10 The Aesthetic of the Medium bday children’s literature exists very much on the crossroads of different media: film, theater, television, video, music, computer games, and so on. The spin-off products, including merchandise (toys, clothes, office supplie and the like), often play a more important role in the promotion of a book than the book itself. The area is much too broad to be covered in merely one chapter; besides, many questions will take us away from the field of chil- dren’s literature into culture and media studies. We will therefore be content with three aspects of multimediality that are most immediately connected with children’s literature: illustration, transmediation (transformation from ‘one medium into another), and translation. WHAT CAN PICTURES DO? Although the term “multimedia” is a recent invention, the multimedial con- cept—conveying information by at least two different media, for instance the verbal and the visual—has existed ever since the beginning of literacy, and in children’s literature it has been manifest in the practice of illustrations. As stated in chapter 3, picturebooks are not a separate genre, but a sp\ form in which the meaning is created by the interaction of information con veyed through the two media, words and pictures. In this, picturcbooks are a synthetic medium, like theater or film, where the overall meaning. 1s assem bled by the receiver in the interaction between the different communicative means. Unlike theater or film, picturebooks are diseontinuious and have no fixed duration. Unlike theater, but similar to film, picturebooks are two mensional. Unlike both theater and film, picturebooks do not require acous tic communication, although they may be—and often are—read aloud Unlike art, picturebooks are sequential; they only have meaning through a 23224 Chapter 10 ». Ivis therefore pointless to study separate pictures in pic turebooks: they must always be studied asa whole and always in their inter~ action with words. Iconic and Conventional Signs in Picturebooks Maki terminology we can say that pieturebooks com- weans of two separate sets of signs, the iconic and the conven r 2 we discussed the difference between iconic and ‘onal signs, stating that we usually do not need special knowledge to understand icons, but we must be part of the convention in order to under. stand conventional signs. Pictures in picturebooks are complex iconic signs, and words in picturebooks are complex conventional signs; however, the the two levels is the same. The function of pictures, wis to describe or represent. The function of words, conventional narily to narrate. Conventional signa are often linear (in our eul- ture, for instance, we read left to right), while iconie signs are nonlinear. The tension between the two functions ereates unlimited possibilities for interac tion between word and image in a picturebook. The two extremes of stich a tension are a book without pictures and a book with only pictures in it without words. In wordless picturebooks, images carry the whole load of storytelling. They may contain a sequence of individual panels on every page, more or less reminiscent of comic strips, or they may use the whole doublespread and employ page turning for plot development; they may be simple and ac- sion oriented or very complex in imagery and symbolism. Yet since there are no words to accompany the pictures, the readers have to construct their own natrative from the pictures. Usually the title of the book offers at least some guidelines for interpretation, A verbal text, for instance a fairy tale or a short story, can be illustrated by one or several pictures; however, this does not necessarily make a picture book as such, since pictures will often remain subordinated to the words. A number of very significant children’s stories (Bible stories; folktales; and arles Perrault’s, the Grimm Brothers’, or Hans Christian Andersen's tales) have been illustrated by different artists, who impart different, and ‘even on occasion inappropriate, interpretations to the text. Still the story re- ‘mains basically the same and ean still be read without looking at the pictures. Even if we have preferences for certain illustrations, perhaps because we have grown up with them, the text is not dependent on illustrations to convey its essential message. LET US EXPLORE Visit your library and find several illustrated versions of the same story, for instance, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, basic relation beewee The Aesthetic of the Medion 25 or Hansel and Gretel. Study the books carefully and contemplate how illustrations enhance your interpretation of the story. Here are son aspects you may consider: + How many pict there in the book? Which episodes of the story are illustrated? Which are not? Why? ‘+ What does the layout look like and how does it affect our percep: tion of the story? For instance, are illustrations placed on separate pages, facing the text, or do they feel like an integrated part of the narrative? + How do the pictures inters substantial to the story? yond the text itself? Is there a totally new dimension? + Tothe viual setting time bound or anachronistic, realistic or fairy tale-lik Vor almost nonexistent? Flow does this al fect our understanding of the story? ‘© Is characterization a significant part of the visual solution? Ave the characters presented as children, adolescents, or adults; as human beings, animals, or fairy-tale creatures? Is the protagonist portrayed in every picture? Is the protagonist placed in the center of every picture? Are there any close-ups of the protagonist ot any other character? What is the effect of