Media essay

The converging worlds of Literature and Film...

 Pride and Prejudice, Gone with wind, and the Invisible Man all great examples of classical literature that have been turned into film. However, gone are the days when the great classical novels had such a strong hold on the film industry. Nowadays we turn to popular culture with production industries jumping head long and divulging into the bestsellers list fighting for movie rights, turning novellas into motion picture; a record breaker being the Harry Potter series which has sadly come to an end after a decade of fame. It was first released in 2001, and its successor of fame being Twilight, which is now entering into its final stage with its last film to air in November 2012.

Film adaptation is the transfer of written work into a film; common forms of film adaptation are novels. Pride and Prejudice is a piece of classical literature, which have been turned into film. The book has attained a position of being one of the most popular novels in English Literature and has received much attention. Therefore there have been a number of adaptations ranging from literary texts such as “Mr. Darcy’s great escape” by Marsha Altman, to film adaptations such as “Bride and Prejudice” directed by Andrew Black.

 Yet today we have novels like Harry Potter an exceptional enticing extraordinary piece of work, with its film series not just gripping the nation, but the world for the last decade. Recently the Dracula “cycle” has become increasingly popular with T.V dramas such as Vampire Diaries and True Blood becoming huge hits this has proven popular with blockbuster movies like Twilight that have rocketed to fame due to the internet and more exposure.

All in all literature and film are both telling a story, the only difference being one is accompanied with visuals while the other causes you to use your imagination, and with this they both follow narrative theories. Propp argues that “it is possible to group characters and actions into eight spheres of action, the villain, the hero, donor, helper, princess, princess father, dispatcher, and false hero”[1] Which can be applied very well to the Harry Potter series because Harry Potter is obviously the hero, Voldemort is the villain, the donor and the dispatcher being Dumboldore, the helpers are Ron and Hermione and the princess is Ginny. 

Turning literature into film has become the norm; we all expect a bestseller to hit the movie screen. With this production industries are more inclined to find good literature texts to turn.  It has been said that “With so few stories to tell it’s inevitable that every film has a narrative displaced from somewhere else”[2] this is evident as “The Lion King is Hamlet in Africa” we are able to see with classics such as the Lion King even narrative displacement is popular. Many people believe that ideas are never original and influence is taken from elsewhere. 

However how is it that production industries decide to turn certain books into films? 

“To interest studios in the relatively conservative atmosphere of Hollywood it will probably need to be supported by evidence of previous success associated with the ingredients of the proposal”[3] The institutions and the heads behind a certain film can also make an impact on its sales due to the names a film is associated with, a prime example is Warner Bros a huge production industry, films generated by their company are normally blockbusters and due to the institution producing many great famous films such as Harry Potter and Dark Knight which have become so famous and both have become record breakers. Dark Knight set records raking in $1,001,921,825, being named film of the year, only to be overturned by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows breaking that record with a show stopping $1,328,111,219. With Warner Bros making such popular movies it is bound to have its own fan base where people will watch the film because of the institution but not what the film is about in particular. This shows the power of branding and institution in influencing society and media consuming habits.

It can be said that J.K. Rowling the woman herself is an industry with the Harry Potter brand earning excess 15 billion. With J.K Rowling involved with every aspect of the Harry Potter franchise, and maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final film and approving the scripts. She has been noted the “most influential woman in the UK”[4] who has led a “rags to riches” life story and is now estimated to be worth $1 billion.

It is inevitable that when someone has seen a film and has read the book, they will compare, we state when parts are different or when parts haven’t been added and we are never satisfied with the end result. Even though the narrative is the same we tend to compare and contrast two different things. We must remember that movies are motion picture whilst books allow us to create our own worlds in which everything seems perfect. Yet when we see a movie we tend to become dissatisfied, as we have already created a perfect image in our heads that the film doesn’t match up to. Movies are a single interpretation of a text from a director’s point of view. Both movies and books have pros and cons in comparison to each other. Books entertain us for a period of time whilst movies allow you to feel entertained for an intense two and a half hours at most; some may prefer movies as it isn’t time consuming whilst books are, whilst others may prefer books as they allow you to enjoy yourself and be entertained for a long period time. Even with advancements in technology it is still less likely that you will be sitting on the bus or train watching a movie, yet we are able to sit anywhere and read a book weather its on the bus or train, in which we are transported into our own mini worlds. Books create realism and escapism, which allows us to escape reality despite being surrounded.  When a book is converted into a movie there is always this comment that “the movie left out so much” however we have to come to accept that with a minimum of two hours to tell the  whole narrative, the movie is most likely to cut parts out. But how is it that the director decides that some parts are more important than others, or that other parts don’t need mentioning?

