Hallo ihr Lieben,
hier ist mein Aufsatz den ich für den English Literature Kurs geschrieben hab. Ich hab die von der Lehrerin korrigierte Form ins Netz gestellt. Das blaue ist was sie geschrieben hat. Ich hab nichts am Aufsatz verbessert. Es sind also noch einige Fehler drin.Ich werde keine Übersetzung anfertigen (Isch mir einfach zu viel).
Ich hab heute schon drei weitere Blog-einträge ins Netz gestellt. Die sind da wenn ihr nach unten scrollt, falls ihr sie sucht.
Alles LIebe und noch einen gesegneten Weihnachtsabend,
Sarah
Hier der Aufsatz:
Comparison and contrast of the use of dialogue, imagery and scene setting in Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2001) and Joe Wright’s film Atonement (2007).
The novel Atonement by Ian McEwan – published 2001 – was made into a film and released in 2007. The screenplay was written by Christopher Hampton and the film was directed by Joe Wright. In this essay I am going to look at how the novel was brought to live on screen and how the camera technique and the soundtrack help bring the story alive and taking the length of the essay into consideration I only chose one section of the book and film. Namely, from the beginning of chapter eight to the end of chapter ten. I will also be concentrating on the scenes with the characters of Briony and Robbie. You obviously understand the main function of an introduction and this one begins to explain what you will be doing in the essay. I think you could have added an extra sentence, or so, saying that the novel contains a lot of internal dialogue and you are going to explore how this is depicted in the very different medium of film. It can be useful to re-consider your introduction after you have finished the essay.
Chapter eight starts in Robbie Turners bathroom. In the film Marshall’s visit in the playroom and Briony writing on the island are set between Robbie’s bath where he let’s his thoughts wonder over the day’s events and the scene where he writes the letter to Cecelia. His fantasizing about the incident at the fountain is compressed into a single thoughtful smile. The sweltering weather is being put across by adding no soundtrack and showing people lounging about in the heat very lacklustrely in three successive scenes. That is to say Cee and Leon with Marshall at the swimming pool, Robbie in his bath and the twins and Lola in the playroom. ‘lacklustrely’ is an interesting invention as a word, but not quite right. Did you mean that the scenes are ‘lacklustre’, i.e. that they lack brightness, are dull? Possibly you are hunting for an English equivalent to a German word? I agree that these scenes all have a certain languid quality, where nothing happens very fast.
When we finally return to Robbie, he is sitting at his desk and typing a letter. We soon find out that it is an apology to Cecelia about Robbie’s ‘clumsy and inconsiderate behaviour’ (p.85 l.31). But he rips the first draft out and crumbles it. After Robbie has put on some Opera music he sits down and starts anew. The Opera music, which is a duet between a man and a woman, is not in the book but has got a reason for being in this scene and is not only a fancy of the screenwriter. In other words a harmonious ‘duet’ is something Robbie aspires to? In the now playing scene the music seems to keep the viewer with Robbie although the camera changes very often between Cecelia and Robbie. Nicely observed point – I had not noticed that. Behind Robbie’s typewriter and in front of Cecelia is a mirror. This mirror creates, in addition to the music, a link between Cecelia and Robbie. Yes The camera often shows us viewers Cee’s face in her mirror as she gets ready for dinner, as well as Robbie’s face in his mirror as he is typing yet another version of his letter. Sometimes the camera shows Robbie’s face as he is lost in reverie and he seems to stare through his mirror and rather see Cee than himself. Their mirrors seem to be a connecting point between the two of them. Convincing argument. This feeling is underlined by both of them murmuring to themselves. It creates a picture of them talking quietly to each other. The camera adopting a move one of them makes, to then swing around and show the other seemingly continuing this movement adds to the link. Interesting All this let’s one wonder how much is reality and how much is part of Robbie fantasizing about Cecilia while writing his apology. Interesting speculation.
In the novel at the beginning of chapter nine Cee is concerned about her appearance and the ‘public gaze of the stairway mirror’ (p.96 l.20) (Possibly German practice is different, but in the UK Literary Criticism we only use line numbers for plays and poetry, not for novels – page numbers are sufficient.) One might say the public gaze could be Robbie’s gaze, as her thoughts always seem to unconsciously wonder back to him Yes and in the film it seems sometimes as though Robbie is gazing through his mirror at her.
As Robbie types the last sentence, which will become his undoing at the hands of Briony, the music swells into a crescendo. Also, nicely observed. As he then writes the letter with a pen to give it a more ‘personal touch’ (p.86 l.5) the music becomes softer and dies away. His expression and the content of his letter, which is now being read aloud, become gentler. This all gives the viewer the impression of the more ‘personal touch’ Robbie wants to achieve. This, of course, is the ‘other letter’ – the one which is never delivered – and I think you could have referred to the novel a little more to discuss the differences between both the two letters and how they are interpreted in film, but I agree that the treatment the film gives emphasises that this letter is more gentle. We also see Cee put the hair clip into her hair that later on leads Briony to the library.
