ZL-014

Literature

and

Film

Representation of Narrative

Using Verbal and Non-Verbal Discourse

Zachar Alexander Laskewicz, PhD

for non-native speakers of English

[1] One Page Summary

KNU National Kaohsiung University

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

OPTIONAL UNIT

Literature, Film & Theatre:

representation of narrative using verbal & non-verbal discourse

for non-native speakers of English

Course Description:

The intention of this course is to give students an insight the relationship between English-speaking literature and film, or more specifically the contrasting discourses they make use of. The central observation is that although these forms contrast so highly, they share the same narrative sources, and the problematics and advantages of this uneasy relationship are explored. The course consists of a series of twelve hour long lectures. The second hour is a tutorial based on readings and viewings the students have done in the preceding week and the contents of the lecture. The last hour is spent either workshopping the ideas presented in the lectures (such as film-making techniques or story-boarding) watching films or working on assignments. Assessment is based on two assignments, the first involving a critical assessment of a film based on a work of literature and the second a short story being made into a screenplay, a storyboard and/or a short film.

Weekly Schedule:

The following set of lectures is given to students who are required to have completed a set of readings related to the topic

LECTURE 1: Discourse Studies

LECTURE 2: The Screenplay

LECTURE 3: Narrativity & Temporality

LECTURE 4: Narrativity & Film

LECTURE 5: Adaptation & Remakes

LECTURE 6: Literature & Cinema

LECTURE 7: Non-Narrativity

LECTURE 8: Genres & Themes

LECTURE 9: Textuality

LECTURE 10: Criticism

LECTURE 11: Fantasy & Realism

LECTURE 12: Concluding Lecture

[2] Short Summary

KNU National Kaohsiung University

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

OPTIONAL UNIT

Literature, Film & Theatre:

representation of narrative using verbal & non-verbal discourse

for non-native speakers of English

Short Summary:

The purpose of this unit is primarily to help students understand the relationship between the two important forms of artistic communication: written literature and cinema. These two forms of discourse are highly contrasting, involving entirely different semiotic systems in the way they communicate. Literature involves readers in a dual interactive process they interface with a given work and contextualise it into their world at their own pace. It is commonly considered an active process, as reading and interpretation of written literature are considered to take a comparative effort on the part of the reader. In contrast, the art of cinematic communication involves a relatively passive process as the 'viewer' sits through a filmic narrative which tells its story with a set of actors, sound effects and music; the communicative process is considered more direct and is in some ways more restricted than the written forms. Although they contrast so highly, this unit will demonstrate the ways in which they are inseparable, as well as the contrasts and the difficulty the film-maker has in transferring 'written' narrative as such into a filmable 'screenplay'. In the process of this unit the students will be viewing a selection of four major films and the novels on which they are based. These three works will be examined in detail and the students will be required to write a critical essay based on the knowledge they attain about the relationship between film and literature. In addition to the analysis of the films, the students will be receiving lectures on specific aspects of the filmic/written problematic and will be adapting, and perhaps even filming (even if only in part) an example of a piece of English literature. These lectures include subjects such as the writing of screenplays, techniques associated with the adaptation of literature and more diverse topics such as unfilmable narrative. In the process of a single semester the student will attain an insight into the sometimes problematic relationship between literature and film and the difficulties faced by the film industry. Although film is obviously a different type of discourse that can communicate things impossible with literature, the accent in this course is to be laid on the area where film and literature do connect, rather than observing and concentrating on their contrasts.

[3] List of Lectures with short description and reading list

KNU National Kaohsiung University

Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

OPTIONAL UNIT

Literature, Film & Theatre:

representation of narrative using verbal & non-verbal discourse

for non-native speakers of English

[1] Summary

[2] Assessment

[3] NOVEL/FILM LIST

[4] Semester Divisions

[5] weekly Lesson list

with short description and readings

for non-native speakers of English

[1] Summary

The purpose of this unit is primarily to help students understand the relationship between the two important forms of artistic communication: written literature and cinema. In the process of this unit the students will be viewing a selection of four major films and the novels on which they are based. These three works will be examined in detail and the students will be required to write a critical essay based on the knowledge they attain about the relationship between film and literature. In addition to the analysis of the films, the students will be receiving lectures on specific aspects of the filmic/written problematic and will be adapting, and perhaps even filming (even if only in part) an example of a piece of English literature. Although film is obviously a different type of discourse that can communicate things impossible with literature, the accent in this course is to be laid on the area where film and literature do connect, rather than observing and concentrating on their contrasts.

