电影毕业论文范文：从改编电影看女性主体认识的提高

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Introduction to Adaptation Films
From the primary stage of film, investors tend to think of some way to reducerisk of inventing one film. Later, they found out that movie adapted basing on classicnovels is an efficient way. Since it first appeared in 1895, film began to form a strongbond with literature.
For the most part, adaptation films always attempt to appeal to existingcommercial audience. In that situation, adaptation is a form of criticism and recreation.It is unavoidable to change the original novel in the adaptation films, because ofconstraints of time and medium.
Meanwhile, adaptation criticism has existed since the birth of adaptations filmsthemselves. However, adaptation study is relatively young. During the early years offilm, only small amount of articles proposed theoretical frameworks andmethodologies for this study. With the rapid development of literature and cinematictechnology, the film adaptation theories improved continuously and offered a lot ofdifferent ways to study this field.
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1.2 Adaptation Versions of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice, which is a famous novel written by Jane Austen, was firstpublished in 1813. The heroine and hero of Pride and Prejudice were ElizabethBennet and Darcy. Elizabeth was a sharp-eyed, witted young lady, while Darcy wasan arrogant man, who looks down upon Miss. Bennet and her sisters because hecannot bear their opinion of money and marriage. As a result, when they first met,they were distant from each other because of lack of understanding to each other.However, when they spend more and more time with each other, Darcy found out thathe was not only attracted by Elizabeth’s physical beauty but also fascinated by her intellect and special characteristics. Finally he proposed to her, but he was refuseddeterminedly and directly by Elizabeth. Although he was deeply shaken byElizabeth’s accusations, Darcy still wrote her a letter to justify his actions. After sheread it, Elizabeth felt that she might really misunderstood him. Accordingly, herprejudice to Darcy was reduced very much. When she found out that it was Darcywho helped her sister-Lidya and arranged a wedding for her and Mr. Wickham.Eventually, Elizabeth accepted Darcy’s second proposal and they have cleared all themisunderstanding with each other. Since then they enjoyed their new life from thenon.
Although the story was describing people living at the turn of the 19th century, itretains a fascination for modern readers, and it continued to be near the top of lists of“most loved books” of The Big Read. It is one of the most popular novels in Englishliterature and attracts much attention from literary scholars. As a result, interest in thebook has lead to a number of adaptations.
Pride and Prejudice has engendered numerous adaptations. Some of the notablefilm versions include that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, (basedin part on Helen Jerome’s 1936 stage adaptation) and that of 2005 starring KeiraKnightley (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen. Notabletelevision versions include two by the BBC: the popular 1995 version starringJennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and DavidRintoul. A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St. James’stheatre in London, starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams. First Impressions was a1959 Broadway musical version starring Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, and HermioneGingold. In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor, withPeter Karrie in the role of Darcy and Claire Moore in the role of Elizabeth Bennet.
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Chapter Two Literature Review and Theoretical Foundation

2.1 Literature Review
The first film was produced in 1895 in France. From the 1930’s, Hollywoodproduction entered its golden age and the film industry rose to its peak. Ever since thebeginning of the 20thCentury, film-makers began to make films based on famousfiction, because it is an efficient way to reduce producers’ risk. The first adapted filmwas Cinderella produced in 1900 and it gained immediate popularity. From that timeon, there has been an on-going interaction between literature and film. Accordingly,scholars and critics started to study the relationship between fiction and film, and theyhave developed many adaptation theories and studies.
At first, people only focused on whether film adaptation is a faithful reflection ofits source text. During that process, the only way to distinguish good film adaptationfrom bad ones is whether it was a true reflection of the original novel. Any reduction,any addition or redundancy in the film would be considered a betrayal. Theconventional adaptation criticism implies that adaptation has done “a disservice toliterature” and that “the standard rhetoric has often deployed an elegiac discourse ofloss, lamenting what has been ‘lost’ in the translation from novel to film” (RobertStam, 2005:3). The roots of such prejudice are, as Robert Stam explained in Literatureand Film: A Guide to Theory and Practice of Film(2005), Firstly, superiority ofliterature to film since literature is an older and better arts; Secondly, a bitter betweenfilm and literature; Thirdly, iconophobia, the deeply rooted cultural prejudice againstthe visual arts; Fourthly, logophilia, the valorization of the verbal; Fifthly,anti-corporeality, a distaste for the unseemly “embodiment” of the filmic text; Sixthly,the myth of facility that film is easy to make; Seventhly, class prejudice; Finally, thecharge of parasitism that adaptations burrow into the body of the source text and stealits vitality(Robert Stam, 2005:4-8).
With development of this field, some scholars began to question the criterion ofabsolute fidelity. In Novels into Film (1957), George Bluesone analyzed the process“the mysterious alchemy”-through which novels are transformed into films. Theoriginal statement is “predicted on certain assumptions which blur the mutationalprocess” (George Bluesone, 1957:5). In Novels into Film, George Bluesone concludedthat the adaptation of literature produced a new and wholly autonomous art form. Heargued that “changes are inevitable the moment one abandons the linguistic for thevisual medium” (George Bluesone, 1957:5-6). However, his research also hasdisadvantages; He focused too much on the dichotomy between forms and contentand his study was restricted to medium specificity. In the process of analyzing six filmadaptations, Bluestone mainly focused on changes made by the filmmakers inadapting the source material for the screen, such as, additions and deletions.
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2.2 Theoretical Basis
2.2.1 Brief Introduction to Feminist Criticism
Feminist criticism is a collection of ideologies aimed at defining, establishing,and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. It was never agarden of one flower. There are many schools of this theory. Generally speaking, theschools can be divided into three: the American school, the British school and theFrench School. The American school refers to feminist criticism around the 1970s.American feminists prefer criticism practice, and some of them think that theory is amale discourse and do not support the idea to construct feminist criticism. During that period, books of the most influential power include: Mary Ellman’s Thinking aboutWomen (published in1968), Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics (published in 1970). Theirtarget falls on patriarchy literary tradition, misogyny in literary tradition and twistedfemale images in male literature classics. Then, some other representative works werewritten: Ellen Moers’ Literary Women (published in 1976), Sandra Gilbert and SusanCuba’s The Madwoman in the Attic (published in 1979), as well as Elaine Showalter’sA Literature of Their Own (published in 1976). These works goes on criticizingpatriarchy literature. Meanwhile, they did deep research in the vast female worksbeing swallowed by patriarchy literary tradition aiming to construct female literatureand history.
Compared with American school, British School is deeply influenced byMarxism. Scholars in British School pay more attention to class and capitalism;therefore, they are generally labeled as materialist feminism. Juliet Mitchell’s Women:the Longest Revolution, which was published in 1966, is the foundational work for thisschool. It started from ideas about women in the early socialism period, andcomments on the root reasons why women are being oppressed. What’s more, it alsodiscussed the oppressed mechanism of women from four angles: production,reproduction, sexual relationships and socialization of children. Another scholar worthmentioning is Michele Barrett. Her representative works are Women’s OppressionToday (published in 1980) and Feminism and the Definition of Cultural Politics(published in 1982). In the latter book, she studied three important issues concerningmaterialist feminist criticism: artistic uncertainty of literature, relationship of womenand evaluation on question of aesthetic value with pleasure.
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Chapter Three Alienation from Feminism: Reconstructing Pride and
Prejudice in the 1940 Adaptation......................................16
3.1 Major Features of the 1940 Version .............................................16
3.2 Subdued Feminism and Highlighted Masculinity.........................................16
3.2.1 Constraints Imposed on Women by Complicated Costumes..............................16
3.2.2 More Obvious Heroic Image of Male ......................................17
3.2.3 Feminine Image of the Heroine.....................................20
3.4 Social Background ..........................................21
Chapter Four New Developments and Representation of Feminism:
the 1980 Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice ..........................................23
4.1 Major Features of the 1980 Version .........................................23
4.2 The Heroine’s Pursuit of Equality..................................23
4.2.1 Highlighted Spirit of Independence .........................................23
4.2.2 Strong Sense of Self-esteem.........................................24
4.3 Major Constraints on Female Images........................................24
4.3.1 Female’s Traditional Role as Housewife.....................................25
4.3.2 Emphasized Power of Male .........................................25
4.4The Heroine’s Obedience to Women’s Traditional Role ............................................26
4.5 Social Background .....................................27

Chapter Five Transcending Feminism: the 2005 Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice

5.1 Major Features of the 2005 Version
As a film released in the twenty-first century, the 2005 version reflected thecurrent context, such as historical circumstances, social circumstances and currentpeople’s ideology. So, heroine of this version conformed to image of modern women.
The heroine who was finally selected by the director was Keira ChristinaKnightley. She is beautiful and pretty famous for excellent performance in severalfilms, like, Bend It Like Beckham, Women’s Aid Charity and Pirates of the CaribbeanTrilogy. The public image she constructed is strong-minded, independent and versatileetc. She can reflect the features of modern women. So, the Elizabeth she actedlaughed loudly in the drawing room, danced happily in the ballroom, argued withpride Darcy eloquently in the public and did whatever she wants to do. The modernfemale audience may feel very familiar with the figure and find their appearances inthis Elizabeth.

5.2 Women’s Self Consciousness
In 18thcentury, women’s dressing style in Britain was deeply influenced byRococo style which emphasized intricate and exaggerated decoration. Decorations,like, lace, flowers, bow, and ribbon are widely used. Women’s bodies are strictly imprisoned by clothing like, corselet and petticoat. Above the wrist, women’s bodieswere bundled by corselet. And being constrained by underskirt, exaggerated hip shapeis made. In this kind of dress, women can not move or behave as they like. What’sworse, women in that period usually fall in a faint because of lack of fresh air causedby pressure.
However, in the lifetime of Jane Austen, Rococo style is replaced byNeoclassicism. Design of women’s dress during that period paid more attention tonatural beauty. It gets rid of corselet and petticoat which imprisoned women’s poorbody. It abandoned complicated and heavy decorations. Instead, it advocates simpleand natural style. For example, waistline is moved up till it is just below breast.According to this fact, in the 2005 version, the costumes are simple but elegant.
The following are three typical examples.
Firstly, Elizabeth showed up in Netherfield Hall to visit her sister Jane after along walk across fields. About that part, Jane Austen did not describe her dressing butthe 2005 version film gives Elizabeth’s image a close-up. She dressed in a dark brownwindbreaker with her curly hair hanged down loosely. The simple silhouette of thecoat and the free style of her hair made her more like a confident and independentmodern woman.
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Chapter Six Conclusion

This thesis has discussed feminist consciousness of Elizabeth in the three filmadaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which are respectively produced in1940, 1980 and 2005 and reconstructed the novel based on their particular historicalbackground, especially under the impact of women’s liberation movement.
It is generally acknowledged that no art works can be free from its productioncontext. As to film adaptations, social, cultural and historical contexts may touchupon their producers’ contemporary ideology consciously or unconsciously, and inthis way ideology in the original novel will be represented. In addition, as an art formof mass media, filmic production and consumption undoubtedly requires widerconsumer group and large number of economic profit. Therefore, director and wholeproduction group of the film have no other choice but to meet aesthetic andideological request of contemporary audience. So, inevitably, the three adaptationsdiscussed in this thesis reconstructed the original novel according to gender ideologyof their own time so as to appeal to contemporary audience.
As to the earliest version, Robert Z. Leonard’s 1940 version weakenedElizabeth’s feminist consciousness and her conflicts with Darcy. They showedadmiration with each other very obviously in the film long before they should be inthe original novel. Many classic plots representing Elizabeth’s subjectivity andindependence have been deleted or changed. The whole movie turned to be a romanticcomedy which weakened its feminist meaning to a great extent. This adaptationreflected male’s anxiety about masculinity after America’s Great Depression and theWorld War I. It suggests that women’s role and duty should be within family and theyshould go back home, take good care of children and support their husbands.
Under the impact of the second wave of women’s liberation movement, CyrilCoke’s 1980 version demonstrated new development and representation of feminismand reflected strong call for female independence and equality. However, somebarriers of feminism did not lose their strong influence on society either. For instance,after the Second World War, women had uncertainty of identity, and domestic longing.Therefore, this version represented the conflict between “Angel in house” and “Newwomen” in the process of constructing image of Elizabeth.
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