these? ture is chosen for the cover, and how does it affect our with the vext? Do they add anything er new interpretations be the pictures that ereates ‘The overall question is of course whether the pictures are merely deco- rative or whether they indeed affect and enhance our perception of the story, and in this ease, how. ‘Text/Image Interaction In illustrating. an existing text, for instance a fairy tale, artists have a num- ber of choices. They ean merely providea visual counterpart of what the text says, without adding anything essential. They can, however, also use the text as a point of departure for a new interpretation, thus creating a new literary work, based on text/image interaction. They can supply settings that the words do not mention explicitly. For instance, in the various illustrated ver sions of famous fairy tales, the pictures set the story in an indeterminable fairy-tale time, in the Middle Ages, in the Baroque epoch, or even in our ‘own time, with anachronistic details such as ears and television sets. The number of illustrations may vary considerably. In his illustrations to the226 Chapter 10 1m Brothers’ fairy tales, Maurice Sendak has managed to capture the le story in one single dynamic and powerful piewure for each tale. Gener ally, the larger the number of illustrations, the more they work as mere deco- tations instead of taking over some of the storytelling. The choice of illustrated episodes naturally emphasizes their significance. An illustrator may play down the scary part of the story by choosing not to illustrate the most dramatic episodes or the negative characters. ‘The nature of the individ ual illustrations may amplify the dynamic development of the story or slow In some versions of Hansel and Gretel, the witch looks very much like the nother, which naturally prompts a certain interpretation. Sendak’s il- lustrations for Dear Mili have caused much debate since they introduce im- ages of the Holocaust in this fairy tale written in the beginning of the nineteenth century. All these considerations demonstrate what choices artists also have when ey create original picturebooks, in which neither words nor images ean be given priority: they are an inseparable whole and cannot exist without one another. In by lustrated texts and wordless picture narratives, how- ever, a variety of relationships between words and images ean be discovered. fe the most essential types of interaction: lown. Visual characterization can take the stories in various directions. Here ‘+ Symmetrical: words and pictures basically tell the same story repeating what is essentially the same information in different forms of commu- + Complementary: words and pictures complement each other's stories x! compensate for each other's insulficienci nhancing: pictures significantly enhance (amplify, reinforce) the ver- bal story, or occasionally the words expand the picture so that different information in the two modes of communication produces a more com- plex meaning, ‘+ Counterpointing: words and pictures tell qwo different stories, cooper- ating to ereate a new meaning; both are indispensable for decoding the + Contradictory: the tension between words and pictures becomes too strong, they take the story in different directions; the story becomes ambiguous, less understandable. Let us consider a few examples. In Goodnight, Moon, the pictures meticu Jously illustrate what the words say. Of course, the large panoramic pi have more details than those mentioned in words, so the interaction is not fully symmetrical, but the concept of the book is using words to guide the reader's attention to the pictures. The text is substantially more poetic than The Aesthetic of the Medium 227 na picture ditionary, yet the relationship between words and images i a Cimious George begins with an introduction of the main character, verbal as well as visual. ‘The picture shows ts a litle monkey swinging, Irom a tree ng a banana, The text says, “This is George. He lived in Africa, He ‘was happy. But he had one fault. He was too curious." Seemingly, the words ind the picture are symmetrical Let us, however, consider € by sentence. “This is George” is not the sa statement th would find in a picture dictionary: “This is onke and ea inform us thac the animal we see is a pposed to know it ‘On the other hand, from the picts the monkey"s nam xe, We can guess that the action takes pl Geo ve usa concrete location: Ali ‘urthermore, the verbal text uses two different tenses: “This # George,” but, He fived in Africa." While the first sentence makes the reacler an intmediate beholder of the sit story in fact hy character’s situation occurring later in the book: George used 10 liv on, the past tense distances us by suggesting, that the pened long ago. The words prepare us for a change in the Al rica, but he does not live there anymore. The sentence “He was very happy seems symmetrical to the happy countenance of the character in the picture Yet itis an evaluative statement. Does it convey an internal focalization of the protagonist (= “George consid ), an omniscient na rator's statement (= “I know that George was happy"), or an objective nar rator’s inference (= “I believe that George was happy”)? The next two sentences are indisputably a didactic narrator's judgment, and they have no correspondence whatsoever in the picture, since visual signs eannot conve judgments and opinions. The words and the pieture thus compensate for each other's limitations; the interaction is complementary. On the next dou ble spread, the text says, “One day George saw a man.” The picture, how- ever, does not show the scene from George's point of view, but the