Communicative functions and characterization in the Chinese graphic novel adaptations of "Little Women"

Tzu-Yi Lee

doi:10.52034/lanstts.v17i0.470

Abstract

This article attempts to use an integrated theoretical framework to examine the three graphic novels published in Taiwan based on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. After the concept of intertextuality (Kristeva, 1980), Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) visual grammar helps us to explore how the visual semiotic resources in three Taiwanese graphic novel editions of Little Women ascribe meanings, achieve functions and communicate ideologies to enhance the characterization of Jo March. Progressing from the images, image–text relationships are discussed in terms of how these signifiers shape signs and meaning. Finally, by exploring speech or thought representation, the researcher investigates the translators’ awareness of the readers and situates their use of signs socially and culturally. In this study, the integrated framework reveals how these semiotic resources characterize Jo March, and the double meanings (Kristeva, 1980, pp. 65–66) they present, differently. These characterisations may, in turn, may have affected the communicative function of each version. The study concludes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of these applications.

Highlights

According to Tabachnick (2017, p. 26), the graphic novel is an extended comic book without restrictions on its form and content
Rather than the simplified content and limited number of standardized panels contained in comics, the graphic novel can be regarded as an attempt to allow the physical book to survive in an electronic era by combining the advantages of the traditional reading experience with those of the computer screen, which often provides visual objects alongside text (Tabachnick & Saltzman, 2015, p. 5) and allows readers to linger over a given passage or look backwards or forwards without any constraints or time pressure (Tabachnick & Saltzman, 2015, p. 10)
In addition to the specific characterization in each adaptation, these three portrayals of Jo March can be discussed according to the vertical dimension, according to Kristeva’s (1980) intertextuality, regarding how her portrayal has progressed from that of a restrained, lady-like woman to a lovely but mischievous girl, and to a brave, independent lady with happiness portrayed on her face

Summary

Introduction

According to Tabachnick (2017, p. 26), the graphic novel is an extended comic book without restrictions on its form and content. Discussions of graphic novels in Translation Studies are rare, related pioneering research on multimodality has appeared in recent years, as in studies by Oittinen (2000), Kaindl (2004) and Ketola (2016) Scholars such as O’Sullivan (2013), Kaindl (2013) and González (2014) have called for more investigative instruments to be developed for analysing multimodal texts, more benefit can be gained by approaching such texts from different angles. These latter authors suggest that adaptation can be a tactical method for addressing the linguistic problems in the original text or as a strategic approach to ensuring the relevance and usefulness of the translation The latter scenario corresponds to the materials the researcher is examining in this study, since the adaptation of the novel Little Women is contingent on communicative need and functionality

An integrated theoretical framework

Three graphic novel adaptations of Little Women

Image–text relationships

Speech and thought representation

Discussion and conclusion