Dr. Sholeh Kolahi Assistant Professor, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch

Transcription

1 THE STUDY OF INTERSEMIOTIC TRANSLATION OF GONE WITH THE WIND NOVEL IN TO FILM BASED ON SOJOODI S MODEL Dr. Sholeh Kolahi Assistant Professor, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch Sh-kolahi@iauctb.ac.ir Solmaz Mahdavi Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran s.mahdavi9096@gmail.com ABSTRACT The present research aimed at investigating the intersemiotic translation of the novel Gone with the wind- (Mitchell,1939) as prototext in to its corresponding film as metatext to make a comparative study between the two semiotic systems of language and cinema in order to see how changes and differences of the prototext and metatext including two different sign systems, affect the process of adaptation. To fulfill this purpose, the researcher followed Sojoodi s theory of stratificational semiotics (2008). Having seen the movie for numerous times and also reading the novel several times, the researcher extracted ten sequences of the movie and compared them with their corresponding texts. The author has attempted to make a comparative study between the two semiotic systems of language and cinema, taking an alternative view towards adaptation.according to Lhermitte (2005), film adaptation is an intersemiotic translation which involves the conversion of a particular system of signs in to a different configuration. Through investigating the intersemiotic translation and intertextual relations (addition, deletion and creation) between the novel and its corresponding film, it was found out that %77 of the prototext has been translated (repeated) in to the film. Moreover, data analysis revealed that only "deletion" and "creation" has been occurred in intersemiotic translation which have had a significant impact on the transferred concept. Twenty three percent of the prototext have been deleted and creation has been occurred three times. There were no added sections in the movie. KEYWORDS: Semiotics, Intersemiotic Translation, Metatext, Prototext, Film Adaptation INTRODUCTION The last decade has witnessed a research shift in the focus of systemic functional approaches to multimodal discourse analysis (O Halloran, 2007). Drawing on insights of Halliday s social semiotic theory of language, the researchers in the 1990s were mainly interested in the extension of systemic functional grammar to non-verbal semiotic resources and media including displayed art (O Toole,1994), visual sign (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996) action (Martinec,1998) 184

2 and music (Van Leeuwen, 1999). By contrast, from the late 1990 onwards, meaning making across different modalities in multi-semiotic text becomes the focus of study. But what actually semiotics is and what semiotics involves? Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as signs in everyday speech, but of anything which stands for something else. In the semiotic sense, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. Contemporary semioticians study sign not in isolation but as part of semiotic sign-system (such as a medium or genre). They study how meaning is made and how reality is represented. Theories of signs appear throughout the history of philosophy from the ancient times onwards (Todorov, 1982). However, the two primary tradition in contemporary semiotics stem respectively from the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure ( ) and the American philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce ( ). Saussure referred to language as the most important of all of the systems of signs (Saussure,1983). Many other theorists have regarded language as fundamental. Roman Jacobson insisted that language is the central and most important among all human semiotic systems (Jacobson, 1970). Jacobson (2000) indentifies that there are three kinds of translation, i.e. intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic. He believes that translation can take place within the same language (intertranslation), and even between two systems of signs (intersemiotic translation). She also states that intersemiotic translation, the third type of translation, involves the conversion of a particular system of signs in to a different configuration. The key emphasis in Jacobson s formulation is on the term "interpretation" and understandably. By giving several examples he tries to exemplify the purpose of all translations, which is in some ways a transfer from the source text to the target text, involving the process of communication from the sender to the receiver. But how does one address the question of translation equivalence in the third category that Jacobson mentions? One problem relates to translation equivalence, in which there is a lack of exact correspondence between single units in the source system and those of the target one. The most common form of intersemiotic translation is translation of a literary work in to film. In recent years a considerable degree of interest has been developed in the semiology of the cinema, in the question whether it is possible to dissolve cinema criticism and cinema aesthetics in to a special province of the general science of signs. All the yardsticks that is applied to interlingual translation are applicable here too -equivalence, translation strategy, faithfulness to the original, etc. The dimensions like the natural changes that would accompany the transformation of material from one medium to another are also added. The appropriate parameter to assess an intersemiotic translation would be the carrying through of meaning from the source system to the new representation. They are not supposed to be compared, for one is what the other has become. 185

3 It seems better to compare how the meaning of a text is rendered into a movie and in this rendering of meaning what changes have been applied on the text? To this end the present survey has attempted to make a comparative study between the two semiotic systems of language and cinema, taking an alternative view towards adaptation. The researcher has undertaken to survey the intersemiotic translation process of novel in to the movie by applying Sojoodi (2008) stratificational approach. The aim has been to compare the intersemiotic translation processes between the two different sign systems of literature and cinema. Regarding the aforementioned systems, the researcher has compared the adaptable sequences of the movie gone with the wind with the novel. Literary text and the cinematic production of the present research are respectively taken as the proto-text and the meta-text. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Q 1 : What is the frequency of the cinematic codes used in the intersemiotic translation of the novel Gone with the wind- in to film? Q 2: What is the frequency of repetition or translation, addition, deletion or creation in the process of intersemiotic translation of the novel- Gone with the wind- in to film based on Sojoodi s model? Q 3 : what is the impact of deletions and additions? METHODOLOGY Theoretical framework Jakobson (1959) introduced his own categorization of different types of translation as: Intralingual translation (rewording): an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs of the same language. Interlingual translation (translation proper): an interpretation of verbal signs by means of [signs of] some other language. Intersemiotic translation (transmutation): an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of non-verbal sign system. Jakobson introduced the concept of intersemiotic translation, which not only relates to Saussure'stratificational linguistic ideas to translation; but also amazingly widens the realms of translation to art, aesthetics, etc. The researcher decided to analyze two different sign systems novel and film- according to the third part of Jakobson's intersemiotic translation as well as Farahzad s approach in translation as an inter-textual function (2009). Farahzad believes that translation is partly repeatition, partly creation and partly deletion. The aim of the present research is to show the frequency of repetition, creation and deletion in the intersemiotic translation process of novel in to the film. Stratificational semiotics is based on the existing theories, continuing them, and criticizing some of the key concepts of semiotics. In his theory of stratificational semiotics, Sojoodi argues that text is an open network consisting of different layers which are objective textual representations of different code systems.in fact, textual layers interrelate, and are realized and interpreted as a text and as an object resulting from the signifying 186

4 codes. Also, the relationship between text and code is bilateral, and code does not precede text. On the one hand, different codes involve in the creation and perception of a text, in other words, every text is a product of an interactive operation of a network of codes, and on the other hand, texts transform codes. Aside from the relationship with texts, codes also relate to other codes. He also believes that text is physical and objective, so it is inevitably perceived by five senses or media- audio, visual, tactile, gustatory and olfactory. In contemporary world, texts are often perceived by audio- visual media. Furthermore, any medium needs a tool to communicate with its addressee. So television, radio, newspaper, book, internet, etc, are the tools that mediate between the medium and the addressee (Sojoodi, 2008). Corpus In the present research the literary text Gone with the wind- and its cinematic production its movie selected as the corpus of the study, are respectively taken as the proto-text and meta-text. Checking more than 20 critics of the novel, the researcher came up with the comments emphasizing that the novel is a brilliant, powerful epic (Berardinelli, 2014; Puccio, 2004). However, there are disagreements on the theme of story. Margaret Mitchel herself has said that if the novel has a theme, it is survival. The novel presents many characters, some who survive, and many who do not. It can be said that It s a story of peace and war, love and loss, hope and despair. More than that, it presents a chronological look at a time filled with uncertainty in America the Civil War and Reconstruction while also depicting the moral and psychological growth of its characters as they undergo dramatic changes to their way of life. Margaret Mitchell paints a vivid picture of life in the South, from belles and beaux to Yankees and Confederates and everything in between. This epic melodrama, directed in 1939 by Victor Fleming, should be viewed less as a movie and more like an institution. Unlike any other piece of seventh art, it actually became the essential part of popular culture in this century. And this shouldn't surprise anyone, since GONE WITH THE WIND looks larger than all the other movies, almost in the same proportion in which an average movie looks larger than real life. Its epic 222-minute length is only partly responsible for such impression. The images of this film are the most recognisable, the scenes are the most memorable, the protagonists are the most iconic and the lines are the most quoted. More than 60 years after its premiere, there are still new generations of viewers ready to be enchanted by its mythical quality. Thus the popularity of GONE WITH THE WIND is perpetuated and it remains the most popular and the most beloved film of all times. (Antulov,2000; Schuartz,2004) The characteristics of both the novel and the movie are summarized in Table 1. Table 1: The characteristics of the corpus Name Characteristics Novel Gone with the wind Margaret, M (auther),(1936) Movie Gone with the wind O.selznick,D (producer) & Fleming, V (director). (1939) 187

5 Procedure The main purpose of the present study was analyzing intersemiotic translation process between the two different code systems -text and cinema. The researcher has selected ten sequences of the movie Gone with the wind which is taken as the metatext, with the corresponding sections of the novel Gone with the wind which is taken as the prototext. The rationale behind choosing the sequences comes back to the precise reading of the whole story in detail and about twenty criticisms as well. The main theme of the novel is war and the main character's (Scarllet's) personality. The plot is consisted of three main sections: pre war, the war, and after war periods. Since the corresponding sections in the film are the shortest period as the prewar, and afterwar and the war as the longest one respectively; the researcher has selected the main sequences from the war period and the rest from the two others. Therefore, from the total ten selected sequences, one of them is selected from pre war, three sequences from after war, and the remaining six sequences from the war period. Each selected sequence is divided in to its shuts and each shut is divided in to codes by which the producer has converted the novel in to film. The researcher has compared the adapted film with the novel to see what parts of the prototext have been repeated in the metatext, what parts have been created and what parts have been deleted. To clarify the process of data collection, the details of the cinematic codes used as the basis of the analysis in this study, are illustrated in Table 2. Number Cinematic code Camera shots Camera angle Camera movement Lighting Fade Dissolve Sound Sound effects(sfx) Silence Color Clothes Actor/actress(face appearance) Make up Table 2: Cinematic codes 1)An extreme shot 2)A long shot 3)A full shot 4)A mid shot 5)A close-up shot 6)An extreme close-up shot 1)A bird'sound eye angle 2)A high angle 3)An eye-level angle 4)Alow angle 5)A dutch angle 1)Acrane shot 2)A tracking shot 3)A dolly shot 4)Panning 5)Tilt 6)Crab 7)Hand-held camera 8)Process shot 9)An Evangelion shot 1)fade in 2)fade out 1)diegetic (ambient sound,room tone, dialogue, sound motifs) 2)non-diegetic (music or voice over) 188

6 International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World Volume 9 (3), July 2015; Kolahi, Sh., & Mahdavi, S EISSN: & ISSN: A sample of the details of the analysis procedure is illustrated in figure 1. Figure 1: Comparing the selected texts of the novel with its corresponding sequences of the movie 189

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11 Design The present research is a descriptive corpus based study. Selecting a descriptive approach, the researcher attempted to analyze the meta-text in relation to its corresponding proto-text within the framework generated through the study. The researcher attempted to describe and compare the intersemiotic translation between the novel Gone with the wind- and its corresponding adapted film. So, the cinematic codes were defined. These cinematic codes (such as sounds, color, camera shots, etc) are used by the director (the intersemiotic translator) to demonstrate the frequency of deletion, addition or creation in the process of translating the novel in to film. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The intersemiotic translation of texts in to the movie sequences has been done using the cinematic codes. The codes were evaluated and then classified with regard to the Sojoodi s stratificational model. The tables of the cinematic codes are presented in Appendix 1. The results are demonstrated as follow: The proportions of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for each sequence are shown in figures 2 to 11: Figure 2: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 1 194

