COMMUNICATING MORALITY TO AUDIENCES: SYMBOLIC INTERACTION IN FILMS

Through research methodology of case study the present paper promotes the connection between Symbolic Interactionism and film theory, the symbolic film world and the audience’s emotions, intellect and behavior. My purpose of focusing on the modern theory of Symbolic Interactionism is justified by the notion that the mentioned theory provides an ideal concept to achieve the objective of shaping the perceptions of massive audiences into possible positive directions, creating shared positive symbols in the society and making people react to the given symbols accordingly via film media. The analysis of the film version (A Game of Thrones) of George R. R. Martin’s series of epic fantasy novel A Song Of Ice and Fire (1996-2019) discloses the firm connection between Symbolic Interactionism and film theory, between symbolic interaction and communicating morality to audiences.

Restaging Zhu Yingtai in Early Communist China

In 1953, Shanghai Film Studio produced a Shaoxing opera film version of The Butterfly Lovers as the first color film of the People’s Republic of China. Noted for its immense popularity in the Sinophone sphere throughout the 1950s, the film actually exemplifies a history of Shaoxing opera that is connected to urbanization and nationalism as well as women’s liberation and the cultural politics of early communist China. It is an early example of how Chinese opera and modern media technology contribute to transnational negotiations and imaginations of Chinese identities.

Interpretation and Characterization in Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot

This chapter looks at how Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe adapt T. H. White’s The Once and Future King in both original 1960 Broadway stage production and the 1967 Hollywood film adaptation. Specifically, this chapter looks at how the musical Camelot interprets White’s version of Arthurian legend, tracking the changes Lerner and Loewe made and especially how song affects characterization. Drawing on archival research completed at the Library of Congress, this chapter examines the process of adapting this long unwieldy myth into a musical. Although Loewe did not work on the 1967 film, Lerner wrote the screenplay. Since the film version remains fixed and widely available, it is worth investigating how the changes made to it further adapt the tale. Since Lerner and Loewe chose to focus on the love triangle between Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot, this chapter pays particular attention to how Lerner and Loewe alter their characters.

Humanism in Red: A New Mainstream Narrative in the Pop Songs in 1980s' China

This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Oxford Handbook of the Music of China (Oxford University Press ) The articulation of humanism is a recurrent theme in various Chinese literature and arts over the history. One of such well-known cases is the classic novel Journey to the West (Xi you ji) dates from the 16 th Century which stresses the issues of freedom, fighting with the authorities, the loss of belief, and the importance of self-direction. Various adapted versions from this novel popular over since then which hinted strong desire to humanism expression under China’s tight central governance. The recent interpretation of nationwide impacted products is an online novel The Wu Kong’s Biography (Wukong zhuan, written by Zeng Yu, pseudonym Jin Hezai, 2000) which adding the ambitions to challenge the authorities, an imaginary compensation of the young people in China (Liao, 2017). The great popularity of the novel leads to the release of its film version Wu Kong in 2017. Even the theme song of this movie “Equaling Heaven” (music and sung by Hua Chenyu, lyrics by Jin Hezai) brings a real hit in Chinese popular music scene. It was performed by Tibetan singer Zahi Bingzuo, the 2017 winner of The Voice of China in his final song-battle in that show (Qian, 2017: 57-8) and then Hua Chenyu in the TV talent show Singer (Geshou) in 2018. The humanism articulation of the song, same as in the novels and movie, shown well in the song: When I were young and wild, were worthy of it, who would give me a belief? …I could still smile before dawn… ignore the fate decided by the god and I would say the fate follows my heart. 1 Humanist articulations are part of a trend in Chinese pop song that dates back to the 1980s, when that genre first reappeared as an indigenous entertainment genre within China itself. As a transitional phrase during which multiple pre-existing and newly emerging social

Narrative Features in The Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van is about the odd friendship between Bennett, a writer, and Miss Shepherd, an eccentric homeless woman. This paper intends to discuss the narrative features of the film version from David Bordwell’s three dimensions (narration, plot structure and story world) of film narrative. The film presents us with a unique point of view, a seemingly disjointed but implicitly connected plot structure, and a story world in which the characters have their own goals to achieve. Bennett and Miss Shepherd have got to know each other better in fifteen years. Miss Shepherd is Bennett’s guide in life, teaching him how to write and how to get along with his mother.