man’s, corresponding more to the sentence “The man saw George, too.” The pic™ ture reinforces the change of perspective from the child character to the adult man. Moreover, we are also immediately allowed to share the man’s internal point of view, his thoughts: “*What a nice little monkey,” he thought.” By sharing the man’s thoughts, expressed in words, we are also involved in his plan to capture Georges thus, as readers/viewers, we are on the adult's side ‘This obvious contradiction 1n narrative perspective between words and im- ages is easy to overlook, but itis decisive for our interpretation of the story. Later in the book, the words say, “oh, what happened! First this—and then this!” But for the pictures, we would not be able to know what hap= pened to George, while the pictures show his actions immediately, without having to describe them. Although throughout the book the dominant rela tionship between words and pictures is indeed symmetrical, there are some228 Chapter 10 interesting deviations revealed by close reading. We can therefore hardly ‘maintain that a picturebook is wholly symmetrical or wholly counterpoint- The tension ean vary from spread to spread, and it ean be different for the various aspeets of the narrative. In Syloester and the Magic Pebble, we can also observe that the verbal text, oes not initially mention that Sylvester is a donkey. The text merely states that Sylvester Duncan lived with his mother and father, and collected peb- bles as a hobby, Without the pictures, we would assume that Sylvester was a boy. The pictures provide information that the text omits, while they show us exactly what Sylvester and the other characters look like. Apart from these complementary elements, the pictures do not add much to the narra- tive. Moreover, the text is richer than the pictures: there are several episodes in the verbal text that are not illustrated. For instance, when Sylvester real- izes that the pebble ean grant wishes, the text conveys his joy at being able to have anything he wante and co give his family and friends anything they want. Here a great chance to visualize the phrase “anything they want” is lost. Another missed pictorial opportunity occurs when the didactic narrator elaborates on what Sylvester could have done when confronted with a lion: could have made the lion disappear, could have wished himself safe at home, could have wished the lion would turn into a butterfly. And Sylvester's thoughts and feelings when he is transformed into a rock are not visualized. In Where the Wild Things Are, the text is substantially enhanced by the pictures. Although the basie storyline ean be gathered from the words alone, iis the pictures that ereate the tone and the message of the narrative. The pictures emphasize the child/adult conflict by portraying Max, but excluding his mother; they convey the change in Max’s feelings, both in his posture and facial expression and in the imagery around him; they visualize his ag- xgressions, presenting them as monsters; they express the dynamic nature of the narrative, showing the transformation of Max’s room and first his out- ward journey from leit to right and then the homeward journey from right to left; they provide details suggesting the temporal duration of the narrative, that contradict the verbal statement about Max’s supper being hot. Esp ally the three wordless double spreads, corresponding to the words “let the wild rumpus start,” expand the verbal story. John Burningham’s Come Away from the Water, Shirley is based on the ironic counterpoint between the information conveyed by words and by pic- tunes. While che words aud one sec of pictures describe & busing elay cn ue beach, the other visual sequence takes the protagonist on breathtaking ad- ventures on high seas. Words and pictures actually cell two different stories, from two different points of view. The stories are, among other things, con~ flicting in their genres: one is realistic, the other a fantasy. Note that the terms describing the verbal/visual interaction are in them- selves not evaluative: a symmetrical book is not aesthetically inferior 10 a The Aesthetic of the Medi 29 counterpointing one; itis just a different concept of using itis obvious that picturcbooks that employ c ly stim ulating because they elicit many possible rolve the reader's imagination. Quite a number of contemporary picturebook er deliberately and consistently employ counterpoint in their works, medium. ¥ terpoint are espec cerpretations and i EXERCIS Choose a number of picturebooks and analyze carefully the text/i interaction in them. Observe thatthe various types of interaction may work differently at the various narrative levels. For instance, words and pictures may be symmetrical in plot, enhancing in characterization, and counterpointing in perspective. FROM BOOK TO SCREEN ‘The process of the transformation of a text into another media is called transmediation (or sometimes transmodalization). Another widely used term is adaptation, but it also includes all kinds of transformations per formed on texts within the same medium, for instance abridgements and censorial interference, as well as the general adjustment of texts to the pre- sumed audience. The concept of transmediation emphasizes the crossing from one medium to another. Some of the carliest examples of transmediation in children’s literature in volve stage versions of stories. Normally, a story would exist as a novel be fore it was staged, but occasionally itis the other way round. Peter Part was first written as a play, and later turned by the author into a novel (noveliza tion). A comparison of the two versions provides interesting to the