Philip Noyce's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American to film was a large success. It stayed true to the script, and kept the basic essence of the characters; pulling them from the pages of the book and creating them visually into marvels on screen. The earlier film made on the book was made in 1958 by Joseph Mankiewicz. Fowler was played by Michael Redgrave, with Audie Murphy as Pyle. This version was forced to reverse Greene's political stand taken in the book however, meaning it had no-where near as much impact as Noyce's production. Noyce chose to film in actual Vietnamese locations and without compromise, boldly sticking to the novel by not letting the Americans come out of the story too kindly. The Vietnamese conflict-its roots, effects, and lifestyle was captured brilliantly with Brendan Fraser depicting the deceivingly innocent yet devious Pyle, and Michael Caine as Fowler the ageing and unhappy journalist.
The most obvious problem encountered when translating this tale that has been described as a Drama/Thriller/Romance/War all in one is the fact that the book has been written in first person, and the movie being presented in third. This meant that there were extra scenes added into the film that were actually not part of the novel itself, though this being said they filled in gaps and made certain aspects of the film much more obvious and easy for the audience to understand. Films are of course made in accordance to what type of audience they are aiming for, and Noyce decided naturally to aim for a more main stream audience. In order to meet the demands of the main stream audiences he had to adapt the story to third person, so as to be able to give a more balanced or better rounded representation of the events, and to allow us more obviously to find out what the other characters were doing and thinking. It also allowed for what turned out to be a slightly different interpretations of the main characters.
Thomas Fowler in the novel is the more sinister character. Despite his obvious wit he is very cynical, and has an almost pessimistic outlook upon human relationships. It is Pyle in the novel that we are slightly softer towards, for Fowler is quite bitter. He says that he doesn't care for Phuong's interests, he just wants her and her body, and that he'd rather have a woman in the room with him that he didn't love rather than no woman at all.
Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, is the biography focused around Louis Zamperini an Olympic athlete, soldier and most notably a POW survivor. During his time as a POW he was abused, tortured, malnourished, and used as propaganda in the fight against the allies during WWII. Propaganda was a huge influence in the war it was motivation to the people to stand up and fight and increase productivity throughout the country, it provided stimulus vital to keeping the war alive and in check.
Stark contrasts exist between the description of the characters and emotional content between the book and the movie. This may be mainly due to the limited length of the movie. In the movie, Rat Kiley who is telling the story seems gentler. In the book they make it seem like everything Rat says is exaggerated, but the movie does not stress that fact. “Among the men in Alpha Company, Rat had a reputation for exaggeration and overstatement, a compulsion to rev up the facts, and for most of us it was normal procedure to discount sixty or seventy percent of anything he had to say” (O’Brien 89). Also, the movie emphasizes the fact that Rat Kiley fell in love with Mary Anne Bell. He himself says he loved her towards the end of the movie. A character that people may tend to have sympathy for is Mark Fossie. In the book, one may not feel for Fossie. The movie shows the character having more feeling especially after he couldn’t find Mary Anne. A third character that is portrayed differently in the movie than in the book is Mary Anne, who is the main female character of the chapter. The movie stressed the fact that Mary Anne wanted to learn more about the Vietnamese way of life. There was a scene in the movie where Mary Anne spent time with the Vietnamese soldiers learning their language and how to cook their food. They also show her going ...
Filmmaking and cinematography are art forms completely open to interpretation in a myriad ways: frame composition, lighting, casting, camera angles, shot length, etc. The truly talented filmmaker employs every tool available to make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels, including social and emotional. When a filmmaker chooses to undertake an adaptation of a literary classic, the choices become somewhat more limited. In order to be true to the integrity of the piece of literature, the artistic team making the adaptation must be careful to communicate what is believed was intended by the writer. When the literature being adapted is a play originally intended for the stage, the task is perhaps simplified. Playwrights, unlike novelists, include some stage direction and other instructions regarding the visual aspect of the story. In this sense, the filmmaker has a strong basis for adapting a play to the big screen.
The premise of the plot is held in tact but the setting is shifted several hundred years, to the 1970s. The characters’ names even remain familiar. The dialogue is contemporary English yet you can still recognize the similarities in conversation. Major themes from the original work – revenge, guilt, self doubt, fate, and prophecy still exist in this manipulated adaptation. “He (Morrissette) is able to make an interesting point about how the difference between tragedy and comedy is often how the material is viewed by the audience”.(Berardinelli)
...the 1979 film adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” failed to live up to the novel. Because it was made in the 1970's, the special effects were unrealistic and inferior to what one pictured while reading the novel. Compared to the novel, the film was also practically censored in terms of how graphic it was. Remarque intentionally made the novel graphic in order to present the anti-war theme, therefore the effectiveness of the film was diminished. The acting in the film was also mediocre and disappointing, and the cast was not well chosen. The trenches in the movie were also slightly softened from how they were described in the novel. Paul Baumer's thoughts and feelings were also not presented as well as they were in the novel. Ultimately, the novel was much more effective at delivering its anti war message, and telling the story. I is not happy. Penispuffer.
