Novel Compared to Movie Adaptation Essay

fill reading or movie adaptation has been a widespread practice in cinematic tradition around the world. volume of such adaptations be defend from parables, primarily allegorys. Some of the other commonplace sources include autobiography, plays, scriptures and comic books. When a fabrication is adapted for movies, there are certain techniques deployed to give it a cinematic appeal. Inventing new characters and altering scenes drop into the category of primary adaptation techniques.Sometimes it is also noticed that an insignificant character in the novel is given a prominent comp angiotensin-converting enzyment to play in the film. Novels with exteriority and physically dynamic structures are most normally adapted for filming. Thus, modern novels with their intricate literary devices (such as stream-of-consciousness, internal monologues, and so on ) are difficult to make fit for movies. While changes are compulsory due to time constraints and nature of the medium, extrem e care must be taken so that the original essence of the novel is not compromised.However, wizard school of thought argues that the director should treat the film separately from the novel as some(prenominal) are completely different works of art. complete arrangement of a novel at the time of filming is close to impossible since both speak different literary languages. Contrary to this perspective, some other school of thought steadfastly believes that the film must retain either the thematic or the aesthetic sense of its source. Changes should only be made wherever necessary. This doctrine lays more emphasis on the faithful retort of the source content.This article is going to make a comparative abstract between Fannie Hursts fictitious of Life and its cinematic adaptation of the equal title directed by Douglas Sirk. One of the cardinal aspects of movie adaptation that every director must keep in mind involves the stake of taking the viewers away from the fiction It has been argued that these displays of technique and artifice make it difficult to respond affectively to art since they create distance between the fiction and the viewer. (Sirk et al.207) Cinema is quintessentially a self-reflexive form of art having a vast oscilloscope of expression. This freedom, if used discreetly and master fully, may make an ordinary source saying splendid. The novel Imitation of Life focuses not just on the flagrant nature of racism in America in the beginning of the 20th century, just now also, and perhaps on a more serious note, holds in view the limitations of the new women. Peola, one of the main female characters in the novel, represents the sad predicament of beingness neither black nor white yet both.(Hurst et al. xxv) Her persistent struggle to live without black identity makes her suffer from the sorry loss of her mother. At the same time, Bea also gets entangled between career, squash and motherhood. She has to give up love and care for her daughter Jessie to pursue her career. The dickens sets of mother-daughter relationships portrayed in the novel, Bea-Jessie and Delilah-Peola, imply a subtle message which Hurst seeks to state in the novel a charwoman cant declare it all. (Hurst et al. xxv)The movie by Douglas Sirk does not deviate from the main mend of the novel to a great extent. Characters and conclusions in both cases are same, but the background is changed in the movie to suit the nature of time it depicted. It magnate be noted that the novel was written in 1933 whereas the movie was released in 1959. The identities of Lora and Annie as widowed wholeness mothers are kept intact in the sense that Bea and Delilah are also sh develop as widowed single mothers in Hursts novel Imitation of Life. The cinematic counterparts of Jessie and Peola are Suzie and Sarah respectively.Loras fiance Steve is an adaptation of the character of Frank Flake in Imitation of Life. The movie Imitation of Life, as observed by And rew Sarris in Film Culture, is characterized by an apparent notion of impossibility which Sarah wants to achieve white skin. (Handzo 1997) If one attempts to make a comparative analysis between the movie and the novel, the part that comes to the fore is the introductory part. Sirk Douglas does without the elaborateness of Fannie Hurst in narrating the backdrop of Loras preceding(prenominal) life when she was married.In the beginning of the novel, Bea is shown as a spinster who marries asa dulcis Pullman. The subsequent chains of events that lead to Beas struggle for survival with an child daughter are excluded from the movie. It opens with Loras soaring ambition of becoming a Broadway star a curtain raiser which is followed by three kind scenes the filmmaker conjures women and work, race relations, star mythology. (Sirk et al. 27) In this sense, the movie mirrors the content of the novel in a threefold manner. To quote Sirk, The mirror is the imitation of life.What is kindle about a mirror is that it does not show yourself as you are, it shows you your own opposite. (Sirk et al. 3) As far as cinematic approach is concerned, the abrupt hatchway may be attributed to time constraints as well. However, the movie diverts from the novel in one critical aspect. While Bea pursues a successful career of businesswoman, Lora takes a different course altogether. Unlike the world of literature, the world of showbiz uniquely demands zip of action and hence, the characterization is justified per se.Another argument that can be cited with regards to the altered career path of the main protagonist of the movie is the teddy social climate in the times it was released. It was difficult for the filmmaker to anticipate his heroine as the owner of pancake restaurants. Moreover, during that phase many Afro-American actors were stress to put behind the stereotyped roles of household attendants. So changes in the plot line are especially reflected in the characterization of Annie.In addition to being a motherly figure of affection and care, she is also the source of perception in Loras household. (Richard 2008) Both the novel and the film adaptation carry on a striking resemblance in themes of romance. At the end of the novel, a triangular love develops between Bea, Flake and Jessie. Similarly, the movie also projects connatural storyline where Suzie in her teenage is enamored by Steve who is Loras fiance. This modernist womans picture has been a source of much controversy in both the novel and the movie.It has given rise to a lot of libber speculations regarding the ordeals faced by single working mothers in male overriding societies. The melodramatic imagination of the filmmaker goes beyond the confines of the novel. The cinematic experience of Imitation of Life presents a spectrum of diverse interpretations which are not fully realized in the novel. It can be stated without an iota of interrogation that the freedom of expression in any mov ing medium is apply to its fullest potential by the director, all within the permissive limits of the reel world. plant life cited Hurst, Fannie, and Daniel Itzkovitz. Imitation of Life. Durham Duke University Press, 2004. Sirk, Douglas, and Lucy Fischer. Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk, Director. Piscataway Rutgers University Press, 1991. Handzo, Stephen. Intimations of Lifelessness. bright lights film daybook 18 (1997) Richard, Cicely A. Film Analysis Imitation of Life. suite101. com. May 26, 2008. 7 walk 2009