difference between theater and literature, bet ing, that are vital for our understanding the essence of li the field of characterization, the difference is striking. Other types of transmediation include radio plays, musicals, operas, ballets, films, television series, and computer games based on written stories. Some stories are in fact better known in transmediated form, for instance the ballet The Nutcracker, based ‘ona story by the German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, Occasionally the direc tion of transmediation is the opposite. For instance, Sergey Prokofiev's fa mous musical piece Peter and the Wolf has been published as a storybook, as have the ballet Swan Lake and the movie E.T. In analyzing transmediated stories, we examine how the choice of the me dium affects the form and the content, what changes are dietated by the ne y to adapt to the new medium and the new presumed audience, which230 Chapter 19 of those are justified and which are not, and so on. The most illuminating ‘examples can be gathered from film versions of children’s stories; therefore we will confine ourselves to discussing those. LET US EXPLORE, Choose a children’s book or a fairy tale and compare it to a film ver~ sion, for instance an animated Disney movie: Cinderella, Snow White, Beanty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, o: Peter Pan. Pay close attemtion to all the changes made in the movie. If you have seen the movie before you read the book, you may be struck by the scope of changes. Remember that the book existed first, and the film version was changed to adapt it to what the filmmakers believe are the needs rests of a contemporary Western young audi y to iden- tily the principles guiding the filmmakers “Disneyfication”” Mach has been written about “Disneyfication” of classical stories. Many studies have complained about gender stereotyping; others focus on com- ‘mercialism and unscrupulous marketing; still others mainly note the pro- found changes the stories undergo in the process of transmediation. From the aesthetic point of view, the observations made by various crities ean be summarized as follows: + ‘The most “child-friendly” version of the story is chosen, for instance Perrault’ rather than Grimm’s version of Cinderella, in which the sis ters cut off their toes and heels to be able to put on the slipper, and Finally get punished by the birds” picking out their eyes. Generally, all graphic and offensive details from original versions are toned down in the movies, making the stories more suitable for family entertainment. + Conllict and action are amplified; a tangible antagonist is added, for in stance the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. Hence a simple person- against-person conflict is substituted for a complex person-against-sclf ‘one. In Peter Pen, Peter's combat against Hook totally eclipses the tragic dilemma of the child who is unable to grow up. In Beauty ard the Beast, the psychological dilemma of the heroine is somewhat dimin- ished by the attempts of the Beast’s human rival, Gaston, to kill him. + A happy ending is provided instead of an unhappy or ambivalent one. For instance, in the original version of The Little Mermaid, the heroine dlies when the prince marries another girl, while in the film version she sets back her voice and lives happily ever after. The Aesthetic of the Medinn 231 + Human characters are changed into animals, for instance in Robin Hood or Oliver Twist. Apparently, this is based on the assumption that chib dlren prefer animal characters to human. ‘The result is that some people y go through their lives believing that Robin Hood was a fox and cr ‘Twista kitten. al characters, often comic, id not seldons talking animals and animated objects, are introduced, for instance the mice in Cinderella; the fish, the crab, and the seagull in The Little Mermaid; or the en- chanted servants in Beauty and the Beast * A character is added or changed to be an authoritative n supplying comments and judgments for geney, jcket in Pinoc All these aspects give us a good starting point for a more general discussion of what happens when a book is transmediated into a movion picture. The filmmakers naturally strive to make the most of the medium they are work- ing wich, which includes visual and acoustic aspects; yet in the process some sacrifices are inevitably made. Let us start with considering the choice of episodes. Dependi length of the original, the film version can either follow the plot faithfully or adapt the length, by either cutting episodes or adding, new ones. The Harry Potter movies are good examples of transmediated versions that are maxi mally true to the books; according to the filmmakers, this was their working concept (whether aesthetic or commercial is another question). In the film version of The Wizard of Oz, the very last journey is cut, presumably be- cause it would feel to0 long and repetitive. In Disney’s Alice in Wonderlurd, both the episode in the Duchess’s kitchen and the encounter with Mock Tar tle are omitted. By contrast, in many films based on short fairy tales, fill-in are necessary to extend the duration to full length; new episodes are often comic musical numbers (e.g. in The Little Mermaid, Beauty ad the Beast, or Aladdin). By means of adding or cutting episodes, the plot can be either simplified or complicated. In The Grinch, to compensate for the meager plot of the book, the filmmakers have supplied a story of the Grinch being aban- doned as a baby, which ostensibly has made him mean and grumpy. Apart from expanding the story, the addition provides a background to explain the character's