In the Harry Potter film series the character “Peeves” isn’t even mentioned when in the novel he appears in all the books and plays the role of the trouble maker. This is a classic example of one of the cons found in the depiction of novels into movies. What is it that made the directors decide not to transfer his character from the book to the film? Maybe they thought that even though he appears in all the books he doesn’t bring about much change, and doesn’t act as catalyst. Furthermore seeing as he does not move the story along, there is no use for him in the film which is needed to fit into the space of two hours.

The Harry Potter franchise has had such a huge impact on the world, with sales of the book exceeding over 400 million in June 2008. The novel peaked at a phenomenal amount of people turning into the excitement for the film. When the first Harry Potter novel was written J.K Rowling had a flash of clairvoyance and in the novel stated “every child in our world will know his name”[5] the impact that the Harry Potter franchise has gained so much popularity this statement has become true.

“Ideologically it is suggested that the particularly close and caring attention paid to women by the male hero provides female readers and viewers with a fantasy escape from the often inattentive men they are actually involved in”[6] which is something referred to as the “maternal male”. They have appeared in classics with macho figures like Rhett Butler in Gone with Wind (US 1939) but also with characters today such as Edward Cullen in Twilight.  Such intimacy is normally shown through close-ups, especially focused around the eyes of both male and female actors. Women who have read a book and are able to feel that fantasy escapism are probably more inclined to watch a movie version as it enables them to feel that escapism again but in a different kind of way.

The converging worlds of literature and film over time have made a huge impact on the world. The novels have impacted the lives of people in so many ways. The popularity of the Harry Potter books even after the ending of series has caused the website Pottermore to emerge sponsored by Sony. It is to be the permanent online home of the Wizarding World in Harry Potter. A Survey from Waterstone's reveals that “children and teachers alike believe that Harry Potter has had a significant impact on children's literacy levels in the UK”[7] they have brought a positive impact on children’s literacy skills which have only been brought about by a children’s book series. The Twilight saga has also had huge impacts on fans that it has even come to the point where a 49 year old woman tattooed her back with the Twilight characters to “show her appreciation for the Twilight universe”[8]. We can see that the films are having a huge impact that they are literally affecting adults, not just the youth. This seems brazier as the youth are seen to be doing things radical and be obsessed with movies. However we are starting to see the older generation do this too. From this we can see that the film industry has helped dramatize literature and has allowed the narratives of the books to be expressed in different way thus reach a wider and more diverse audience.

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[1] The media book: Propp

[2] Media studies page 46

[3] The media book

[4] Guardian - Harry Potter creator….

[5] Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone page 11

[6] The media Students Book – page 84

[7]  Waterstones Booksellers - http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=149878

[8] http://news.softpedia.com/news/49-Year-Old-Woman-Gets-Twilight-Tattoo-All-Over-Her-Back-176932.shtml

Essay Plan

The Converging worlds of Literature and Film


Introduction:
*Address the historic idea of literature being converted into films.
* Many examples of classical books that have been turned into films.


Paragraph 1:
* Classical literature that were being turned into films before e.g. Gone with the Wind, to The Great Gatsby.
* However today we have popular literature texts being converted into films e.g. Harry Potter, to Twilight, and even continuing on broadcast platform with books being converted into t.v series.


Paragraph 2:
Exploration of institutions:
* Institutions involved with turning literature into motion pictures. e.g Warner Bros, and how they decide to turn certain books into films.
* How the institution itself can make an impact on the film.
* How the conversion of certain books can impact the writer. e.g. J.K Rowling
  
Paragraph 3:
*How parts/characters are taken out or changed, and why they are changed in the film to suit the needs of the audience and make the films seem more enjoyable. Harry Potter, Twilight.
*Advantages and disadvantages. 


