Bible stories will typically add this - for example, the book of Exodus never says that Moses had no idea of his Hebrew heritage. In fact, it implies the opposite, but most versions have his true heritage be a surprise, to up the angst. Other such examples are:
  • A film version of the Book/Life of the Prophet Joel gives Joel a love interest who is killed (in front of him) by the oppressors, spurring Joel onto his passionate, even frenzied preaching.
  • The story of Ruth, already an impressive one in and of itself, is given an extra punch by making Ruth a priestess of the Moab religion, rather than just a Moabitess, and therefore her conversion to Judaism is much more meaningful.
• The Last Airbender: "Ong" spends most of his time whining and angsting over his role as the Avatar and being the last airbender. Aang, while not a stranger to angst, is The Pollyanna at heart.
• Spider-Man in the movies (particularly the Sam Raimi trilogy) is a lot more somber. Peter Parker was always as angsty as he was in the films, but usually he puts that angst aside when in his Spider-Man persona; not so here.
• Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, the only film so far of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, has a plot condensed from several of the books plus some stuff that's just made up. A few characters suffer Death by Adaptation; in particular, one midshipman is Driven to Suicide by a major subplot expanded from a minor and suicide-less one in one of the books. Presumably due to Values Dissonance, the decision to have a sailor flogged is also played as a rare event and significant moral dilemma for Aubrey, while in the books it's treated as a routine, if sometimes distasteful, part of his job.
• Goku in Dragon Ball Evolution suffered from this trope. In the movie, he has zero self-confidence and feels that he "can't get the girl", a far cry from his actual personality, where he had no worries in the world at all and initially didn't even know what a "girl" was.
• The Disney Animated Canon:
  • Disney's Treasure Planet ages up Jim Hawkins and gives him single-parent/teen-rebel angst.
  • In The Frog Prince, the female lead is a princess whose worst worries are getting her ball out of a pond and having to deal with her promise to a frog. In The Princess and the Frog, Tiana is a workaholic bordering on a nervous collapse because she feels that if she doesn't achieve her dream of owning her own restaurant, she will let down her dead father (who shared the same dream and, in fact, inspired her). She also seems aware of what her friends, family, and the town in general thinks of her devotion to her dream and it gets to her.
  • Rapunzel's parents in Tangled. In the original fairy tales, they didn't spare a thought to their daughter's fate. In Tangled, they've been worried and angsting for sixteen years out of Adult Fear.
• Moses in The Prince of Egypt, compared to other films such as The Ten Commandments. In the original source however he's arguably even more angsty.
  • Aside from not realizing he was adopted (see above), this version also emphasizes the fact that he and Ramsees were raised as brothers and friends, giving them a tragic Cain and Abel dynamic not present in the Bible or other versions.
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts:
  • Optimus Prime. Unlike tradition, this Optimus Prime clearly doesn't want to be stuck on Earth with no way back to Cybertron and blames himself for stranding his Autobots on such a backward planet.
  • The Maximals, Optimus Primal in particular. In Beast Wars, they didn't have any emotional baggage. Here they're the last survivors of their planet.
• Superman in the DC Extended Universe, the films placing a larger emphasis on how his power makes him feel disconnected from humanity and showing that he feels much more the burden of being the Last of His Kind.
• All four mains of Madame Web in Sony's Spider-Man Universe:
  • Cassandra Webb suffers from mommy issues due to her mother dying as she gave birth, Cassie resenting that her mother was so much of a workaholic to negate the basic medical practice of going to a hospital when giving birth. Though the events of Madame Web lead her to grow out of this.
  • Mattie Franklin is raised by neglectful parents who are often in different countries and leave her feeling she can never call on them for help.
  • Anya Corazon's mother died when she was only five years old and her father has been deported, thus she lives alone while only a teenager, fearing constant deportation or being sent into the foster system
  • But the crown goes to Julia Cornwall. Her mother had a nervous breakdown after her father left and was committed as a result, forcing Julia to move in with a father and a step-family that clearly doesn't want her around. It leads to her deciding to run away from home.

Live Action Television

• Merlin in the series of the same name. May be justified by being about a younger version than in the myths.
• The original Little House on the Prairie books notably ran on Angst? What Angst?. The seventies TV show, which wound up well into They Just Didn't Care territory, derived plenty of its drama from things that didn't remotely happen in the books/in Real Life. The 2005 miniseries, while not as Egregious, still suffered Adaptation Decay, including mining angst from the books' characteristically restrained hints at the "Well Done, Son" Guy element in Laura's relationship with her father.
• Moist Von Lipwig in the TV adaptation of Going Postal broods much more on his past crimes and their consequences than he does in the book.
• In the Poirot adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, Hercule Poirot agonises a lot more over whether to turn in the person or persons responsible for the murder than he does in the novel.

Theater

• One could argue that this trope was the basis for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, it was precisely this reason that many people initially protested the film—because the all-powerful Christ isn't supposed to show feelings like the rest of the mortals, dammit (never mind that the Bible does have several entries in which he does just that.)

Web Comics

• Chloé Bourgeois in the fifth season of the Miraculous Ladybug webcomic Scarlet Lady. Having stolen the Ladybug from Marinette's bag and become the hero, Chloé didn't have a Ladybug to admire to set up a Heel Face Revolving Door for her. Her worst instincts fed, she's only grown into more of a bitch that she's burnt all her bridges. Though she puts on a smug face, by the time her half-sister Zoé shows up, she's genuinely much more interested in keeping her sister around than in canon. As the author says, by that point, Zoé is the closest thing Chloé has to an Only Friend. Canon!Chloé cut Zoé out the instant she wouldn't be Chloé's Beta Bitch. SL!Chloé is so alone that she's generous enough to allow Zoé some individuality. And when Zoé accidentally lets on that she's Good All Along, Chloé takes this as a personal betrayal, albeit in her usual Never My Fault manner, getting akumatized over how hurt she is that even her sister won't stand beside her.

Western Animation

• In Joseph: King of Dreams, Joseph is clearly very resentful of what his brothers did to him. This escalates to the point where he concocts an elaborate plan to first punish them and then enslave Benjamin, who he didn't even know in the movie and who wasn't even born when Joseph was sold into slavery.
• DuckTales (2017):
  • In the original show, the triplet's mother is never really shown or mentioned. In the reboot, not only is Della Duck acknowledged, but it's a huge plotline that causes tons of angst both before and after she comes back.
  • For once, Donald's Butt Monkey tendencies and his Hair-Trigger Temper aren't Played for Laughs. Having so much crap, unwillingly, foisted on him is what makes him so angry, to the point that he needs professional help to control that anger, all with the backdrop of having no idea what happened to his sister. The presumed death of his sister also made him an Angsty Surviving Twin.
  • Unlike classic media, Scrooge has a much more strained relationship with Donald, thanks to the fallout from Della's disappearance, and with his own father.