Abstract
The aim of the paper is to discuss A Monster Calls (2016) by J. A. Bayona, a film adaptation of Patrick Ness’s novel (2011) of the same title, based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, from the empowerment theory perspective. The author of the article indicates that there are some significant changes between the book and the motion picture, especially when it comes to the ways of empowering the protagonist and the works’ potential young audience. The results of this comparative study show that the film is more affectively empowering than the novel. This is mainly because in the book, Ness skillfully uses verbal narration (accompanied by Jim Kay’s illustrations), while in the film, Bayona takes advantage of the possibilities offered by the audiovisual medium, therefore providing the audience with artistic and psychological empowerments.
Highlights
I n my opinion, the author plays an essential role in children’s and young adult literature and, more broadly, culture by shaping his/her implied readers’ or viewers’ ideology, personality, and life
I use the idea of empowerment to analyse the film A Monster Calls (Atienza, Horwits, King, & Bayona, 2017), a cinematic adaptation of Patrick Ness’s (2011) novel of the same title
A Monster Calls, written by Ness basing on the original idea by Siobhan Dowd, who died before creating the story, is a reflective young adult novel that has won several awards, including the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for both Ness’s writing and illustrations by Jim Kay (Jones, 2012), 1 and I think that most of these accolades were bestowed due to the book’s empowering nature
Summary
I n my opinion, the author plays an essential role in children’s and young adult literature and, more broadly, culture by shaping his/her implied readers’ or viewers’ ideology, personality, and life. A Monster Calls, written by Ness basing on the original idea by Siobhan Dowd, who died before creating the story, is a reflective young adult novel that has won several awards, including the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for both Ness’s writing and illustrations by Jim Kay (Jones, 2012), 1 and I think that most of these accolades were bestowed due to the book’s empowering nature This popular and critically-acclaimed literary work can be seen as “[...] a novel of bereavement in which a monster plays the role of a helper in order to ease [the young protagonist] through the process of healing” I will examine the new empowering aspects and review the already considered empowering elements briefly
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