behavior. Naturally, this makes the Grinch a much more mimetic, that is, psychologically plausible, character than he 1s in the original "Another typical Gillin in a film version is the setting. While a long verbal description of a the character's journey through an ever-so-exciting setting, would be unbearable in a children’s nove, in films we often mect both estab: lishing sequences in the beginning and prolonged episocles of spatial trans portation, for instance Snow White in the woods or Aladdin's Hight on the flying carpet. Dynamic visual details, especially accompanied by music or22 Chapter 10 make such descriptions enjoyable, which is a good example of adapta- tion to the specific medium, Some film versions change the original settings altogether; for instance, ‘Tom Davenport's film versions of famous fairy tales ous historical environments in North America. Naturally, such a version cannot but interrogate the ideology of the original, adding its own standpoints. ‘Transmediated Plots The many Disney movies of Winnie-the-Pooh provide a good example of how an intervention into the original plot also radically affects the message and the impact on the audience. Although the plots of Milne's wo books are primatily episodic, with a separate and self-contained adventure in every ‘chapter, we have in an earlier chapter observed some peculiarities in the com position af the Pooh stories. First, che story has a cumulative nature, intro. ducing one character at a time and adding confliet (especially with the arrival of Kanga and Tigger) to the initial harmony. The ten-minute movies have no special order; they are purely episodie and have a fixed set of characters. In the novels, there is a vague progressive plot, leading toward the ending in which Christopher Robin has to leave his childhood idyll. This tragic end is prepared by some profound changes in the forest, for instance the storm during which Owl's home is destroyed. The arbitrary order of the movies naturally precludes any progressive development or, still less, a closure, On the contrary, it allows an endless row of new adventures, no longer based on the original stories. The Pooh characters are thus used in the same manner a8 Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. The outer frame of the original stories seemingly preserved in the movies as each of them starts and ends in the nursery. Yer the implication of the frame—the inner story being the projec tion of the young boy's psychological development and conflict—is defi- nitely gone, asis the question of power and authority. The movies emphasize action and ignore the psychological and philosophical dimensions of the original ‘Also in some full-length films, the endings are changed to allow for a se- quel. The novel Stuart Litle has an open ending in which the protagonist leaves home to seek his fortune. The ending emphasizes his transition from the security of childhood to the uncertain world of adolescence. In the film om, Stuart is more o less left to live happily ever after, Litile 2 continuing a ceaseless chain of adventures, ‘Transmediated Genre Adaptation of the genre is a frequent change in film versions. The transfor- mation of human characters into animals has been mentioned, which natu- The Aesthetic of the Medion 233 rally makes the story more fairy-tale-like. A similar amplification of the fairy-tale atmosphere occurs when animals are allowed to talk. For instane in an animated version of Hector Malot’s The Foundling, both the doxs and the monkey can talk. This presumably makes the story mote exciting, creates ‘more intense bonds between the protagonist and hi and takes away the sense of loneliness and abandonment as the protage along without human company. However, an opposite tendency can also be traced, when the transmedi ated version is more rationalized than the written text. In Stuart Little, the litele mouse’s origin is a textual mystery: he is somehow born to completely ordinary parents. In the recent film version, a mimetic interpretation is ap. plied: Stuart is not the natural son, but an adopted one. The change illus trates the difference between the mimetic and the semiotic treatment of plot and character. In a semiotic approach, the question of Stuaet's origin is irel evant. The filmmakers apparently felt obliged to adapt the story 10 what they believed to be the mimetic demands of their audience. It is, however conceivable that the young readers and viewers are more ops interpretations than many adults, accepting Stuart's background without further contemplation. The adaptation is thus made for the sake of adults (critics, parents, teachers) rather than the primary target group, Focus on the Plot Changing or amplifying the central conflict of the plot, as has been done in The Litile Mermaid, leads, among other things, to the transformation of the narrative from character oriented to plot oriented. Even when a change is not as pronounced, certain elements can be underscored, affecting the overall impact. In the recent film version of Litzle Women, the romance between Jo and Laurie is given an unproportionally large space as compared to the novel. ‘The Disney version of The Little Mermaid is an excellent illusteation of its creators’ drive to supply the protagonist with a set of supporting, characters in order to clarify (and oversimplify) the plot. In the original version, the little mermaid’s chief enemy is herself, and as she leaves the sea, there is no one to assist or comfort her on land. In the Disney version, the witch— originally the agent of magical transformation, a helper—is turned into. an antagonist, and three helpers—the crab, the fish, and the