[2] Assessment

The student is assessed on the basis of two assignments, one theoretical and one practical. Usually the theoretical article is due by week 8 and is on a specific topic relating to one of the pieces of literature and film being analysed. The second assignment is an attempt in some form for the student to realise as film a given piece of English literature (or a part thereof). This can be arranged with the lecturer for each individual project. It can be done in groups and depending on the ability of the students and the facilities of the university can extend from a screenplay to an actual short-film.

The division of grades is calculated as followed:

Assignment 1 30 %

Assignment 2 40 %

Attendance 10 %

Participation 10 %

[3] NOVEL/FILM LIST

The course consists of four novels and films. The list below includes a number of alternatives in case one or more are difficult or impossible to get hold of. They have been chosen on the basis of their interest as adaptations of literary works, representations of certain genres and primarily their accessibility of both text and film for non-English-speaking students. If the opportunity arises, a number of other films may be shown, such as the important silent classic Pandora's Box, and the students will be provided with ample resource material. The student is required to read at least three of the novels and to write about one of them. Good marks will be attained only with reference to the other films and novels and/or films and literature the students have seen/read themselves. The basic list of novels and films used in the course are as follows:

I War of the Worlds

Directed by Byron Haskin in 1953.

Based on the book by H. G. Wells.

This film is a strongly Americanised sci-fi genre film version of a novel indicative

of 19th century approaches to science, fear of the Other and the terror of disease

and life in England. This is a good chance to explore the problems and advantages

of entirely transposing a film to a new environment.

[alternative Journey to the Centre of the Earth directed by

Henry Levin in 1959, based on the book by Jules Verne.]

II To Kill a Mockingbird

Directed by Robert Mulligan in 1962.

Based on the book by Harper Lee.

Faithful screen adaptation about a lawyer and the effect of a rape

trial on his children and the danger of racism. Book and film are now standard

texts in English-Speaking schools and universities.

[alternative One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest directed by

Michael Hoffman in 1975, based on the book by Ken Kesey.]

III The Legend of Hell House

Directed by John Hough in 1973.

Based on the book by Richard Matheson.

Important genre film which is interesting because the person responsible for the

screenplay had also written the novel. The film is highly effective in realising many

of the eerie atmospheric thrills and shocks present in the book, and it is an

interesting task for the students to explore the contrasting ways Matheson

attempted to achieve this, and where he was more or less successful.

[alternative The Haunting directed by

Robert Wise in 1963, based on the book by Shirley Jackson.]

IV Death on the Nile

Directed by John Guillermin in 1978.

Based on the book by Agatha Christie.

Stylish realisation of the detective thriller by the mystery-queen Christie, perhaps the

most successful (and humourous) ever made. Because of the accent upon the cliché s

and camp element of the stereotypical characters, it is an interesting adaptation to

analyse of an accessible novel which is not difficult to criticise theoretically.

[alternative Evil Under the Sun directed by

Guy Hamilton in 1982, based on the book by Agatha Christie.]

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE FILMS WILL BE SHOWN WITHOUT SUBTITLES AND THE STUDENTS WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO READ THE BOOKS IN CHINESE. DURING THE FILM DEMONSTRATIONS THEY ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE NOTES AND ASK ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MEANING OF ANYTHING TAKING PLACE IN THE FILM DURING THE QUESTION PERIODS.

[4] Semester Divisions

The semester is basically divided into 12 week periods, around which extra lectures, tutorials and/or workshops may take place sometimes for the purpose of revision or study. The central important issue is that each week consists of a lesson lasting three hours. These lessons are again sub-divided into 3 smaller lessons which generally consist firstly of a lecture, then a tutorial and finally a workshop, although film-viewings also regularly take place during the semester and the order of events may change. In any case, the lectures always require that the students have done some pre-readings, information about which is included below the lecture descriptions following. Similar preparation is also expected for the tutorials, although workshops are very often a learning process where the student is not considered to have any background knowledge.

The 12 lectures, tutorials, workshops and/or film-viewings are listed below. This is considered to be a general guideline for the semester, and it may be deviated from during the course of the semester, and the readings related to the lectures are listed below, with a brief description of some of the main points covered in the lecture.

[5] weekly Lesson list

Week 1:

Discourse Studies

Lecture - Filmic and Literary Discourse

The intention of the first lecture is give the students a clear introduction to the notion of 'discourse' as it is understood in the field of hermeneutics, linguistics, critical theory and semiotics so that it can be related to both filmic and literary communicative forms.

