From Verbal to Audiovisual Medium: The Case of the Cinematic Adaptation of R. L. Stevenson’s Novel “The Wrong Box”. Part I

Jadvyga Krūminienė,Indrė Višinskaitė

doi:10.15388/respectus.2018.33.38.15

Abstract

The paper attempts at the analysis of the narrational shifts between verbal and audiovisual mediums on the basis of R. L. Stevenson’s novel The Wrong Box (1989) and its cinematic adaptation under the same title by Bryan Forbes (1966). The authors approach adaptation as a complex phenomenon that experiences the creative tension between preserving fidelity to the source literary text and striving for filmic originality. Similarly to novels, movies represent an act and art of narration but they use different narrative strategies. In film narratives, deep focus, the length and scale of the shots, editing, montage, lighting, sound design, music, human voice etc. accompany the verbal medium. Modelled after literature, movies demonstrate the specific construal narrative components that are combined into coherent cinematic sequences. When transfering R. L. Stevenson’s novel from fictional medium into cinematic medium, Forbes organises the relations of the narrative elements on an intertextual level thus fostering new expressive means. Such practice allows to project the cinematic narrator as a complex construct also given the possibility of being perceived as a speaking persona through an inventive use of intertitles. In fact, the adaptor is caught up in the farcical narrational game, provoking the viewer to actively participate in it.

Highlights

Adaptation has always been an integral part of cinematography
In most cases, a person is introduced “via on-screen greetings and meetings” (Kozloff 2000: 36) which help the audience identify the character. Another function of dialogue in film narrative proposed by Kozloff (2000: 33) is “communication of narrative causality” which allows the audience to understand why the events are unfolding in a particular way
It is interesting to note that in his cinematic version of The Wrong Box Forbes chooses to employ the technique which helped construct the narrative in the silent film era

Summary

Part I

The paper attempts at the analysis of the narrational shifts between verbal and audiovisual mediums on the basis of R. L. Stevenson’s novel “The Wrong Box” (1989) and its cinematic adaptation under the same title by Bryan Forbes (1966). Movies represent an act and art of narration but they use different narrative strategies. L. Stevenson’s novel from fictional medium into cinematic medium, Forbes organises the relations of the narrative elements on an intertextual level fostering new expressive means. Stevenson’s novel from fictional medium into cinematic medium, Forbes organises the relations of the narrative elements on an intertextual level fostering new expressive means Such practice allows to project the cinematic narrator as a complex construct given the possibility of being perceived as a speaking persona through an inventive use of intertitles.

Introduction

Narrative organisation in literature and film

Dialogue as a tool for narrative construction

The shift of narrator