Paragraph 4:

* Impact on the audience. Does it promote people to read the book or does it just give people the easy option of knowing the "story" however through the eyes of the director that the author (not the original source).

Motive behind media institutions.

Conclusion:

* The converging world of literature and films over time and its impact on the world. With Examples, Woman tattooed all 3 characters faces on her back!.

Mark Scheme: 

Level 4 :

Fluent analytical investigation, showing autonomy and critical perspective.

Extensive and wide range research, shown in bibliography (very detailed bibliography list)

range of academic media and contextual sources, sophisticated research  and engagement with primary text and secondary text.

Sophisticated knowledge and understanding of media concepts, context and critical debates. Work of contextualised study.

Good application of media concepts, contexts and critical debates.

Memoirs of a Geisha Oscars

 When Memoirs of a Geisha came out it was able to win three awards at the Oscars

this shows that it became a very popular film, however without the book becoming a bestseller this film probably would not have been made. Also many people would have seen the film because they were fans of the book which adds to the films popularity. 

Empire twilight review

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=118558

Twilight eclipse was given a 4/5 star rating from Empire, however like the Harry Potter movies the rating probably won't make much of a difference now seeing as it is the third movie out of the series, it may attract new audiences to watch it though, however i personally thing the Harry Potter movie should have been given a higher rating.

Empire harry potter review

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=118264

Even though the Empire gave the Harry Potter movie a 3/5 star rating even though it is an average rating it probably wouldn't discourage many people from watching it, seeing as many are book fans and love watching the movie just to compare, whilst others would have seen the other movies and want to watch the rest, also because the Harry Potter series is such a huge franchise and adds to the social side as well as the entertainment side in the uses and gratifications theory and would be something amongst a lot of conversations people would want to be part of even if they weren't fans.

Harry Potter went out with a bang this weekend – the boy wizard’s last ever movie outing smashed box office records as the film rolled out worldwide.
Stateside, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 earned a staggering $168m in its first weekend.
With that much cash being thrown at it, the final Harry Potter film even managed to top The Dark Knight’s opening weekend record of $158m, creating a new record for the highest ever US opening weekend. Yes, ever.
Internationally, Deathly Hallows Part 2 took a further $75m, meaning its total global earnings are actually a Gringotts-busting $250m.
“What an incredible beginning for the movie that ends it all,” says Warner domestic distribution president Dan Fellman.
“Everyone at Warner Bros joins me in congratulating the many people behind the Harry Potter films. We know this is just the start of what promises to be an astounding weekend and a magical summer.”

The Case of Memoirs of a Geisha


In 2005 Rob Marshal directed this big budget film ($85 million) film, produced by Spielberg's company and distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures based on a best selling, novel written by a male westerner focusing on an iconic part of Japanese culture. It seemed the perfect "Pan Asian" product. It has no "white" stars, and was shot is the US. There was huge controversy at the castings of the two Chinese actors Zihi Zhang and Gong Li and other nationalities in this Japanese story. Marshal argues that he was simply hiring the best talent available. Others argued that it showed typical lack of concern by big US money for local traditions and cultures, which could cause huge offense to knowledgeable audience members, and circulate misleading ideas about others culture.


Internet message board message was:


And why am i interested in a movie about a Japanese woman written by a white man directed by a white man? Imagine if a Japanese woman wrote a bock called Memoirs of a Cowboy and it was directed by a Chinese woman. And they decided to cast a Russian guy cos all whites look alike. What a joke.

The Industry:


The six major studios:
1. Warner Bros
2. Sony Pictures
3. Universal
4. Disney
5. Paramount
6. 20th Century Fox


Are all part of a larger media conglomerates and members of the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) These studios are powerful however not just because they make films but because they dominate the distribution and because they still own libraries of past films.


The concept behind a new film could be developed from many different sources, but to interest studios in the relatively "conservative" atmosphere of Hollywood it will probably need to be supported by evidence of previous success associated with the ingredients of the proposal:
a equal to a recent box office hit and next episodes of "franchises" such as HARRY POTTER.
Or an adaptation of a best selling book e.g. movies based on the Harry Potter series or the Twilight trilogy or Memoirs of a Geisha.

Narrative Theories:


The term narration describes how stories are told, how their material is selected and arranged in order to achieve particular effects with their audiences. 


