The Study Of Movies Which Adapted From Pai Hsien-yung's Novels

Text,since the emergence of literature,is closely associated with performing arts including talking and singing as well as drama performances.With the appearance of contemporary film and television arts,literature as part of cross-media cultural practice has developed to a new stage.Hsien-Yung Pai is one of the most important modernistic writers in Taiwan,and many of his works have been adapted for diversified art forms including theater,film and television series. Focused on films adapted from Pai's novels,the essay discusses interactions between cinema and literature as well as the cross-media cultural production,through which to study the related social and cultural phenomenon.It is also a new reflection of Pai's text.Seven films are discussed in the essay:The Last Night of Madam Chin made by director Ching-jui Pai,Jade Love by Yi Chang, Love,Lone Flower by Ching-chieh Lin, Crystal Boys by Kan Ping Yu, The Last Aristocrats by Jin Xie, My Rice Noodle Shop by Yan Xie,and Love's Lone Flower by Jui-Yuan Tsao.Backgrounds of film and television adaption from Pai's novels,related research status and theoretical foundations of the essay are presented in the Introduction part.Chapter 1 focuses on differences between themes of novels and those of film adaptations.Themes of novels, for example,woman as gender issues, homosexuality as well as historical narrative,change with particular times and adapters.Chapter 2 obverses the characters shaped in films as well as the methods of adapting character images and dialogues.Four methods for remolding characters are mentioned:integration,modification, additions and deletions,as well as activation.In addition to maintaining existing style of the original text,film adaption requires reinterpretation to text language from three aspects,which are plots and characters, unique poetic languages of images,and languages associated with daily life.Chapter 3 studies concepts of time in the transition of viewpoint through timing, duration and frequency.First of all,unlike text language of novels,film language is structured by lens transform,camera angle, movement and lighting on the screen. Second, novels create polyrhythmic forms related to themes through the use of various writing skills such as stretching and description.Last but not the least, using multiple audiovisual elements like music, stage property and montage,film restores and recreates repetitions more complex than those in novels.Chapter 4 analyzes changes of viewpoints in film adaption. Connotations different from those in novels,viewpoint appears more flexible in film adaption.The focus on center character shifts from both outward and inward of the original text to the totally inward view of angle of film.The reelection of center figure reflects attitudes and values of adapters.Change of the viewpoint offers original text new implications, what is more,enhances the dramatic effect of the text.The last part makes a conclusion to film adaption of Pai's novels mentioned above,and discusses the difficulties and solutions during adaption.Based on the logic of film art,attentions should be paid to catch the ideology and spirit behind the text during adapting from literature to film,so that the contents can be chosen and reconstituted in other art forms.