The ease with which Robbie lives in two so different worlds is dealt with in detail in the book. It is portrayed in the scene between Robbie and his mother Grace Turner in which they talk about the silverware. The fact that they are talking about the silverware his mother polished and with which he’ll be eating when dining with the Tallis’s is symbolical for his ease of living in both the rich and the poor world. Grammatical point: in English you need to use ‘is symbolic of’ not ‘is symbolical for’ but I agree that Robbie’s state of inhabiting two worlds in the novel seems deliberately compressed into this scene which centres on the silver and the very different ways in which Grace and Robbie are both in contact with, literally, the family silver. Again, this is nicely observed.
As a film can only be a limited amount of time long and the screenwriter wants to get as much information in as possible, he often has to hint at things. Robbie’s runaway father is not dealt with directly but is hinted at by Grace Turner saying that he is ‘not a bit like his father’ and Robbie answering her that ‘that is because he’s all hers’ (film 24:12 min). Yes
Robbie jumping over a gate, walking in a slightly faster pace than is needed and his demeanour show his excitement and elation that evening. The director and screenwriter translated his feeling of freedom on screen through all of these things. Yes, I think this is convincing.
Contrary to the book, Briony is not waiting on the bridge as Robbie happens upon her but is still beating the nettles when he calls out to her. Yes – any thoughts about that decision? As Robbie sees her from the bridge he decides to give Briony the letter and let her run ahead with it. This is conveyed through him tapping the bridge with the letter – therefore indicating it is on his mind – as he halts in his stride. All this also is underlined by Robbie looking thoughtfully at the letter just before he calls out to Briony. As Briony runs towards Robbie her arms hang stiffly beside her body, accentuating the ‘awkward age’ (Robbie p.94 l.15) she is in. This awkwardness is also accentuated throughout the first part of the film by her dresses which always seem to be just a bit too short and make her seem lanky and a little bit awkward. Yes, and good comparison of the two texts – film and novel. (There is an interesting, if slightly lengthy, discussion of the way the young actress playing Briony was deliberately directed by the director in this podcast interview with Joe Wright, here, which I only found very recently, but Wright’s own comments bear your observations out: http://kcet.org/local/podcasts/cinema_series/2008/01/atonement-with-director-joe-wright.html )As Briony runs ahead with Robbie’s letter the soundtrack, which has been absent since the letter was finished, sets in again. The music is a repeat of the same note over and over again on piano. This creates a feeling of waiting in the viewer. Then sudden silence sets in and let’s (Let’s with an apostrophe is an abbreviation for ‘let us’. You need lets, which means ‘allows’.) the viewer know that something isn’t quite right. Good Robbie turns his head to the side in an abrupt movement and whispers Briony’s name questioningly. We see him remembering putting the wrong letter in the envelope. The loud shout he let’s (again, no apostrophe in lets here) loose when he knows for certain the mistake he made carries over into the next scene, where Briony arrives breathlessly at the house and hastily tears open the letter. Well observed. One can hear the typewriter together with the soundtrack. The typewriter is used as a way to symbolise Briony spinning her tales and writing the whole story in her head. The typewriter in the background is a recurring element throughout the film whenever Briony spins her tales. Yes As she reaches the word ‘cunt’ in the letter she freezes and the soundtrack as well as any other noise seize and each letter is spelled out on screen punctuated with the sound of a typewriter printing each letter as an emphasis on how shocking this is to the young girl. Yes
The scene changes abruptly to a much calmer setting where Leon and Cecelia2 joke around in the drawing room. In Cecelia’s answer to Leon’s comment about Marshall being a ‘good egg’ the viewer finds out that he is quite good natured. When Briony runs into the room – after having read the letter – she jumps directly into Leon’s arms and just thrusts the letter, without the envelope, into Cee’s hand as she passes her. Her exaggerated greeting of Leon has the purpose of not having to answer Cee’s questions about the letter. During Briony’s enthusiastic greeting of Leon she glances at Cee now and again and involuntarily catches her eye only to quickly look away. This betrays her as she doesn’t seem to be quite as distracted as she wants everyone to believe. Yes – though I missed a page ref here – I think you could have compared the film and the novel at this point. Here Briony looks away when Cecelia looks, simply burying her face in her brother’s jacket, so the film perhaps plays up Briony’s eagerness for the letter to be read, but on the other hand this might be part of the film’s interpretation of the description of Briony as ‘weirdly excited’. (At. p. 111)?