seagull— accompany Ariel during her adventures. The conflict becomes more tangible and conerete, while the philosophical implications of Andersen's tale are gone. The victory over the antagonist reestablishes the protagor position. The Disney plot is thus substantially closer to the tale plot. Yet the most essential change concems the little me tion for becoming human and the conditions for her transformation, tn adlitional folk. paid's motiva,24 Chapter 10 Andersen's story, the mermaid’s desire for the prince is connected with her desire for an immortal soul, which she can only obtain through marriage with a human. The desire for an immortal soul is, in its turn, an indication of her fear of death. tn the movie, her motives are entirely somantic. In the original the little mermaid has to make a great sacrifice to achieve her goal. ‘The loss of voice is irreversible, and her acquisition of legs instead of a tail ses enormous physical suffering: she feels as if she were all the time walk- p knives. And of course, as already noted, the ending has been Finally, the mermaid has in the flim version ing on subjetviy ‘Also the anonymous prince of the original has been given intimacy between the character and the audi- le some characters have been added in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, other characters have been removed, notably, the sisters in both stories and the little mermaid’s grandmother. The grandmother's role in the original is that of the sender: she tells the mermaid about the world of humans and about the immortal soul. She is also the bearer of the feminine heritage and wisdom in the mermaid family. Since this dimension of the story is eliminated in the film, the figure of the grandmother becomes super~ fluous. ‘The absence of sisters brings the protagonist still more to the fore- ground, but it does not allow the contrast between the sisters and the id, who in the original is presented as unusually thoughtful and In the original version of Beauty and the Beast, the sisters are used | purposes. First, they refuse to sacrifice themselves to save the father, while the protagonist does so. Second, on hearing how happy the protagonist is with her beastly bridegroom, they encourage her to stay at hhome and thus break his heart (in some other versions of the tale, they in- duce the protagonist to burn her bridegroom’s animal attire, with fatal re sults), In the Disney movie, the role of the evil and envious sisters is partially transferred to Gaston; thus the rivalry is shifted from the sisters onto the successful and the unsuccessful male. Furthermore, an additional factor has to be introduced to provide suspense and compensate for the absence of the sisters’ plot: he countdown of the rose losing petals. Again, an external con flict is substituted for an internal one. ‘The change in the protagonist is a frequent intervention in the original story. The convention of film media genevally demands that positive charac ters are good-looking. Film versions of Anne of Green Gables present Anne as pretty from the beginning, totally downplaying the profound evolution of the character in the novel Still more amazing is the choice of the actor for the leading part in The Neverending Story. The protagonist, Bastian, is presented in the novel as fat and almost disgusting physically, which is a sub- stantial part of his identity erisis. In the film, he is slim and attractive. Apart a ul The Aesthetic of the Medinm 235 from the exterior, the protagonist's inner qualities can also be tampered with, In the film version of Pippi Longstocking, Pippi is repeatedly presented as a typical slapstick hero, pie throwing and destructive. The original Pippi haas in fact decp respect for food and in one episode makes the local hooligan pick up and pay for the sausage he has thrown on the ground, Furthermore, the film-version Pippi obediendly allows the authorities to put her inte ‘onphanage, which the original Pippi would of cour onsent 10 tragic aspect of Pippi, the child unable to grow up, isin the film lost, just as itis in the Disney version of Peter Pan. ‘The shift in the importance of secondary characters can substantially change the ideology of the film. In The Little Mermaid, the father is yiven a strongly authoritative role, and the whole story is much more focused o1 the parent-child relationship than the original, This is presumably betict suited to the idea of socialization and the patriarchal social order story. In the recent film version of Little Women a first-person nartation is added, emphasizing not only Jo’s role as the sole protagonist, but also her subjective point of view. The shift may scem insignificant, yet it radically affects our perception of the events and characters, The Little Women film also presents an anachronistic feminist ideology, expressed by the mother with explicitness unheard of at the time of action. Presenting different mes sages in film versions has been one of the major issues in the study of trans mediation. Simplification Not least, film versions have been notorious for imposing, specific inter pretations on stories that in the original allow for ambivalence. ‘The classic film version of The Wizard of Oz clearly presents Dorothy's adventures as a dream. For instance, the realistic frame is shot in black-and-white, while the dream sequences introduce color; and all the figures, are projected from Dorothy's reality. Such a straightforw: certainly deprives the original story of some of its cha Many of the changes discussed above may seem insig relevant since films naturally can exist irrespective of the and be evaluated for what they are rather than inc However, since