Narrative theory suggests that stories in whatever media and whatever culture share certain features. But particular media are able to "tell" stories in different ways.(books and films)


A good definition of narrative is given by Branigan who argues that it is " a way of organizing spatial and temporal data into a cause-effect chain of events with a beginning, a middle and end that embodies a judgement about of events"


Individual structuralist approaches to narrative.
Propp argues that it was possible to group characters and actions into:
 eight character roles or spheres of action.
1. the villian
2. the hero
3. the donor
4. the helper
5. the princess
6. the princess' father
7.the dispatcher
8. the false hero


Propp's original study worked on fairy tales. Yet fairy tales, or versions of them are still familiar to us e.g. Harry Potter books and films with their stories of male initiation, good verses evil.


Todorov argued that all stories begin with an "equilibrium" where any potentially opposing forces are "in balance". This is disrupted  by some event, setting a train of series of other events to finish with a different "equilibrium"


Bathes suggests that narrative works with five different codes which actives the reader to make sense of it. Enigma codes work to keep setting puzzles  to be solved to delay the stories ending. Action codes will be read by accumulated details (looks, certain words) which invoke our knowledge of what are often highly conventional "scripts" of such actions 

Last day of filming

http://www.eonline.com/videos/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-exclusive-dvd-clip/173908

Harry Potter fan site 

http://www.mugglenet.com/

Twilight forum

http://forum.twilightlexicon.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5835

Memoirs of a Geisha review

http://smog.edmonds.wednet.edu/wordpress/branomn/tag/memoirs-of-a-geisha/

The front cover shows the powdered neck and bottom half of a geisha's face with the red lipstick styled in a certain way the cover gives off this feeling of this child who was poor and innocent has now been tainted and in submerged into this lustful and luxurious life style.

Memoirs of a Geisha trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_TXEEgNiWE

someone else's take on the movie and book

http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/fr/memoirs_r.htm


This states that the book became popular due to the movie, and because of this the book was on the best sellers list for eight years. The book seems to be really good because of its use of both romance and historical genres mixing in a vey good way. When the movie version of a book is coming out for those who have read the book there is this sense of excitement yet also dread due to knowing that there will be so parts changed, some missed out or even parts added. 

Wikededia

Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II. It contains many Japanese terms for aspects of the geisha culture, occasionally using the Kyoto counterparts.

Eight years later, in 2005, a film version starring Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi as the titular geisha was released.

Filming was primarily done in California, and in some locations in Kyoto, including Kiyomizu-dera and Fushimi Inari-taisha. It was nominated for and won numerous awards, including nominations for six Academy Awards, three of which – Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction andBest Costume Design – were won.

Marshall was criticised in Japan for choosing a Chinese actresses rather than a Japanese one for a role having so much to do with traditional Japanese culture.

Twilight fim trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2T7d8j6I5I

Harry Potter Film Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nSdYGuQ6wk


The film trailer was the first insight we had to the movies and seem very cool through the special effects and this whole idea of magic being translated on screen.

movie poster

We are able to see the two main characters of the novel and film the image looks very clean and polished (obvious signs of Photoshop) yet allows the movie to get this edgy feel and with the black allows us to sense danger we are able to Edwards character with gold eyes and pale skin highlighting to us that he is supernatural they both have light shining onto them showing us that they are good characters yet we can also see that some parts of their faces are  shadowed showing that there is darkness around them. The convention film title and movie rights information at the bottom.

front cover

The front cover denotes a red apple in two hands with a black background with the conventional

title and the authors name with a typical quote. Apples symbolize something tasty yet forbidden something mystical, which represent the novel as it is about vampires and the super natural, also the black background adds to this affect as it just makes everything mysterious and blacked out from our line of vision.(seeing as we are mere humans)

Twilight

Wikipedia:

Since the release of the first novel, Twilight, in 2005, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success around the world. The series is most popular among young adults; the four books have won multiple awards, most notably the 2008 British Book Award for "Children's Book of the Year" for Breaking Dawn, while the series as a whole won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book.

As of October 2010, the series has sold over 116 million copies worldwide with translations into at least 38 different languages around the globe. The four Twilightbooks have consecutively set records as the biggest selling novels of 2008 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list and have spent over 235 weeks on the New York TimesBest Seller list for Children's Series Books.

