| The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by the famous American writer Harper Lee, has attracted much attention since its publication. This thesis aims to compare the novel To Kill a Mockingbird and its film adaptation on the basis of narrative theory. The comparison is significant for three reasons. Firstly, the novel holds an important status in 20th-Century American literature. Secondly, the movie To Kill a Mockingbird has made a huge success with its exquisite treatment of the plot and the characters, its beautiful presentation of the American South, and the fine work of the actors. What’s more, against the background of the turbulent 1960s, the theme of racial discrimination penetratingly studied in both the novel and the film is especially pertinent. For all those factors, both the novel and the movie are worth serious research and analysis.The comparison has also theoretical significance. Although two different art forms, the novel and the film share much in common in characterization, plot construction and narrative strategies. Comparative studies of novels and their film adaptations will surely contribute to the respective features of the two art forms. The present study will focus in particular on the similarities and differences of novelistic narration and film narration.Apart from the Introduction and the Conclusion, the main body of the thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter Two introduces the theoretical framework of novelistic narration and cinematic narration. Using the categories and approaches of structuralist narratology, Chapter Three compares the original novel and the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. The comparison aims to analyze the differences and similarities between them in terms of plot construction, characterization, and setting. Chapter Four tries to furnish a theoretical exploration and explanation of the results of the comparison in the previous part. The Conclusion recapitulates the findings of the present study. |
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