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Qe(

(1999) Directed by James Mangold Based on the memoir of the same name by Susanna Kaysen

What would Robert Stam say?

A composite language by virtue of its diverse matters of expression, the cinema inherits all the art forms associated with these matters of expression. It has available to its visuals of photography and painting, the movement of dance, the dcor of architecture, the harmonies of music, and the performance of theater.

Adaptation, in this sense, creates an active weave, a relational tissue wrought from these various strands.
(Robert Stam in Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Adaptation, page 22)

According to Stam
While literature is just one dimensionalwritten text on a paperfilms can combine all sorts of art forms in a way that encourages the activation of the spectators senses of sight and hearing in multiple interwoven ways: Literature requires just the sense of sight to observe the text. Film, meanwhile, might require the spectators sight to observe multiple things (setting, clothing, character expressions, etc.) simultaneous with his/her hearing to observe multiple others (music, dialogue, etc.). Consider the following clip from Girl, Interrupted (1999):

The active weave of art forms


What did you see?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Setting details Character interactions Character wardrobe Character expressions Lighting details Camera angles Etc.

What did you hear?


1. Soundtrack 2. Dialogue 3. Voice inflections and accents 4. Ruffling of papers 5. Movement of objects 6. Etc.

And, most importantly, many of these seen and heard happen at the very same time.

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