Tutorial - An Introduction to Discourse Studies

Based on the selection of readings, the students are expected to develop an understanding of discourse and an ability to make clear and decisive judgements about discourse types.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] McCARTHY, Michael (1991) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (selected readings).

Key Words: linguistic, written and filmic discourse

Film - To Kill a Mockingbird

The first half of the film is viewed.

Week 2:

The Screenplay

Lecture - Techniques for Writing a Screenplay

The screenplay is the document that is used by the 'director' of the film to create a piece of cinema, and is often based on a piece of literature. In this lecture the students will learn the basics of screenplay writing.

Tutorial - Problematics of Adapting Novels into Screenplays

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] (screenplay)

[2] (work of literature made into screenplay)

[3] (critical article involving the screenplay)

Film - To Kill a Mockingbird

The second half of the film is viewed.

Week 3:

Silent Films and Adapted Plays

Lecture - Silent Films and Adapted Plays: opposing forms of communication?

A lecture is given on the contrasts and comparisons between plays adapted for cinema and literary works which were adapted into films during the silent era.

Tutorial - Problematics of Adapting Novels into Screenplays

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] PABST, G. W. (1984) Pandora's Box (Lulu), New York: Lorrimer Publishing (selected fragments).

Key Words: silent films, adapted plays, Wedekind

[2] (theoretical article on adapting plays)

[3] (critical article involving the screenplay)

Workshop - Writing Screenplays

Students are provided with a workshop on how to write screenplays based on a specific short English text. Activity completed in groups ending with a communal discussion about the results.

Week 4:

Narrativity

Lecture - Contrasts in Narrative Style in Literature and Film

After introducing the idea of narrative and its importance to both literature and film, the major contrasts and similarities are discussed between the ways that film-makers and authors can present narratives or communicate their story to the audience.

Tutorial - Discussion of Narrative Styles in Contrasting Forms of Media

Here a number of readings on both film and literate narrative are contrasted. All students are expected to participate in the discussion.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] BARTHES, Roland (1996) "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative" in Image, Music, Text, Oxford: Oxford University press, pp. 79-124.

Key Words: narrative, text, structuralism, literature

[2] LAPSLEY, Robert & WESTLAKE, Michael (1996) "Narrative" in Film Theory: an introduction, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Key Words: film, Saussure, Hitchcock, the Other

Film - War of the Worlds

The first half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 5:

Adaptation

Lecture - Introduction to Film-Making Techniques

The students are provided with a lecture concerning basic techniques that can help them both to understand the decisions film-makers take when they choose to film using certain techniques, as well as possible techniques they can use with non-professional cameras such as handycams of DV-cameras.

Workshop - Storyboarding

Based on the concepts introduced in the lecture, the students will be given practical assignments to adapt small pieces of literature, i.e. a scene, into a 'storyboard' which means a sequence of drawings which demonstrates how the director is planning to photograph the actors (from which angle, how close etc.).

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] Article on storyboarding

[2] SKLOR, Robert (1993) "Hollywood in the 1950s" in Film: an international history of the medium, London: Thames & Hudson.

Key Words: 1950s, Hollywood, 3-D, criticism, method acting, scient-fiction, comedy

Film - War of the Worlds

The second half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 6:

Literature & Cinema

Lecture - Literature & Cinema: contrasts, similarities, and realising these contrasts as film

A lecture is given on the ways literature and film differ, and an explanation is gien of the techniques director can and have used to solve these problems; which are more successful than others.

Workshop - Film criticsm

Instructing the students how they can write film criticisms in English; the sort of language and discourse they need to be able to adopt and the type of cinematic and literary elements they have to comment upon.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] ?

Workshop - Assigning Roles and Rehearsing

Students divide into groups, decide upon a screenplay to produce and follow a series of clear steps printed on a separate sheet which include assigning roles such as director, producer and actor. If there is time, the concept of rehearsal is entered into and some exercises are done in both improvisation and realisation of the screenplays.

Week 7:

Non-Narrativity

Lecture - Narrative as Opposed to Non-Narrative Discourse Forms

A lecture is given on the many contrasting types of narrative which are available to both screen writers and writers of more traditional forms of literature such as the novel.

Tutorial - Problematics of Adapting Novels into Screenplays

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] McGREGOR, W. (1987) "The structure of Gooniyadi narratives" in Australian Aboriginal Studies, R. Schechner, W. Appel (eds.), Number 2, pp. 20-28.

Key Words: aboriginal culture, myth, narrative style, translation, ritual, musicality

[2] BORDWELL, David & THOMPSON, Kristin (1997) "Narrative as a Formal System" Film Art: An Introduction, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, pp. 89-127.

