The Swimmer (Cheever/Perry): de l'adaptation à la normalisation
Instead of viewing the relation of filmed narrative to written narrative in terms of « fidelity », it may be relevant to speak of representation to describe the process of « transmodalization » at work in Frank Perry’s 1968 adaptation for the screen of John Cheever’s 1964 short story « The Swimmer »...
Shranjeno v:
| izdano v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/rrca, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jezik: | Français |
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Revue de recherche en civilisation américaine
2014
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| Online dostop: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Izvleček: | Instead of viewing the relation of filmed narrative to written narrative in terms of « fidelity », it may be relevant to speak of representation to describe the process of « transmodalization » at work in Frank Perry’s 1968 adaptation for the screen of John Cheever’s 1964 short story « The Swimmer ». I will argue that Perry's movie works towards a normalization of Cheever's story as the gaps in the literary text are regularly filled by images, sounds, dialogues which mostly contribute to rid the original narrative of its structural ambiguities. In other words, some characters taking shape on the screen appear to embody the director's fantasies, if not the fantasies of a whole era, while the literary text worked hard at concealing radically different fantasies as is suggested by a close study of the writer's manuscripts and journals. One could thus ultimately reflect on the part played by the ethical and aesthetical codes of the time, especially as displayed and promoted by Hollywood movies. |
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