tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post113600861727906008..comments2024-02-08T05:04:18.484-08:00Comments on J'S THEATER: Novels vs. Films: What Happens in the Translation?John Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-1136354413735857532006-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:002006-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:00Resumed--so I can't really comment.I agree with yo...Resumed--so I can't really comment.<BR/><BR/>I agree with you about Paule Marshall. I would discuss her with Oprah if that opportunity opened up, though I don't think it will anytime soon. Marshall's DAUGHTERS seems like a readily translatable book to me. What do you think about that one? I agree that would rather see CHOSEN PLACE, TIMELESS PEOPLE, BROWN GIRL, BROWNSTONE, or PRAISESONG FOR THE WIDOW as movies first.John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-1136227425696858522006-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:002006-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:00Ryan, I definitely want to see The Lion, Witch and...Ryan, I definitely want to see <I>The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe</I> both because I loved the story when I was small but also because of my curisoity about how it was adapted, the buzz around Swinton's performance, and a desire to see how far Hollywood went in underlining the Christian undertow of the book. When you see it, please post about it!<BR/><BR/>I think a number of Baldwin's novels could work as films, as could Atwood's <I>The Blind Assassin</I> or <I>Oryx and Crake</I> (Kubrick could have done that one); Morrison and Delany would be much more difficult, I think. <BR/><BR/>who are IN NEED of being adapted since their works are so timely, so rich, and so very symbolic of the world we live in.<BR/><BR/>I agree with you about authors who need to be adapted. One whose works would translate well, with the right, fearless director, would be E. Lynn Harris. Another that comes to mind is Jonathan Lethem. Paul Auster's novels could be the template for Lynch film, though I'm not sure they're sexually dark enough. And so on. I like your list, though!<BR/><BR/>of course, you and I have talked about samuel delany and the book I want to adapt for the silver screen. The other books I want to take a stab at:<BR/><BR/>Haroun, by the way, became an opera scored by Charles Wuorinen, one of the major avant-garde composers. Some of the reviews praised it fulsomely, while others couldn't hold back their disgust with Wuorinen's 12-tone composition.<BR/><BR/>Also post about <I>Caché</I>; I'm praying it's playing in Chicago when I get back.<BR/><BR/>***<BR/><BR/>Reggie,<BR/><BR/>Happy New Year to you!<BR/><BR/>I do barely recall that title card, and in a sense, all adapted works are, to some extent, palimpsests (especially in the sense that the traces remain, though the most faithful ones would metaphorically constitute something much stronger, right?).<BR/><BR/>I have to say that I don't always have the author's voice--or language--in my head, depending upon the film and book. Doctorow's language in <I>Ragtime</I> was there when I saw the film the second time (since I hadn't read the book when the movie version first appeared), but other works, like <I>The French Lieutenant's Woman</I>, had actually dissipated by the time I saw the film. (Perhaps I was just too young and read Fowles' beautiful, complex novel too quickly.) I agree with you about the degree of the novel being an "event of language" determining its translation, although I also think that some works, like Claude Simon's novels, could very easily translate into highly complex, astonishing pictures--though they would be very different in form when translated. I also think that <I>Beloved</I> was too faithful to the novel and didn't reconceptualize it for the new form, which is essential for great film. It must be RETHOUGHT as film--unless of course it is already written basically as a screenplay in prose, which would be a kind of applesauce, wouldn't it?<BR/><BR/>I liked Raul Ruiz's version of Proust--he really did try to reconsider how to reamke it so taht it worked cinematically. It still doesn't fully work, but then how could it without becoming something completely else?<BR/><BR/>I haven't read or seen the Spencer work, so I...<BR/><BR/>Oops-my flight now is boarding, so let me get on it. I'll write more later...!<BR/><BR/>Love to you and M-Daddy!!!!John Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08073378940347627766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-1136137621234343162006-01-01T09:47:00.000-08:002006-01-01T09:47:00.000-08:00Happy New Year, baby!As you may or may not remembe...Happy New Year, baby!<BR/><BR/>As you may or may not remember, the opening of the film verson of Umberto Eco's bestseller begins with a title card, calling itself 'A palimpset of The Name of the Rose.' So it is with all films based on novels (or short fiction). Comparing the two is like comparing apples to apple pie (or in the case of a not so good film, applesauce!)<BR/><BR/>Because we have the author's voice in our head when we read, we are unreeling the novel in our mind's theater as we move through the book. The more a novel is an event of language rather than plot/what happens next, the more difficult it is to translate to film. Which may be one reason why, say The Maltese Falcon (which uses much of Hammet's dialogue in the book verbatim) is a more successful translation than Beloved. Or more 'middling' novels can become very good movies (Orson Wells' fractured but still glorious Magnificent Ambersons)<BR/><BR/>And too, one can't approach the source as some kind of Holy Text not to be changed in the transfer from page to screen -- another problem with Beloved perhaps? I agree that someone perhaps more inventive or 'radical' in their interpretation -- for example, the floating world Raoul Ruiz created for his Proust film, Time Regained -- could have created something special with that, but there was such outsized reverence for the book and Morrison that it just wasn't possible to do. ONe can/should honor the original work and most particularly the 'tone' of the book, but its not necessary to be totally faithful.<BR/><BR/>One example of this is the very good film version of Scott Spencers', Waking the Dead (a novel I love). I shuddered to think what a film of it would turn out to be, but combining a very good screenplay, intelligent direction and some great acting by Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly and it turned out quite well. <BR/><BR/>Having said all that, there are still books that I think would make good movies. One of my choices would be another favorite, Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless People. You're in Chicago, John -- slip a copy to Oprah with a suggestion that she play producer again for me will ya?:)<BR/><BR/>Much love to you & C-daddy!:)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11122973.post-1136136558376298982006-01-01T09:29:00.000-08:002006-01-01T09:29:00.000-08:00excellent post, john. with the recent adaptations ...excellent post, john. with the recent adaptations of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe (which im going to see today...AND, I hear Tilda Swinton is a tour de force as Jadis, The White Witch), i have been wondering about this very subject. <BR/><BR/>It can be quite difficult to get the essence of a book on film. Much is lost or dropped in favor of "narrative simplicity", etc.<BR/><BR/>Which is why james baldwin, salman rushdie, most of margaret atwood's novels, toni morrison and samuel delany AND Octavia Butler, just to name a few, have never been adapted for the silver screen or are too difficult to adapt because their respective narrative structures challenge and question the fluidity of a "linear narrative"....<BR/><BR/>of course, these are authors I think who are IN NEED of being adapted since their works are so timely, so rich, and so very symbolic of the world we live in.<BR/><BR/>of course, you and I have talked about samuel delany and the book I want to adapt for the silver screen. The other books I want to take a stab at:<BR/><BR/>The Edible Woman Margaret Atwood (a PERFECT film for Thandie Newton, if you ask me)<BR/>Another Country James Baldwin<BR/>Kindred Octavia Butler<BR/>Haround and The Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie<BR/>Tar Baby (SO NEEDED given the black community's long standing obsession with light skin, etc.) Toni Morrison<BR/><BR/>of course, my lack of time in the day to sit down and write is a major issue...which is one of my new year's resolutions: devoting MORE to my writing projects, etc.<BR/><BR/>but a good post...oh, i totally thought of you when I saw Haneke's Cache. I'm planning to see it this week and was going to ask if you wanted to see it. But, i forgot you are going back to Chicago soon. But, I will tell you about my thoughts on the film when I see it....<BR/><BR/>happy new year!Ryan Cantyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12957911952441418201noreply@blogger.com