Plot
The plotlines for Field of Dreams and Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa are largely the same, at least up until the part the short story left off. I'd imagine that's because we got the short version and there is more to the short story. That was the idea I got from trying to get further information online. There were small differences, like the fact that Ray went to Berkeley in the movie, while he went to the University of Iowa in the short story. Also, in the written version, Ray fell in love with Iowa almost immediately and was more than happy to become a farmer because of his love for the land. In the film, he was wary about becoming a farmer and didn't truly fall in love with Iowa until it became his gateway to meeting his baseball hero. In the story, Annie, Ray's wife goes along with his plan to build the baseball field immediately because she knows it is what he needs to do to be happy, but in the movie form, she asks, "Are you actually thinking of doing this?". Here and throughout the movie, she is somewhat the voice of reason when Ray's dreams get far fetched. So much more storyline goes into the movie, obviously since it has to fill a certain amount of time, so, in the movie, Ray has an issue with his father, but this does not happen in the written form. Similarities are quite clear. Ray builds the field because he hears a voice say, "If you build it, he will come." Then, after it is built, Shoeless Joe pops up in the night and asks if he and his friends can come back the next day.
Point of View
In the film version, there is no narrator. The story is told exactly as it is happening because it is self-explanatory. The short story, on the other hand, requires a narrator. Still, in the film, Ray hears the voice many times. In a small way, the voice could be a type of narrator because he moves the story along and gives Ray hints as to what to do next. This could have taken place in the story, but we read a short piece, so I'm not totally sure. There is a difference in the voice's persistence. Ray doesn't understand the voice initially in the movie. He questions his sanity for awhile, but eventually understands after a short catharsis. In the short story, Ray understands immediately what he is to do.
Characterization
The characterization in the two pieces is similar, but not the same. The main difference I saw was in Annie. She was definitely more headstrong in the movie. She did not blindly support every decision Ray made because she wanted him to be happy. She really took the family's finances into consideration when Ray didn't. Also, in the short story, I got this sense that Shoeless Joe was somewhat confident. I mean, he was a professional baseball player. What reason did he have to be tentative around Ray? In the movie, I thought he seemed almost nervous or scared when he first came into the picture on the field that first night. Mainly, this is just a difference in perception, but there is something to it.
Setting
In the first paragraph, I mentioned a difference in the main character's feelings toward the setting. Realistically, the setting in both works is the same. Both take place in rural Iowa. In the movie, Ray travels far from Iowa on his goosechase. Again, this is likely because the story was cut short. Little things, like the bleachers, are different. It may sound odd, but they were definitely bigger in the movie than they were described in the short story.
Theme
The theme of the two works is essentially the same. The idea is that dedication to a goal wins out over the impossibility of that goal. Also, there is a focus on love. Ray, in both pieces, loves baseball, and he loves his family. Because of that love, he does things that most would consider crazy, like building a non-lucrative baseball field on an expensive piece of farmland or becoming a farmer with little to no farming know-how. Still, love wins out and everyone wins in the end. Ray meets his dad again to play catch. The family finds a new way to make money and avoid giving up the farm, and it's all happy.
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