Going Forward With Characters And Images

Zhang Yimou is a famous film director in contemporary China. The research on him in the academic community is in the ascendant and has got a succession of tidal waves. When directing films, Zhang Yimou prefers literature very much, and most of his films come from literature. Zhang Yimou is one of the successful directors who adapt literature for films. So, it has great significance to do some study on his art of adaptation in film. In this thesis, I will make an inquiry into the indissoluble bond between Zhang Yimou's films and literature, analyze Zhang Yimou's art of adaptation in film, and then think about the advantages and disadvantages in the adapting action in film of Zhang Yimou.The "introduction" mainly makes a survey of the status quo of the research on Zhang Yimou's adapting action in film and explains several relevant questions briefly and concisely.In Chapter 1, I expound the indissoluble bond between Zhang Yimou's films and literature. Zhang Yimou's films are very close to literature. Most of the films by which he has got good accomplishments are mostly adapted from literature. There are multitudinous literary works in the world, but Zhang Yimou mainly relies on novels to gain his achievements in film. Adaptation can provide abundant ready-made nutrients for film, make up for Zhang Yimou's weakness, make his films show various styles, and encourage his creativeness in film. This is the reason why Zhang Yimou prefer literature when directing films.As a director, Zhang Yimou's subjectivity is so strong that he looks upon the literary works as piles of source materials and makes substantial changes to them according to his ideals. Zhang Yimou's art of adaptation in film is a complicated whole which includes many aspects. When adapting literature for films, the measures Zhang Yimou takes in connotation are adjusting the theme, reforming the plots and structure and molding the characters anew. This is the contents of Chapter 2. In external form, Zhang Yimou's art of adaption in film covers the changes in narrative angles and the addition of styles of seeing and hearing. This part is illustrated in Chapter 3.Chapter 4 is the reflection on Zhang Yimou's adaptation in film. Zhang Yimou's adaptation in film and the films he adapted from literature are very important to Zhang Yimou himself, the film of China and the literature of China. Why the adaptation in film of Zhang Yimou can gain good accomplishments? It is not only because there are a batch of excellent literary works but also because Zhang Yimou has unique adaptation art, untiring efforts, strict criterion for the adaptable works and inflexible human pursuit. Nevertheless, Zhang Yimou's art of adaptation in film is not flawless and there are still some limitations and shortcomings to be taken seriously.Zhang Yimou has got great achievements in film adaptation. Although his adaptation is not perfectly satisfactory, Zhang Yimou can be considered as a successful film adaptor.