While watching film adaptations, a familiar phrase that is heard is “That’s not how it happened in the book,” majority of the time, adaptations have few similarities to the book. There is always bound to be differences between the book and the film due to the fact that books use words to tell a story, while on the other hand, movies use images and video to tell the story. Henry James published his book Turn of the Screw in 1898 and the film The Others was adapted in 2001. This essay will compare and contrast the film The Others and the book Turn of the Screw with gothic elements such as the supernatural, the behavior of the female protagonists, and the setting. The first gothic element is the supernatural, the supernatural played a major role in both the Turn of the Screw and The Others since both …show more content…
“‘I don’t do it!’ I sobbed in despair; ‘I don’t save or shield them! It’s far worse than I dreamed—they’re lost!”’ (James 56). The governess says this after witnessing both Miss Jessel and Quint, she believes that the ghosts are out to get the children and that it is already too late to save them. In the movie, The Others, the supernatural are simply just living life as if they were still alive, they do not cause harm to real humans since they can rarely on occasion see them. In the movie, the main characters are all dead, but they still do their everyday lifestyle, however, it does affect the humans that are alive. For instance, when the mother, Grace, would close the curtains then they will be remained closed for the humans to see. Also vice-versa, if a human would open the door then the door would remain open for the ghost to see. For example, in the film The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, Grace states, “No door is to be opened without the previous one being closed first (2001)”. Garce blames the help for the problem when in reality it was none of them, when in reality it was the humans. The supernatural in the
Gothic Literature was a natural progression from romanticism, which had existed in the 18th Century. Initially, such a ‘unique’ style of literature was met with a somewhat mixed response; although it was greeted with enthusiasm from members of the public, literary critics were much more dubious and sceptical.
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
popular at the time. The elements of a Gothic novel are, it is set at
Films of this era are criticized for substituting violence and special effects for "substance". Many believe that creating a movie script is a juvenile form of writing, a shrub to the oak of a novel. Upon reading both the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and viewing the film produced by Roland Joffe, one notices the tremendous effort put into both. This essay will explore the many differences and similarities between the book and movie.
with Mrs. Grose, she learns that they are ghosts and former employees of the Gentleman
Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate.
How successfully does the black-and-white film version of The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961), render the ambiguity of James' original text? Ambiguity, the art of deliberately creating something that can have more than one meaning, lends itself to the written word without difficulty. A written story can involve ambiguity in the characters, plot, narrative - every factor in the story can have to it a sense of uncertainty. However, uncertainty concerning ambiguity is subtly different from uncertainty involving vagueness; the former is a deliberate ploy by the writer to leave interpretation open to the reader's own imagination, whereas the latter comes about due to a lack of detail delivered on the part of the writer, probably due to lack of talent or attention.
One of the differences between the movie and the book lies in the settings or rather the surrounding in both the movie and the book. The book depicts an exemplary factual tale, one of mountain myths, situated in 1930's Northern parts of Canada. The book portrays an account of C...
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?
the elements of a gothic novel as it is not set in a remote place or a
Introduction to film (pp. 16-22). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afor Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Piatti-Farnell, L. (2013). The 'Piatti-Farnell'. In the Guise of Character: Costumes, Narrative, and the Reality of Artifice in Thelma & Louise.
In his 1948 essay, Robert Heilman explores the suggestion that The Turn of the Screw is a symbolic representation of the conflict between good and evil. Heilman interprets the apparitions of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel as evil forces. He explains that the ghosts only appear to the governess because evil lurks in subtlety before it strikes. It is the duty of the governess to "detect and ward off evil." She must protect the children from the awful ghosts. The governess describes Miles and Flora as beautiful little cherubs whose only fault is their gentleness (James, 18-19). Heilman views the children's beauty as a "symbol of the spiritual perfection of which man is capable." Heilman explains the ghosts' attempts to reach the children by explaining that evil forces will always try to conquer and possess the human soul. Heilman continues to draw from the descriptions of Miles and Flora to support his theories. He points out that the two children are described as having an "angelic beauty" and a "positive fragrance of purity" (James 9, 13). The governess describes them as if they are perfect and beautiful in every way. This repeated vision of beauty, radiance, and innocence parallels the image of Eden. The house at Bly also resembles this image, "I remember the lawn and the bright flowers..." (James 7). The governess makes mention of the "golden sky" and of Flora's "hair of gold," which Heilman believes connects Bly and Flora with these images of golden hues (James 7, 9).
As stated numerous times throughout this essay, movies must stay true to their book predecessor for full effect. Books are normally beautifully described and written, and help the reader visualize a completely new world. Most movies, not just The Book Thief, normally omit several
Adaptation of any kind has been a debate for many years. The debate on cinematic adaptations of literary works was for many years dominated by the questions of fidelity to the source and by the tendencies to prioritize the literary originals over their film versions (Whelehan, 2006). In the transference of a story from one form to another, there is the basic question of adherence to the source, of what can be lost (Stibetiu, 2001). There is also the question of what the filmmakers are being faithful to or is it the novel’s plot in every detail or the spirit of the original (Smith, 2016). These are only few query on the issue of fidelity in the film adaptation.