Discussion On The Film Adaptations Of Eileen Chang’s Works

Eileen Chang’s works and the film seem to have natural relationships. Her writing career began in Shanghai by writing theater and movie critics for the western newspapers. In Hong Kong, she had also written screenplays. Chang’s novels were widely known as the’film on paper’, which had a special dialogue style, tortuous storylines and cinematically narrative mode, been different from other literature works of the same period. Eileen Chang’s novels have been put on to the big screen for many times, receiving both praises and blames.The preface starts from Eileen Chang’s works and the films, trying to discuss the inner relationships between her novels and the film adaptations. At the same time, the preface determines the research thoughts of the essay, which is to make contrasts among the differences between each other, like art image, story setting, emotional experience, and artistic effects and influences being influenced by different modes of communication.Chapter one is about the cinematic tendency in Eileen Chang’s works. Chang’s works have always existed similarities with the art of movies. Her novels have vivid and unique atmosphere, unique characters, tortuous plots and fluent dialogues. It also has similar effects like the stage performances and motion pictures in the narrative way. In her novels, space, color, light, shades, montage and dialogues all draw lessons from movies.Chapter two mainly talks about the movie adaptations of Eileen Chang’s works. On this part, we need to know that the Eileen Chang Fever really begins from those different movie or TV adaptations. Chang is mostly handy at the subject of love entanglement between urban men and women, which are mostly suitable to be brought to the big screen. These film adaptations can be faithful with the novel in a certain degree, only different directors act differently in the narrative mode, details treatment and the build of atmosphere. The original taste of Eileen Chang’s works are retained thick or light through their lens. Chapter three reveals that the film adaptations of Eileen Chang’s works invariably belong to Hong Kong and Taiwan directors, which just embodies the limitations in this cross media practicing process. The loss of both charm and essence proves to us again and again that cross media practices should be on the bases of repeatedly rewritten, multi leveled rewritten, dialoguely rewritten and even contradictedly rewritten, then gradually get public recognitions and expand its influences. Its value lies not in’fidelity’but rewriting on a shared basis.The film adaptations of Eileen Chang’s works across different subject areas like contemporary literature, literary theory, film studies and so on. We have great developments in the breadth and depth of the research that is showing in a colorful pattern. Only to put film and literature organically together and to promote them both, can we make film on the shoulder of literature and let literature become a popular art with the help from the literature. How to make film the emerging art to bitterly reflect the charms of classic literatures, and how to thoroughly performance the abstracted words by image language to get the audiences. And what kind of attitude should viewers hold to view the new art attempts, all these things need our further studies.