film versions, not least the Disni become the best-known version of the story, they feed back into our appreciation of the original. When Disney movies are transmediated back into printed stories, the narrative has to be adapted to the existing, pictures, an a new text is written to match the illustrations. Since such books are normally very shot, there is no dialogue, and the events are rendered ina flat and me guage (vou will hardly find the text author's name on the cover). The text/ the land of Ox ficant and even ir literary models mparison with the hooks:236 Chapter 10 image relationship is symmetrical, and all deeper dimensions of the original story are eliminated. With the aggressive marketing of the Disney merchan- dise, these oversimplified versions often become better known than the ori inal EXERCISE 1 Compare an original children’s novel or story (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the Pooh, Peter Pan) and a book based on the Disney version of the story. Consider the difference in plot structure, character gallery, character nd ideology. ization, languay PXERCISE. 2 Watch two or more film versions of the same story. Most of the fairy tales animated by Disney also exist in other versions, as live-action films. There are also several film versions of Little Women; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Lord of the Rings; and many other fa- mous children’s novels. Study the versions, paying attention to all the aspects discussed above, and consider how the various filmmakers’ de- ons affeet our understanding of the story. While studies of children’s films naturally have a value of their own, the comparison between books and film versions is illuminating for our unde standing of some preconceived opinions about the needs and interests of the young audience. CROSSING THE BORDERS Children’s literature is an international phenomenon in the sense that the most outstanding and successful children's books usually get translated into other languages. The Harry Potter books are a recent and convincing exam- ple, as they have already been translated into more than thirty languages. ‘Alice inn Wonderland, universally considered a major children’s classic, has been translated into many languages, as has Winnie-the-Poob (including Latin and Esperanto), and Astrid Lindgren’s books are available in more than eighty languages, including Frisian, Catalonian, Kymrian, Swahili, and Zak. The art of translation is perhaps as old as literature itself, and the most important translations in the Western world have been the translations of the 7T The Aesthetic of the Medium 27 Bible. Because the Bible is supposed to be the true words of God, great im portance has always been attributed to the “correct” translation, and the de= bates of what exactly is the most correct translation have occupied les ‘men throughout the centuries. Since words in a (have several different meanings or shades of meaning), the process of trans lation does not simply imply substitution of one word for another. A lator is faced with the necessity of choosing between several word in the source language (the language of the original text) and finding the adequate word in the target language (the language of the translated text). Further, translation implies not only conveying denotation (the literal, die~ tionary meaning of words), but also connotation, that is, contextual meaning that may change from text to text. Faithful to the Text or the Reader? One of the two radically different approaches to translation prop: equivalence, that is, a maximal approximation of the target text to the source text. A translation, in this view, should be “faithful” to the original, and no iberties are to be taken. The opposite view suggests that the should take into consideration the target audience, whereupon changes may not only be legitimate, but imperative, if the translated text in its specific context is to function somewhat similarly to the way in which the original functions in its initial situation. This view ean be called dialogieal, since it presupposes an active dialogue, or interaction, between the target text and its readers. The key question in dialogical translation is “For whom?" unlike the question “What?” ‘These two views, elaborated in general translation theory, acquit in the equivalence theory. pevial significance in connection with children’s fiction, and both have been ar- dently defended by their respective advocates. This has in the first place to do with the practice of translating children’s books, which in some essential ways differs from the practice of translating general literature. First of all, children’s books have to a considerably higher extent been subjected to ad~ aptation rather than translation. Adaptation means that a text is adjusted to what the translator believes to be the needs of the target audience, and it ean include deletions, additions, explanations, purification, simplification, mod- emization, and a number of other interventions. Let us consider some of them. Common Practices Robinson Crusoe, the text perhaps most often subjected to adaptation, which is about five hundred pages in the origi been cut down to twenty-four pages. The incentive has naturally been to has in some adaptations246 Chapter 10 Bassnet, Susan, Thanslation Studies. London: Methuen, 1980. Bell, Anthea, “Childven’s Books in Translation.” Signal 28 (1979): 47-53. "Children’s Literature and International Identity? A ‘Translator’s View. point.” Pp. 23-30 in Children's Literature and National Identity, edived by Mar tgaret Meck, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books, 2001. Desmet, Micke K. T, “Intertextuality/Intervisuality in Translation: The Jolly Post- ‘man’s Intercultural Journey from Britain to the Netherlands.” Children’s Lite. ure in Education 32, 00. 