12 Figure 3: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 2 Figure 4:The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 3 195

13 Figure 5: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 4 Figure 6: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 5 196

14 Figure 7: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 6 Figure 8: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 7 197

15 Figure 9:The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 8 Figure 10:The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 9 198

16 Figure 11: The Proportion of cinematic codes and excluded paragraphs for sequence 10 Figures 2 to 11 demonstrate the approximate use of each cinematic code in the sequences one to ten. It can be seen that generally most of the codes are used equally; only the cinematic code dissolve had been used once. So, it is deleted in statistical analysis of the findings of the present research. Moreover, one of the interesting findings of the study was the occurrence of deletion which has been occurred in most of the sequences and creation which has been occurred in some of the sequences. Next, the mean of the main cinematic codes used for all 10 examined sequences was calculated. The results are shown in the table 4 and figures 12: Table 4: Mean of the Main Cinematic Codes Used For All 10 Examined Sequences. Cinematic codes The no of sequences which have used the cinematic codes The average of using cinematic codes in sequences Cam. Shots Cam. Angels Cam mov Lighting Fade Sound Sound effect Colour Clothes Actor/Actress Make up Total

17 Figure 12: Mean of Different Cinematic Codes For All 10 Sequences. Table 5:Analysis of Variance Test in 10 Examined Sequences ANOVA Number Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups Within Groups Total As table 5 indicates based on the analysis of variance of the 10 examined sequences (sig<0.05) so, there is a significant difference in the use of cinematic codes. So the answer for the first question is shown in table 6: 200

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19 Figure 12 displays the mean of different cinematic codes for all 10 sequences. According to the figure, it is concluded that in translating the text in to movie, the cinematic code sound has the highest frequency and the cinematic code fade has the lowest one. Moreover, in order to answer the second research question, the sequences were analyzed to find out whether there is any deletion or addition or creation and the results are shown in table 7, figure 13 and figure 14. Table 7: The proportions of deletion and creation in the intersemiotic translation of novel Gone with the wind- in to movie Sequence No. paragraphs No. excluded paragraphs No. creation Proportion of excluded paragraphs Proportion creation of Total Figure 13: The Proportion of Excluded Paragraphs In Each Sequence 202

20 Figure 14: The proportion of the creation of the cinematic codes According to table 7 and figure 13 and 14, it can be concluded that only deletion and creation has been occurred in the process of intersemiotic translation. There was no added section in the movie. However, in sequences 2, 3, 4 there are examples of creation and, deletion has been occurred in 8 out of the 10 sequences. The high percentage of this occurrence is probably due to the high volume of the text which cannot be entirely converted to the movie. As table 7 shows, the total number of the paragraphs are one hundred and nine (109). Twenty five paragraphs (23%) have been deleted and creation has been occurred three times (3%). So, it can be concluded that seventy seven percent (77%) of the source text has been translated in to the target text and out of the seventy seven percent (77%), in three percent (3%) creation can be seen. The answer of the third question is actually based on the analysis which had been done by the researcher and is explained in the discussion part of the study. Discussion This research was conducted in order to find out whether there is any deletion or addition in translating the novel in to movie. The results indicate that there is no addition but deletion has been occurred in 8 sequences of the 10 sequences and this is a remarkable event. These deletions may have occurred due to the different reasons. The novel is of a considerable volume and the author has attempted to incorporate different issues in the story at the same time: 1) War and its destructive effects on people s lives 2) Complicated characterization, the role of destiny, the character s reaction to life events. The text is a single sign system and the author could bring all the intended events and conditions by using the single sign system. But since the movie is a multi-sign system, converting the story with its details is a very demanding task and leads to excessive prolongation of the film. However, there are 203

