Film Studies Essays Film or Book

Film Studies Essays Film or BookWhich is better the film or the loudness?The debate over the superiority of literature over film or vice versa seems to rear its head every time a major tour of literary work is adapted. Even unbridled success stories such as Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings trilogy have dissident voices discontented with his changes and omissions. However changes and omissions are absolutely necessary when adapting hundreds of pages of prose into a couple of hours of film. This essay will look at how report is adapted and retold in two films Mrs D all(prenominal)oway (Marleen Gorris, 1997) and The colorize Purple. (Steven Spielberg, 1985)Mrs Dalloway is not a conventionally narrated novel. Over the course of a day it follows the eponymous wizard through her preparations to host a party and how the unexpected arrival of am old suitor makes her reminisce about her youth. At the same time we see how Mrs Dalloway and her associates lives intersect with that of a shell-shocked solider. What is produced is a type of mosaic narrative, which is indeed left for the reader to interpret and discern meaning.In the beginning of the film as she walks about capital of the United Kingdom on her way to collect the flowers for her party we are allowed to view moments of her youth in flashback. These flashbacks are generally triggered by something in the present. For example a meeting with Hugh reminds her of how Peter Walsh never to this day forgiven her for liking him. (Woolf, p 8) These are transitioned in and out of aurally, as she hears voices of people she knew in her head and the visual waits a beat before transitioning back as well. This replicates the mosaic narrative style of the book.There is however one major difference between the beginning of the book and the beginning of the film. The character of Septimus (Rupert Graves) is much more quickly realised as a major character within the film. In the book he is introduced as a car backfires an d he is shocked rigid by it although no immediate reason is given why. Over the course of the novel we learn more about his experiences at war and the lasting effect upon him. Mrs Dalloway and Septimus never meet in the novel, yet we are led to discern they are connected thematically through the mosaic narrative.The Film version of Mrs Dalloway opens with a abbreviated age of Septimus (Rupert Graves) in the trenches of world war one. The shot is thick with smoke and is filmed in slow motion to give the sense of a ambitiousness sequence although the title Italy 1918 suggests that this is a flashback. The camera slowly zooms into Septimus face singling him out as the protagonist of this sequence. We see his reaction to a friend being short-winded up by an explosion and as he sinks into despair the smoke fills the screen fading it to white and softening focus. This soft white backdrop so becomes the drapes in the bedroom of Mrs. Dalloway (Vanessa Redgrave). These two environments c ould not be more different however the transition is not jarring or unsettling we are taken from the aversion trenches into the gentile and elegant world of a Whitehall socialite with the spectacularest of ease. The transition leaves the viewer with the impression that the two peoples lives are somehow connected, but maybe is not as subtle and gently persuasive as the book.The Color Purple tells the story of a young black woman in the heavyset South. It is about the oppression and abuse she suffers in a racist sexist world and the bonds of friendship she finds with other women. The climactic emotional moment of the novel is the sequence ion which Celia tells her husband that she is leaving him and moving to Memphis. The dialogue form the scene in the film is taken almost word for word from the book. It is a moment of great personal liberty for Celia, and a moment of fantastic performance from the unusually restrained Whoopi Goldberg. She has been abused and sub-serviant all her life and she finally has enough sense of egotism worth to speak up load and powerfully. Youre a lowdown dog is whats wrong, I say. Its time to leave you and enter into the creation. (Walker, p180)First of all the scene is set in Mr.____s (Danny Glover) House as opposed to Harpos (Willard Pugh) in the book this is significant because it has been Celias prison for several old age a place where she has been continuously abused. This adds extra dramatic tension to the scene and focuses it on Celia. However this does to some extent detract from the arcs of the other characters such as Squeak (Rea Dawn Chong) and Sofia. (Oprah Winfrey) In the novel there are continuous references to Squeak being Harpos mistress and mother of his child. This is less prominent in the film and as such leaves Squeaks departure with much less dramatic weight. Also the film omits the visit of Eleanor Jane and reference to Sofias probation. In the novel Sofia is denied her emancipation by the legalities she is still embroiled with, the film instead reinstates Sofia as a dominant force at the dinner table.What is clear from this scene is that although as the stories protagonist Celias narrative arc has remained intact, omissions have had to have been made on behalf of other characters within the novel due to the narrative constraints of time.Film can strain to imitate the stylistic form of literature successfully as in the case of Mrs Dalloway or unsuccessfully as in the case of The Bonfire of the Vanities (De Palma, 1990) In certain cases such as The Godfather (Coppola 1972) and Jaws (Spielberg 1975) the film adaptation can surpass the source material. Although argument other which form is better may be stainless sound and fury direct comparison of the two different narrative forms can lead to a better understanding of narration itself.BibliographyBordwell and Thompson. (2001) Film cunning An Introduction, New York McGraw Hill.Kawin, B (1992) How Movies Work, London University of Cali fornia press.Thompson, K (1999) Storytelling in the New Hollywood Understanding classical Narrative Technique. London HarvardWalker, A (2004) The Color Prurple, London Pheonix.Woolf, V (1996) Mrs Dalloway, London Penguin popular classics.FilmographyBonfire of the Vanities (Dir Brian De Palma, 1990, US)Color Purple, The (Dir Steven Spielberg, 1985 US)Godfather, The (Dir Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, US)Jaws (Dir Steven Spielberg, 1975, US)Lord of the Rings The Two Towers, The (Dir Peter Jackson, 2002, US, New Zealand, Germany)Mrs. Dalloway (Dir Marleen Gorris, 1997, UK)