MCLC: film adaptation course (1-5)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Wang, Zhuoyi <zwang at hamilton.edu>
Subject: film adaptation course (1)
***************************************************************

In response to He Donghui's inquiry:

Many films produced during the Maoist period are adaptations of
literary works. The choices are of course much more limited when we
look for films with English subtitles based on literary works that
have been translated into English. But there are a few. You may want
to consider films like Zhufu (1956), Qingchun zhige (1959), Zaochun
eryue (1964), and, if film adaptations of theatrical plays are
acceptable, Nianqing de yidai (1965, 1976, English subtitled copies of
the latter version are available). English translations of the
original literary works for the first three films are easy to find on
WorldCat. An English translation of the script of the original play
for the last one can be found in The Columbia Anthology of Modern
Chinese Drama.

Wang, Zhuoyi

=============================================================

From: darryl sterk <shidailun at gmail.com>
Subject: film adaptation course (2)

I taught 早春二月 a couple of years ago and really liked it. I think the
students did too. It was adapted from a novel by 柔石 written I think in the
late 1920s. And there're two textbooks for English native English
speakers, one out of print edited by Laifong Leung and the 2003 textbook
from Cornell UP, Early One Spring.

I assume you're thinking of adaptation from the mainland, but there were
adaptation were made in Taiwan before the 1980s. 再見阿郎 based on a story
called 將軍族 by 陳映真 is worth seeing (though it would be hard to get).

H. C. Deppman's The Cultural Politics of Modern Chinese Fiction and Film
is helpful and has two chapters on Taiwan films. I especially recommend
the Hou Xiaoxian film and the story adapted from the film.

Darryl Sterk

==========================================================

From: Kristin Stapleton <kstaple at buffalo.edu>
Subject: film adaptation course (3)

Dear colleagues,

There is a brand new translation of Li Jieren's 1935 novel Ripple on
Stagnant Water (李劼人，《死水微澜》). The translators, to give proper credit
where 
credit is due, are Bret Sparling and Yin Chi 殷驰. It's a much livelier
translation than the Panda edition that came out in 1990 (titled Ripples
across Stagnant Water), and, to be somewhat presumptuous, I think the
author would have approved of it had he still been around to read it. The
publisher is Merwin Asia. This novel was made into the film Kuang 狂,
directed by Ling Zifeng 凌子风, which was released in 1991 (so maybe does
not 
meet Prof. He's requirements, but thought I'd mention it anyway).  Some of
my foreign student classmates at the time at 川大 were extras in the film,
which I thought was a bad move on the part of the screenwriter.  Part of
the point Li Jieren was trying to make in this novel about Sichuan during
the Boxer era, in my opinion, is that foreigners could influence events in
west China even when they never appeared in person.

Sincerely
Kristin

========================================================

From: Kun Qian <kqian516 at gmail.com>
Subject: film adaptation course (4)

I am teaching an adaptation course this semester. The literary works
before 1980s I used are:

Lu Xun "New Year's Sacrifice" (1924)--Sang Hu, New Year's Sacrifice (1956)
Rou Shi, The Threshold of Spring (1927)-- Xie Tieli, Early Spring (1963)
Eilleen Chang, Lust, Caution (1950); Ang Lee, Lust, Caution (2007) (I
won't show the sex scenes in class)

There are other works available, but I did not use, either because of the
length of the reading, or the quality of the adaptation:

Lu Xun, Regret for the Past (1925)--Shui Hua, Regret for the Past (1981)
Lao She, Rickshaw Boy (1936)--Ling Zifeng, Rickshaw Boy (1982)
Yang Mo, The Song of Youth (1958)--Chen Huaikai, The Song of Youth (1959)

Two works in the 2000s:

Dai Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress--Dai Sijie, Balzac and
the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
Yan Geling, The Flowers of War (2006)--Zhang Yimou, The Flowers of War
(2012)

Hope this helps.

Kun Qian

===============================================

From: andrea lingenfelter <ondi at speakeasy.org>
Subject: film adaptation course (5)

Just off the top of my head, and in no particular order:

"To Live"
"Raise the Red Lantern"
"Farewell My Concubine"
"Red Sorghum"

Three out of four of the film versions were directed by Zhang Yimou, so
if you're looking for directorial diversity you might want to keep
looking, although it's quite a trifecta.

I can't speak to how close the other adaptations are to their sources,
but there are some interesting differences between the novel and film
versions of "Concubine"--I believe P. K. Leung may have written about
this vis a vis the position of Hong Kong. [Disclosure: I am the
English-language translator of "Farewell My Concubine".]

If you're including Hong Kong cinema, then you could look at "Red Rose,
White Rose."

 
I'm sure there's more, but these are the novel to film adaptations that
initially come to mind. Good luck and have fun with it!

Andrea