In the next scene we find Briony pacing in her bedroom obviously thinking about everything that happened. She is startled out of reverie as Lola knocks on her door and enters. Lola’s dress isn’t blue as described in the book (Page ref.?) but pink. In my opinion the director chose the colour pink and put it together with a somewhat womanly cut to show that Lola is just in the transition to an adult. The colour pink is a colour which reminds one a lot of a little girl and the cut of the dress shows that she isn’t that girl anymore but rather trying to be grown up. Good observation about the colour change, and interesting argument about the rationale behind this, which also reflects Lola’s behaviour in the playroom scene with Marshall.
At the beginning of their conversation Briony and Lola stand beside each other but facing away from each other. Briony only reacts to Lola grudgingly. This illustrates that at that moment Briony only acts out of a sense of duty (p.117 l.1) and really is preoccupied with what has happened earlier. Good comparison with the novel. These feelings begin to become more favourable of Lola during their little talk (‘towards Lola’ not ‘of Lola’ would be more technically correct, though a little awkward. I would paraphrase as something like ‘Briony’s feelings towards Lola change to become more favourable’) This is translated on screen by Lola and Briony changing their positions so that in the end they’re both sitting opposite each other on the bed looking at each other. Yes – I think you could have pointed to a short quotation from the novel, e.g. Briony ‘[…] thought she could see how one might begin to love Lola […] (At. p. 117) to support the idea that Briony’s feelings change and showing what the film crew (who clearly had studied the novel carefully) were trying to convey. Instead of Briony saying the word cunt there is a cut and we see Robbie arriving and ringing the bell. The camera changes immediately back to Briony and Lola on the bed where Lola calls Robbie a ’sex maniac’. Note that in the book Lola just uses the term ‘maniac’. This change could have been made to emphasize the ’sex’ part more and to let the audience know immediately what kind of maniac their (they are or they’re – in the more formal setting of an essay we do not generally use apostrophes in this kind of context though) talking about and to so cut down on the dialogue. Sounds a reasonable argument! The soundtrack sets in, when Lola leaves Briony’s room to clean her face up for dinner, after having paused since Briony read the letter. Her dress is a light, flowing evening dress but it is made in the same stile style as the dress she wore previously that day. I think you mean Briony’s dress? As Cee’s hair clip sidetracks Briony the music suddenly becomes quieter. After a short time it picks up again although a little quieter and slower. It changes into a different key as well. All this leads to a building tension. Yes . A man’s distant voice let’s (I think you mean ‘causes’, or possibly ‘provides reason for Briony to halt’) Briony halt in her examination of the hair clip and turn to listen for the voice again. This is what leads her to go into the library. As she enters the library the light on the desk blinds the camera but once Briony, and with her the camera, starts moving towards it it becomes clear that there is something else behind the light that has caught her attention. In the book it is a noise she hears behind the closed door of the library that leads her there to investigate. At first only ‘dark shapes’ (p.123 l.14) are to be seen and as she draws nearer the shapes turn into Robbie and Cee. The soundtrack swells to a crescendo and stops as she catches sight of Robbie and Cee against the bookshelves. As Briony, shocked by what she has seen, whispers ‘Cecelia’ the camera changes abruptly to Robbie ringing the doorbell and we see the scene from Robbie’s point of view. Yes – I think you could have added just another line or so about the importance of (apparently) having more points of view than just Briony’s in the novel.
In my opinion Joe Wright has managed to really bring the book alive on screen. The novel Atonement is a very difficult book to make into a film as there is a lot of internal dialogue and a lot of things are going on that aren’t talked about by the characters. Yes Through the use of music, costumes and carefully placed hints in the dialogue Joe Wright has been able to translate the book onto the screen. Of course in the film there are deviations from the novel and some scenes couldn’t be brought across to the audience as well as in the book or had to be left out. In my view this doesn’t really matter as Joe Wright has brought the essence of the book to life and in addition to that managed to stay quite truthful to the book. Good conclusion summing up your main points, whilst following the golden rule of not introducing any new evidence at this point.
2095 words
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. Ich hab 68% und hätte mind. 50% gebraucht um zu bestehen. Also wahrscheinlich vergleichbar mit einer 3. Was ja immer ungefähr meine Note in Deutsch war. Ich werde den Aufsatz hier hochladen. Nur werde ich einen extra Blogeintrag machen, ansonsten wird das hier zu unübersichtlich. Falls ich jetzt die nächsten beiden Trimester bestehe bekomme ich ein Zertifikat für den English Literature Kurs.
Falls ich nicht bestehe werde ich das nächste Trimester nicht Englisch Lit. machen sondern nur das drauf, da ich Gedichte nicht so sehr mag und die das Thema für das nächste Term sind. Sollte ich bestehen, werde ich das nächste Trimester machen, da ich dann die Möglichkeit hab das Certificate zu kriegen.
Das hier war der Lieblingsladen der Kinder 
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