Key Words: narrative, plot, story, narration

[3] BORDWELL, David & THOMPSON, Kristin (1997) "Nonnarrative Formal Systems" Film Art: An Introduction, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, pp. 128-165.

Key Words: the Western, horror films, suspense, drama, genres

Film - Death on the Nile

The first half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 8:

Genres & Themes

Lecture - Major Genre Films & Themes in Literature and Film

A lecture is given on the contrasts and comparisons between plays adapted for cinema and literary works which were adapted into films during the silent era.

Tutorial - The Problems and Advantages of Adapting Hell House and Genre Films

Discussion based on the notion of genre films and the literature on which they are based, such as horror films and science fiction. In addition we look at the the way Matheson realised his adaptation of his haunted house novel Hell House which as a genre film was quite successful.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] BORDWELL, David & THOMPSON, Kristin (1997) "Types of Films" Film Art: An Introduction, New York, McGraw-Hill Companies, pp. 42-62.

Key Words: narrative, plot, story, narration

[2] SKLOR, Robert (1993) "American Film: Turmoil and Transformation" in Film: an international history of the medium, London: Thames & Hudson.

Key Words: 1960s, Hollywood, exploitation, film directors, genre change

[3] CRICK, Robert A. (1996) "The Legend of Hell House," in Cinematic Hauntings, G. & S. Svehla (eds.), Baltimore: Midnight Marquee Press.

Key Words: genre films, ghost stories, scenarists

[4] MATHESON, Richard (1973) The Legend of Hell House [screenplay]

Key Words: genre films, ghost stories, screenplay

Film - Legend of Hell House

The second half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 9:

Textuality

Lecture - What is a Text and is a film a text?

In this lecture it is argued that a 'film' is very much a special type of dynamic text which differs in many ways from both a theatre performance, a theatre text, a piece of literature and even a screenplay (even the screenplay for the same film). It involves a theoretical extension of the notion of text.

Tutorial - Problematics of Adapting Novels into Screenplays

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] BARTHES, Roland (1996) "From Work to Text" in Image, Music, Text, Oxford: Oxford University press.

Key Words: the work, the text, textuality

[2] LAPSLEY, Robert & WESTLAKE, Michael (1996) "Authorship" in Film Theory: an introduction, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Key Words: authorship, auteurism, copyright legislation

[3] (article on film as text)

Workshop - Editing Film

Introduction to basic film-editing packages so that students can easily produce films for assessment if that is part of their individual assessment plan.

Week 10:

Criticism

Lecture - The Real and the Fantastic in Cinema and Literature: realism, fantasy and the 'unfilmable' book

A lecture on a number of complex issues facing contemporary film-makers; new experimental forms of novels which adopt unusual forms of narrative which are difficult if not imposible to realise as film which demands certain temporal regularity which literature allows more freedom to play with, in addition to the contrasting represenation between the fantastic and the realistic, and the contrast between the two which are very often made use of in the same film..

Tutorial - Discuss the Fantastic and the Realistic

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] LAPSLEY, Robert & WESTLAKE, Michael (1996) "Realism" in Film Theory: an introduction, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Key Words: the real, Marxism, Barthes

[2] (theoretical article on adapting plays)

[3] (critical article involving the screenplay)

Film - Death on the Nile

The first half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 11:

Fantasy & Realism

Lecture - The Real and the Fantastic in Cinema and Literature: realism, fantasy and the 'unfilmable' book

Tutorial - Discuss the Fantastic and the Realistic

Discussion based on the analysis of the adaptation of novels into screenplays, based on readings done by the students the preceding week.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] LAPSLEY, Robert & WESTLAKE, Michael (1996) "Realism" in Film Theory: an introduction, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Key Words: the real, Marxism, Barthes

[2] (theoretical article on adapting plays)

[3] (critical article involving the screenplay)

Film - Death on the Nile

The first half of the film is to be viewed.

Week 12:

Concluding Lecture

Lecture - Masterpieces of literary adaption

This lecture is historical that looks at important adaptations of films that have taken place throughout the twentieth century.

Workshop - Expression of Adaptive Ideas Using the Film Medium

Practical workshop based on getting the students to use the knowledge they have gained to help give them an insight into how they can take advantage of the film-medium to express narrative and non-narrative concepts based on literature.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial:

[1] SKLOR, Robert (1993) "Cinematic Avant-Garde" in Film: an international history of the medium, London: Thames & Hudson.

Key Words: experimental film, art & realism

Film - Death on the Nile

The second half of the film is to be viewed.

Obligatory readings for the tutorial: