John Boorman adapted the Passing of Arthur in the movie Excalibur. Movies are not the only adaptations of Tennysons poem but there are several art and music adaptations. Examples of these adaptations include music by Loreena McKennit and paintings by John William Waterhouse, Howard Pyle and Arthur Rackham. In Bela Balazss Art Form and Material Balazs states that a good adaptation is a reinterpretation of the original. Boorman uses nature and color to recreate the atmosphere of the original text. These techniques enhance the richness of the movie, provide a more in depth view of Arthurs life and make the Tennysons descriptive writing allows the reader to form detailed pictures. The atmosphere Tennyson creates focuses a lot on the beauty of nature. During the scene when Bedivere throws Excalibur in the lake he describes the area with zigzag paths, and juts of pointed rock, the shining levels of the lake…the winter moon, long cloud and frost. He produces an atmosphere of Tennyson concentrates on the image of the winter moon while Bedivere tries to get rid of the Excalibur.
This picture makes the reader think that the setting is a winter night. According to Websters dictionary, winter symbolizes of coldness, misery or death. Winter is the season when living things die. The moon only comes out during the night. At night people rest from their busy lives and do nothing. Night closely related to winter because both are very dark and bleak times. The lack of light shows the sadness happening to Arthur. As Arthur passes the only light he has comes from the winter moon. The reader gets the feeling that Arthur is heading there.
Procrastination Essay on – If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
An essay on If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler written by Italo Calvino Perhaps this sentence would suit as the closing one. Well at least I have to consider it. Finally, ideas are starting to evolve now that I have sat myself down with my cup of coffee; Calvino thought drinking coffee was adequate for reading and writing, so I drink it while I do just that, read or write. The amount of ...
Tennyson chooses dark words and images to create a very desolate and gloomy setting. Sidney Lumet states in Making Movies there are no unimportant decisions in a movie. Production designers put a lot of effort to recreate the original text. The setting is a very important factor in making a movie. It contributes to much of the style of a movie. Settings reflects many of the directors insights and opinions.
There are times where the director goes to great lengths just to form the perfect scene. They leave no detail spared. According to Lumet, a directors goal is to create a setting so that the audience feels apart of the movies When the director needs to find a setting for his/her movie Lumet recommends to find places that are closest to what you want to end up with. If the setting needs to be changed it can change the atmosphere and become expensive too. Art direction progresses on its own according to the text. Scenes can change color, style, etc.
based on the plot. Lumet feels that small elements add up. It takes a lot of planning, deciding and concentration to create the perfect setting. There is more behind the setting then what the eyes behold. Poems are subject to interpretation. They allow the reader to create different images and thoughts completely on their own.
Movies leave very little room for other interpretations because they are mainly visual. Therefore, what the director puts in a movie makes the decision more important. Following what Lumet recommends Boorman creates a scene that closely resembles what Tennyson originally constructed. Boorman focuses on the details of the scene to make it more rich and close to the original text. He adapts what Tennyson wrote to Boormans adaptation of the winter moon becomes a bright, deep red sunset. Arthur lays injured waiting to be reborn and the sun is setting behind him leaving a red glow over the whole setting. The bright red suns strong rays can not be missed. According to Encarta Encyclopedia, the color red symbolizes blood, passion, wealth and aggression. All of these characteristics can be seen in the character of Arthur.
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Andre Parfeniuk Student # 10260974 December 3, 2001 The Impact of Dziga Vertov on Film " The main and essential thing is : the sensory exploration of the world through film. We therefore take as a point of departure the use of the camera as a keno-eye, more perfect than the human eye, for the exploration of the chaos of visual phenomena that fills space." - Dziga Vertov , Manifesto The Council of ...
The blood, passion and aggression represent the battle he just fought and was injured in. King Arthur controls and has power over everyone. He is worth more than anyone else. Red shows Arthurs love and passion of his friends of the distinguished round table and Excalibur. My brand Excalibur which was my pride, exemplifies how deeply he feels about his duties as king, and the There is also a lot of symbolism behind the sunset. As stated in Websters dictionary, a sunset means a decline, final phase, illness, fading and death. Seeing the sunset behind the injured Arthur makes the reader feel and see more clearly the closure of Arthurs life.
Sunsets are a reminder of an ending yet also represent the beginning of something new. Arthur was ending his life just like the sun but was reborn just as the sun is the next day. The red sunset was so large that there was no way it could be missed. It parallels what Arthur was going through at the same time. Boorman obviously wanted the sunset to get attention because it means so much. One question that comes to mind after looking at both the poem and movie is: why would the director make changes from the original text? An adaptation is entitled to have some differences but that do not change the context of the original text.
A winter moon draws less attention than the red sunset. The red sunset symbolizes much more than a bleak winter moon. Movies are based on visual representations and little room for self interpretation. Therefore, details need to mean much more and stimulate the feeling the original text does. Boorman wants the audience to react and appreciate the details that he thought out very carefully. He tries to make the whole movie arouse feelings and emotions just as well as the poem does. As Lumet stated the little things are not little to the art director, Changing the winter moon to a red sunset did not manipulate the plot in any way.
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During night time, the moon is the clearest celestial object that could be seen any place on earth. The moon is considered as the closest celestial thing on earth and is the only natural satellite to the earth (Freudenrich, 2008). As people noticed, the moon presents changing shapes in the night sky. There are instances when one could see a full disk shape, other times it peaks a faction of its ...
If anything changed, it would be the feeling the reader has about Arthurs death. The winter moon seems bleak and empty whereas the red sunset stirs up many feelings and symbolizes so much more. The final scene of Excalibur is a successful adaptation of The Passing of Arthur. The movie did not change the text in any way but used different images. Both the winter moon and red sunset but portrayed the same idea, death. Boorman used his own creation, a red sunset to make the same statement as before but just with more emphasis. The director did his job in recreating the context of the original text.
Therefore, he created a great