1 (2001): 31~43. Jer Lope, Maris. “Translation Studies in Contemporary Children’s Litera ‘use: A Comparison of Intercultural Ideological Factors.” Children’s Literature Associations Quarterly 25, no. 1 (2000): 29-37. Klingherg, Gote, Children’s Fiction in the Hands of the Translators. Lund: Gleerup, 1986. cheng, Gite, et al, eds. Children’s Books im Translation: The Situation and the Problems. Seackholis: Alevist 8e Wiksell [nternational, 1978, Malarté-Feldian, Claire-Lise. “The Challenges of Translating Perrault’s Comes into English.” Marvels € Tides 13, no. 2 (1999): 184-197, Netley, Noriko Shimoda. “The Difficulty of Translation: Decoding Cultural Signs on ‘Other Languages.” Children’s Literature in Education 23, no. (1992): 195-202, Discusses the translation of Roald Dabl into Japanese. Nikolajeva, Maria. Children’s Literature Comes of Age: Towards « New Aesthetic. New York: Garland, 1996, Pp. 27-34, “Culeoral Context and Translatability.”, Nikolsjeva, Maria, and Carole Scott. How Picturebooks Work. New York: Garland, 2001. Chap. 1, "Whose Book is It." Oitines, Rita. Banslating for Children. New York: Garland, 2000. (O'Sullivan, Emer. “Translating Pictures." Signal 90 (1999): 167-175. “Alice in Different Wonderlands: Varying Approaches in the German Trans lations of an English Childeen's Classic.” Pp. 11-21 in Children’s Literature and Nationel Identity, edited by Margaret Meck. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books, 2001 “Tomlinson, Carl M. Children’s Books from Other Ce row, 1998, Weaver, Warren. Alice in Many Tongues: The Translations of Alice in Wonderland. Madison, WE: The University of Wiseonsin Press, 1964, Ki stries. Lanham, MD» Seare- 11 The Aesthetic of the Reader ‘We have now come to the recipients of children’s fiction. In this chapter we will investigate the various eategories of readers, real and implied. Let us first take another look at the communication chain: feal author — implied author “+ narrator ~+ narratce -> implied reader — real reader. We have earlier dis tinguished between real flesh-and-blood authors and implied authors, that is, images of authors that can be constructed from the text. Similarly, we dis: tinguish between real readers and implied readers. One and the same flesh and-blood reader can read books presupposing different audiences, while several real readers may have different perceptions of the same text. plied reader is the authors" idea about their audience, the idea found in the text itself. It is, however, doubtful whether we can rely on writers’ statements such as, “I write for boys between 11 and 14.” The author’s statement and the implied reader found in the text are not necessarily identical. Nor can we rely on the publishers’ recommendations: “For girls 10 years and up.” The implied readership may also be subject to change as time passes: books that were originally intended for adults are now more suitable for children (and, ‘occasionally, the other way round). The construction of the implied reader is a more complicated process than merely putting a label on the book WHAT DO CHILDREN REALLY READ? Let us, however, start with real readers. Empirical research of children's reading is perhaps one of the oldest approaches to children’s literature, It includes a vast number of methods and tools, such as quantitative analysis, longitudinal studies, response protocols, interviews, and individual observa tion. Since this research lies within the field of reading, and literacy rather than children’s literature, we will consider just a few brief examples. Empiri 247Aesthetic Approaches to Children’s. Literature An Introduction Maria Nikolajeva a The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland + ‘Toronto + Oxford 2005SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published by Scarecrow Press, Ine wholly owned subsidiary of “Thee Rowman Ge Litleficld Publishing Group, Ine 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.searecrowpress.com PO Box 317 Oxford (OX2 9RU, UK Copyright © 2005 by Maria Nikolajeva Alf rights reserved. No pat of this publication may be reproduced, stored im a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any. means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, ‘without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nikolsjeva, Maria ‘Aesthetic approaches to childcen’s literature : Nikolajeva. pcm Includes bibliographical references and inden. ISBN 0.8108-5426-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) |. Children’s literature, Americaty—History and efticism—"Theory, ete 2. Children’s literature, English—History and erticism—Theory, et 3, Children" Books and reading —Norch America. I. Til, PS490.NS5_ 2008, 810.9'9282—dea? 2004024130 ©The paper used in shi publication ects she minimum requirements of Ameriean Rood Standard for lnfetaton Sencar Permastace of Paper for ne ibry Maen ANSUISO 2394-1998, Manuaced inthe Ud Sum of Ameden Contents Preface Introduction: Do We Need a Separate Aesthetics for Children’s Literature? ‘The Aesthetic of the Author ‘The Aesthetic of the Work ‘The Aesthetic of the Genre The Aesthetic of the Content ‘The Aesthetic of Composition ‘The Aesthetic of the Scene The Aesthetic of Character ‘The Aesthetic of Narration ‘The Aesthetic of Language 10 The Aesthetic of the Medium 11 The Aesthetic of the Reader 12 Conclusion: Which Tool Shall I Choose? Bibliography Index Subject and Name Index Title Index: About the Author 21 49 Fay 9 127 145 ii 197 223 247 209 273 301 301 309 313