Thus far, the first three books have been made into a series of motion pictures by Summit Entertainment; the film adaptation of Twilight was released in 2008 and the second, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, was released on November 20, 2009. The third film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, was released June 30, 2010.

Why was Harry Potter Popular?

http://tanorthburg.hubpages.com/hub/What-Makes-Harry-Potter-Popular

Oprah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8C1XM9JIc

"one day every child in the world will know his name"

The film poster follows the codes and conventions of a film poster through the information at the bottom and the symbol of the production company in this case Warner Bros. It also uses the image of the Hogwarts Express which was also used on the book front cover allowing both poster and front cover to relate, however also showing there will be some differences in the movie through changing the colour of the train to black and red. We are also able to see the setting and the characters who resemble what they should actually look like in the novel, which is something the films did really well on. The poster uses a blueish tint which adds to this magical and mysterious affect however it also allows everything to look real.

The front cover sticks to the codes and conventions of a books front cover through the writing of the title on the front page and the authors name, while also adding a little quote from a review "this is a terrific book" the image denotes the Potter boy standing in front of the red "Hogwarts Express" looking surprised with clouds of smoke and magic stars with platform "9 3/4" showing an image that we attain from reading the book foreshadowing what is to come. The cloud of smoke and stars connote the magic within the book, this along side the image of the Hogwarts Express and Harry looking surprised with the many colors allows it to look like he is being submerged into the magical world which is literally what happened in the book.Already allowing us to know that it is part of the fantasy genre.There is also a stark contrast between the Hogwart express and the other train connoting the "wizarding world" to be exciting and unreal while the "muggle world" looks mundane and natural. The overdose of red used on the front cover connotes danger which Harry is put in a lot in the novel and allows the novel to be presented as a fast paced series of drama too.

Harry Potter

Wikipedia:
Since the 30 June 1997 release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. As of June 2011, the book series has sold about 450 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages and the last four books consecutively set records as the fastest selling books in history.
A series of many genres including fantasy and coming of age (with elements of mystery thriller. adventure and romance), it has many cultural meanings and references. There are also many other themes including love and prejudice.
 The books have been made into an eight-part film series by Warner Bros. Pictures, with the seventh book split in two parts; it is the highest grossing film series of all time

Due to the novels success and it being well known, could this be the reason why it was converted into a film?

Seeing as the context of the novel was very interesting and it had so many genres that it could relate to attracting a mass audience it was a good book to turn into a film. Also being produced by the Warner Bros allowed the film to gain much popularity and attention in the beginning as Warner Bros are one of the major production companies in the industry.

rant of the day

The Great Debate

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/great-geek-debates-books-vs-movies/

This shows that books vs movies has been a long running debate.  It seems that as technology has started to develop we as a society have just latched onto it leaving behind where we naturally got our stories from. This debate shows both the positives and negatives of both movies and books.

MY investigation will be on

1.
Korean drama vs American Dramas -The comparison of narrative techniques and style.
Or
Books and films - The way books are continuously being made into films and how they are changed.
Or
Changing nature of Broadcast over the last 5 years.

I am highly interested in korean dramas and american dramas seeing as I watch them practically everyday and the way the are able to relate to our lives on so many levels while also representing ideologies that we have have today, and allows you to get lost in lives of other people but be able to make a connection with them allowing you to feel empathy for them as well as joy, bringing out many emotions.

I  love reading books and these days many directors and production companies are turning books into films -Harry Potter being a prime example of this, however there are so many things that they miss out and few things that they add and allow people to watch the film versions and think they know the novel well when they actually don't know what has happened in the book as many parts have been skipped while certain events have been altered. E.g in the last Harry Potter movie the great Battle happened on the staircase while in the novel it actually happened in the great hall. Which really upset me as someone who reads the books too. Which gets me wondering how is that they think certain parts should be kept in while other parts aren't important enough or why they think changing an event would be better.

Lastly on behalf of the media platforms I find broadcast most exciting and i think seeing how much it has changed in the past few years to be interesting.

Mad Men links

http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showforum=970


http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0094j1x


http://www.madmenshow.com/

Starting the research for  our mini critical investigation, "2011 the most pivotal year for my generation"           and I am doing the royal wedding.