There were certain things in this book, however, that I thought could have used some improvement. The main one being that I felt Bradbury was too long-winded in his descriptions in the book. For example, “His foot, sending vibrations ahead, received back echoes of the small barrier across its path even as the foot swung.” (Page 13) All Montag did was stub his toe on a glass bottle; there was no need for such and overly extravagant description. Also, because of these excessive descriptions, I had a lot of trouble keeping track of the basic plotline. I felt that the descriptions somewhat hindered my basic understanding of the book.
The opening scenes of “All Quiet on the Western Front” highlights the importance of young men in taking part of the battle in World War I. The film discusses the position of Germany in the war and it emphasis to young viewers about how the nations were once at some point in a clash of defeating one another. Furthermore I will discuss the subjects it covers in history with it’s details in the setting, plot and the issues it raises including the themes of warfare. This film’s screenplay, acting, production and music may not be as advanced as today’s movies but it sure does have some flaws and perfections involving its literary techniques. “All Quiet on the Western Front” contains points with some of its weaknesses and strengths. Young viewers
The story is written in third person. It is an all-knowing, nonparticipant Narrator who clearly sees into the mind of the main characters. In that way, the reader gets more information about the characters: what their thoughts are, and why they act like they do. Although the readers get a lot of information of what the characters are thinking, the readers get most of the information through the characters dialogs.
1.3.1 What changes have occurred in the inter-semiotic translation of the classic story of Sleeping Beauty to Maleficent (Movie)?
In the first chapter "The Things They Carried" is told in third person to tell us common things carried, and odd things to better understand the characters. It helped the reader know some of the normal experiences in a war “They carried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools of wire,.” Then in the next chapter “Love” it is told in first person, and is told after the war. When he switches to first person you can sense the straightforward and curiosity in his conversation
From the first sentence in the book readers will most likely already be confused. Also, readers will have to go back and read paragraphs over and over again so they will be able to remember what, or whom the author is even talking about. The author tends to use words
The story was told in third-person omniscient. It would talk about Marie-Laure’s life and then switch to Werner. This effects the story in a well written way. It talks about both of the characters feelings and situations. They are both going through war in a personal way but when they find each other, they are at peace. If the story was told at a different time, such as modern day, it wouldn’t be the same. There is no war going on recently and technology ruins the suspense of them seeing each
freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building” (Edward Snowden). Before WW2, communism became a colossal concern due to the idea that various people were aiming more on what countries they wanted to colonize. Later after the war, from 1945-1964, the Vietnamese expanded Southward expecting to reach the Mekong River Delta. As a result of their movement, the Vietnamese absorbed French influence established upon choice and freedom to individuals. France was preferential where as the U.S. Was pushed further away because the French recognized the democratic republic of Vietnam (DMV) as a free state. In the novel The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, Thomas Fowler, a British journalist, meets an American CIA agent named Alden Pyle who is always reading books by York Harding. Pyle's opinions are based on Harding’s beliefs that a Third Force, a country that interferes with two fighting nations to help reach a settlement, is the best way to help Vietnam out of Communism. Both Fowler and Pyle battle over a women named Phuong, wanting what is best for her and the rest of Vietnam. While Fowler wants nonintervention, Pyle wants to do the complete opposite. In the novel The Quiet American, Pyle believes he has to bring in a Third Force to stop communism which became a threat to the Vietnamese when in contrast, Fowler is more justified because he interpreted the main conflict of the Third Force and the view of the Vietnamese people.
In Graham Greene's The Quiet American, the themes of naivety and innocence are in constant and direct conflict with the reality and crudeness of the Vietnam War. Sometimes Greene sees innocent people as helpless victims of the devastation others wreak, like the soldiers who are killed when Fowler and Pyle shelter in their tower. More often though, he regards innocence as a kind of pre-moral condition. There are frequent references to the ignorance of the innocent character of Alden Pyle. An extremely idealistic and naive American, Pyle represents the innocence of the inexperienced who are exposed too early in life to a situation as concrete as a war in the battlefield. The innocence of Pyle is displayed through his ruinous idealism that culminates in his murder, his work for General Thé, and Pyle's personification of America as an international powerhouse.
The narrator is completely passive until the man in his sixties address himself. As if the narrator was a “fly on the wall”, he or she observes other people and narrate their story from his/her point of view. It is especially clear, when the older man follows the French girl, and the narrator comments; “Oh no, I was thinking, he simply must not try and talk to her, attract her attention, impose himself.” This type of narration is used to give the reader access to his or her mind, thoughts and emotions. It is also easily getting relatable, because nouns as “I” and “we” are used in this narration. It makes it easier for the reader to make a connection emotional connection to the character. As good as this narration is, there is also a downside. The narrator is filtering information and events through the narrator’s perspective and it is therefore not always truly