Watch unlimited films online for $6.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
Learn More
 

Apursansar's Literary Adaptations Canon

By: apursan​sar

Please also visit the following list: Literature in Indian Cinema by Laali

 

Wall

Displaying 4 of 5 wall posts.
see all
Picture of Laali

Laali

31May11

Marc, your list definitely includes many of the films I thought about as my personal choices regarding literary adaptations. Thanks for this as well as for mentioning my list, it's very nice from you :)

Picture of Bijoux Alexanderplatz

Bijoux Alexanderplatz

31May11

Awesome list. Lots I still have to check out.

Picture of Kenji

Kenji

31May11

Ha ha, i was thinking of this sort of list, after the forum thread- this is great

Picture of javier quintero

javier quintero

31May11

Thanks Marc, this list is definitely more inclusive than others, and it seems to be more based on specific cinematic contributions and free adaptation criteria, which can be very inspiring for film viewers and creators. It might be interesting also to gather points from the same director's filmography, or to see what are the periods, authors and/or continents more represented, inviting us to formulate hypotheses about the nature of the possible connections.

Yuki Aditya and Laali like this

  • Picture of apursansar

    apursansar

    1Jun11

    You're right, i think it has a lot to do with demographics and the specific background of the directors. I find it striking that few of my favorite Latin American novels have actually been adapted, and only in some occasions like "hundred Years of Solitude" this has to do with copyrights. On the other hand it seems like Russian filmmakers are extremely concerned to adequately transfer their native literature into film. The same can be said about the New German cinema which also received negative criticism for the numerous adaptations of literay classics, though in that cases it rather had to do with a disrupted cinematic tradition due to the Second World War and the intention to search for artistic roots beyond propaganda (or expressionism which was no longer up to date). In Japan we frequently got a close collaboration between writer and filmmaker (Kawabata; Mishima; Abe), I also think the nature of Japanese literature which is sensual rather than descriptive can be regarded as much more akin to film than their European counterparts. The two writers with the most universal resonance in terms of cinematic adaptations are probably Shakespeare and nd Dostoevsky, various of the great directors either dedicated huge parts of their careers to adapting their works (Kurosawa, Welles, Bresson) or were frequently influenced by them (Tarkovsky, Bergman, Ghatak). The differences between adaptation and appropriation generally seem to lie in each director's individual understanding of artistic creation, though one can also note demographic alterations which must have to do with cultural background. Some apppropriations of entirely foreign material work surprisingly well, as for instance the Senegalese film Hyenès which was based on Dürrenmatt. I got a feeling that direct adaptations of literary classics have increasingly lost its fascination for "arthouse" cinema over the past decade, though indirect and free adaptations which merely resemble the source are still popular. The topic certainly warrants further discussions and comparisions, maybe at some point in the future we can also turn it into an interesting forum thread.

Fans

Displaying 5 of 19 fans.
see all
Picture of Walberto

Walbert​o

Picture of Arsaib

Arsaib

Picture of ruby stevens

ruby stevens

Picture of H. K. ‡

H. K. ‡

Picture of Kenji

Kenji