21 some cases of deletion which can directly affect on the audience s interpretation of the characters personality and behavior. For example in the first sequence which is the beginning of the story, buying darkee by the Scarlett s father has been entirely deleted. Scarlett s father paid a high cost for the darkee. Darkee was a little daughter; his intention was in fact to take care of her. This shows Scarlett s father s kindness and amiability. The author intends to emphasize this characteristic at the beginning of the story and then let the reader judge on both the father and Scarlett s personalities. Deletion of the first scene deprives the audience of being allowed to have such a judgment. Another example is the deletion of Melani s aunt. She is entirely deleted in the movie; so, her impact on the story is also deleted. Another important issue implied is the occurrence of creation. The director has changed the order of the events. For example, in the second sequence it can be seen that Melani first put her wedding ring in the gifts basket and Scarlett did the same whereas it is quite vice versa in the novel. This creation shows the characteristics of Scarlett and Melani differently and makes a kind, sympathetic and devoted picture of Melani in the minds of the viewer s and on the other hand shows Scarlett as a selfish and jealous woman. A little creation caused a big change in the actress characteristic. So, it can be concluded that deletion and creation which had been occurred clearly in this story, have a significant effect on the transferred concept. CONCLUSION The results of the present research shows that the movie cannot be the entirely similar translation of the text and parts of concepts are changed in the process of intersemiotic translation. They may entirely be deleted or converted to another form. All these changes are affective factors in the intended impact of the movie. Another issue which is implied of this research is the role of the director. According to the old perspective of translation, it means the replacement of an original text (known as the source text) with a substitute one (known as a target text). But it is a translator who does the act of translation and has a significant role in the process of translation. In the intersemiotic translation, the director plays the role of a translator. In discussing the impact of translator in the proper translation, different factors are concerned such as the social level of the translator, his/her situation in the family, the financial, etc. All of these factors affects the act of a director in the process of filmmaking. This research shows the important role of a director because he/she is forced to choose among different cinematic codes and manage them so skilled and subtly to create the same impact of the novel. There are obviously obstacles in the way of every research. Contrary to the great interest in the field of intersemiotics, the number of articles and books related to them and specially related to adaptation 204

22 strategy, are few. Another limitation posed to this study is in the line with the corpus which is a movie only available in the black market. It is obvious that there are so many fields in interdisciplinary studies but in this study the researcher just focuses on the intersemiotic translation of novel to movie. REFERENCES Farahzad, F.(2009). Translation as an intertextual practice. Iran: Allameh Tabataba i University. Farahzad, F.(2009). Translation Criticism:A CDA Approach. Iran: Allameh Tabataba i University. Jacobson, R. (1960): 'Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics'. In Sebeok (Ed.), op.cit., pp Jacobson, R. (1971): 'Language in Relation to Other Communication Systems'. In Roman Jacobson (Ed.): Selected Writings, Vol. 2. Mouton: The Hague, pp Jacobson, R., & Morris, H. (1956): Fundamentals of Language. The Hague: Mouton Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1996): Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Rutledge Peirce, C. ( ): Collected Writings (8 Vols.). (Ed. Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss & Arthur W Burks). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Saussure, F. ([1916] 1974): Course in General Linguistics (trans. Wade Baskin). London: Fontana/ Collins Saussure, F. ([1916] 1983): Course in General Linguistics (trans. Roy Harris). London: Duckworth Sojoodi, F. (2005, November 9 and 10). Intercultural Communication: A semiotic approach. Paper presented at the international Seminar on Cultural Parallels, India and Iran, Allahabad Museum, Allahabad. Retrieved May 21,2010, from /intercultural %20communication.pdf Sojoodi, F. (2008). نشانهھ شناسی کارربرددیی [practical semiotics](2 nd ed.). Tehran: Elm publication. Sojoodi, F. (2010f). [Intercultural communication: Translation and its role in inclusion and Exclusion processes]. In F. Sojoodi (Ed.), [semiotics: Theory and practice] (pp ). Tehran: Elm publication) ااررتباططاتت بيین فرهھھھنگی: ترجمهھ وو نقش ا آنن ددرر فرا آيیندهھھھایی جذبب وو ططردد نشانهھ شناسی: نظريیهھ وو عمل) 205