A Comparative Study Between The Novel Atonement And Its Film Adaption From The Perspective Of Narratology

Atonement is widely recognized as one of Ian Mc Ewan's most enduring works.Though having missed the Booker Prize in 2001,it received W.H.Smith Literary Award in 2002,National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction(USA)and other literary awards.Atonement tells a story about how Briony tried to make up for the fault once committed when she was young,but only to find her guilt is irretrievable and her atonement could hardly be fulfilled in the real world.This book was adapted into movie in 2007 by Joe Wright,receiving 7 international awards including the Academy Award for Best Original Score.The crush of talented director and excellent literary work gives birth to an outstanding adapted work,setting a classic model for the follow-up novel-based film adaption.Its uniqueness not only relies on the recurrence of the touching story,or the reappearance of the nostalgia atmosphere of London in the 20 thcentury,but also on the reproduction of the exquisite structure inherited from the source text.Both the novel and film become complementary and irreplaceable to each other.Starting from “Story” layer,this thesis firstly focuses on plot and character,two fundamental elements of story,to analyze the difference of novel and its film adaption.In plotting,studying the distinctions according to their mutual triple division of “begging” “middle” and “end”,the thesis argues that compared with the complex storyline of the source text,the film has omitted the less important subplot to highlight the main story.At the same time,while the source text presents atonement as an inner struggle,the film changes it as an external confession,reinforcing the infectivity.In characterization,taking Briony and Robbie as examples,the thesis believes that the novel gives a comprehensiveportrait of humanity containing both “human vice” demonstrated by Briony's jealousy and vanity,and “human virtue” manifested by Robbie's reservation of elegance and kindness.Meanwhile,the film softens the evil image of Briony and dramatizes Robbie's change in personality,depicting both of them as victims to intensify the tragic effect.Secondly,this thesis conducts the discussion on the distinction from the layer of “discourse” from the shift of focalization and transformation from metafiction to metacinema.In regard to the change of focalization,the novel unfolds from shifted internal focalization narrated by different characters.While in the film,characters' within,what they see,hear or think,is approached from an external channel,namely vision and sound.As to the “meta” narration,through Chinese box structure and intertexuality,the novel reaches the effect of self-reflectivity.The film gives corresponding transformation,changing metafiction to metacinema through the insertion of video clips cited from other materials and the change from written epilogue to TV interview.By the exposure of the mechanism how movie and camera work,the film also brings audience the reflection on fictionality and reality.Finally,the thesis approaches the respective aesthetic value from the perspective of expression and response.On the expression of basic tone and character,by words,the novel sets different tone in different phases of the story and shapes the character through detailed description,while following the triple structure inherited from the source text,the film captures the general impression of each state and manifest them through the appliance of imagery processing,symbol and color,and at same time,it gives characters appearance and actions as external mark.On the response aroused in the mind of their target receivers,by presentingthe process of “writing”,the novel leads to a rational discussion on the identity of author and the boundary between reality and fictionality.At the same time,the novel focuses more on its sentimental elements,intensifying the issue of “Love”and “Atonement”,raising more emotional resonance in the heart of audience.In comparison,this thesis argues how the transformation from novel to film is achieved from the perspective of narratology,and finds that under the principle of“fidelity”,every narrative element is available and transformable.Compared with the novel,the film has made some “violations” to make the adapted work fits its own form.However,these creative violations exactly present a faithful adapted work which is neither too identical to be innovative nor too different to be recognizable.This thesis aims to study the respective narrative features of these two media,discussing the differences resulted by the process of transplantation,which,hopefully,could be useful to readers,audience and scholars for further research.