THE COMPARISON OF CHARACTERS, SETTING AND CHARACTERIZATION ANALYSIS BETWEEN NOVEL AND FILM OF PAPER TOWNS (A STUDY OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE)

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the comparison between film and novel of Paper Towns by John Green. In both novels and films, has two elements, namely the intrinsic element and the extrinsic element. In this thesis, the researcher focuses on the intrinsic elements, there are in characters, characterization, and setting. The comparison between novel and the film version of Paper Towns. The method used by researchers is a qualitative method. Researchers used the original novel in English, as well as watched the film on Netflix. To include a table in the form of snippets of scenes from Paper Towns film. The theory used is the book Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction by Susan Bassnett. The characters in the novel are diverse, when the novel become a film, many of these characters disappear. Usually the characters that are not used in the film are characters that do not have an impact on the threads of the story. The setting in the novel is presented in a more complex and detailed manner than in the film. The characterization in the novel is also complex, but it does not mean that after being a film the characterization that is already in the novel changes.Keywords: comparative literature, novel, film, Paper Towns

How narrative techniques attract young parents: The refiguration of Logger Vick in the Chinese 3D animated film, Boonie Bears: To the Rescue

This article analyses the screenwriting of Boonie Bears: To the Rescue (2014), a film version of the Chinese 3D animated adventure TV series, Boonie Bears. The child-oriented principle of storytelling is one of the most distinctive features of full-length Chinese animated films, especially those produced over the past decade. Within this context, Boonie Bears: To the Rescue epitomizes how Chinese animators are striving to expand the scope of their target audience from children to parent–child groups through the development of narrative competence. This article explores how the arrangement of narrative techniques helps to attract young parents (in their late 20s and early 30s) to cinemas while also retaining the child audience. These endeavours are primarily represented by the refiguration of Logger Vick, the main antagonist in the Boonie Bears animated TV series, who is transformed from a thoroughly wicked villain to a living, ordinary person who could be considered to be the ‘spokesperson’ for young Chinese adults. In this way, the screenwriting techniques in the film strike a responsive chord in the hearts of its adult viewers, thereby broadening the range of its original (TV series) target audience.

Functions of the audio background in the film version of L.N. Tolstoy’s novella “The Kreutzer Sonata” (director M. Schweitzer, composer S. Gubaidulina)

The author of the article analyzes the film “The Kreutzer Sonata” (director M. Schweitzer, composer S. Gubaidulina) and defines the role of audio background consisting of music and sound effects in the development of the concept of the film version of the same-name novella by L.N. Tolstoy. Based on the comparison of the piece of writing and its screen adaptation, the author describes the functions of the audio background and the role of music as a drama factor. The author emphasizes the importance of timbre and sound principles since the sound characteristics help to define the edges of the event line of the story (the past and the present), and the railway and urban noises become a marker outlining the key phrases of the dialogue of Pozdnyshev with his companion. For the film, the role of citations is important, which are used for describing the characters and interpreting them. Citations accompany the images of Liza (classic piano pieces, romance and French song), Pozdyshev (Strauss waltz, Offenbach’s cancan, and a prison song), and Trukhachevsky (P. Satasate’s gypsy songs). Three main characters are united by L. Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata which creates the psychological subtext in representing the relations between Liza, Trukhachevsky and Pozdyshev.  S. Gubaidulina’s music, using the minimum primary musical expressive means, and mostly by timbers characterises the range of Pozdnyshev’s emotions from love to hate and comments the inner dialogue of the character. The audio background in the film fulfils the illustrative, characterizing, subtextual and drama functions. The specific peculiarity of introducing music into the synthetic text is a frequent usage of the intraframe principle determined by both Tolstoy’s prose and the very title of the novel. The author proves that Schweitzer’s “Kreutzer Sonata” is more authentic as compared with other screen versions since it preserves the dialogues and remarks of characters, the unanimity of real events and flashbacks corresponds with the primary source, and the drama of the film is equal to that of the literary text; at the same time, the expression of culmination points is supported by music and sound effects thus helping to understand the idea of the novella.   

El paraíso perdido: La adaptación a la pantalla de Las viudas de los jueves

In 2005, Claudia Piñeiro published Las viudas de los jueves, a novel about the life in “countries” (gated neighborhoods) in the greater Buenos Aires, and in 2009, Marcelo Piñeyro adapted it to the screen. Athough Mavi, a real estate agent, describes life there as a paradise, we see that problems and hypocrisy dominate throughout the film. Piñeyro utilizes various cinematographic techniques to underscore the economic dichotomy between the “inside” and the “outside” and to emphasize the themes of sex and death. Dudley Andrew emphasizes the importance of “the sociology and aesthetics of adaptation,” and Piñeyro’s film, just like the original novel, reflects what sociological studies by Svampa and Castelo reveal about life in the “countries.” In addition, the film is made in a moment in which Argentina’s economic problems continue. Although Piñeiro’s work is not a detective novel, the structure of the two texts have elements in common with that genre. Although the film version does not have the moral weight of the original narrative, the film makes us see that life in the “countries” can be paradise lost.