The essentials for an effective translation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

In order to be an effective translation of the book, a film must portray the same message as the book, it must build the same plot development, and it must exhibit similar character relationships. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, many messages are incorporated into the book. For example, the morality of lying versus telling the truth. It would be important, therefore to include in the movie, the disbelief towards Lucy when she tells her siblings of the world of Narnia, as well as Edmund's lie about being there and the negative effects it has on the plot. Also, the message about the quality and importance of friendship and love. Mr. Tumnus did not turn Lucy into the White Witch and although he was punished, in the long run he was better off because he, in this way, saved Narnia and freed it from the reign of the White Witch. Also, that the children accepted Edmund after he had betrayed them was vital because it was Edmund int he end, who broke the Witch's wand and really helped win the battle. The movie should also include Edmund's realization of his wrongdoings and that he was just being selfish and greedy. All of these messages should be incorporated into the overall plot of the children finding the world of Narnia through the wardrobe, hearing about and meeting Aslan, and then saving Narnia. The conflicts should be the same like Mr. Tumnus's internal conflict about turning in Lucy, Edmund's internal and external conflict about betraying his siblings and friends, the Beaver's and the children's about getting away from the white witch, Peter's in killing the wolf, Aslan's in risking his life for Edmund, and the overall conflict of good, Aslan, the children, and his supporters, and bad, the White witch, the wolves, and her supporters, in the final battle. In order to make the children's book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe appealing to both an adult and child audience, some changes would have to be made. Leaving the story as it is, it would still appeal to children, but the plot and the intensity of scenes could be tweaked in order to appeal to adults as well. However the scenes cannot be made too intense that children are frightened or turned away from it. For example, when the wolves come to search in the Beaver's house, they can be made more furious, and while no one gets hurt, it will be adding drama. When Aslan is tied up and killed, it would be hard to add drama without making it too scary for kids. A balance needs to be found where the scene is spooky and frightening but not not absolutely terrifying. For example, the creatures could be made to look scary, however not be violent. It was a good approach for the book not to describe the actual death of Aslan, and would probably be good of the film to do the same and not show it. Even the death of the White Witch should not be shown. The rest of the battle can be a little violent, since it is a battle after all and this would appeal to older audiences, however it should be kept at a minimum.

Reaction to the Radical Translation of Great Expectations

What the screenwriter did when producing the radical translation of Great Expectations was took the concepts and plot of the novel and made it contemporary and appealing to modern-day audiences. Because we live in such a different world from when the book actually takes, it is hard for readers to relate to and understand the problems of the characters in the novel. So the screenwriter when translating, took a radical approach, and, while keeping the integrity and general plot and problems of the novel, tweaked and twisted basically everything else. The characters have different names, different occupations, and different hobbies and problems, however, what is most important is that the viewer still gets the same impression of them when they watch the movie as they do when they read the book. Pip is a young boy who grows up under the hand of his sister who ends up leaving him and her husband, Joe, whom Pip both admires and is ashamed of. Pip ends up working for an old crazy and distraught lady in her mansion where he meets Estella, whom he falls in love with and who leads him on, while warning him that she will not love him back. Pip even comes into good fortune in the movie, however in the book it is property and in the movie it is because of his art, but in both situations it is because of the convict he helps in the beginning of each. Because the screenwriter keeps the integrity of the novel, his changes that he has made in the movie only improve it. Overall, it was a very successful and effective translation of great expectations, because it got the point across that the author was trying to make, it left the viewer with the same impression and feelings after the movie about situations and about characters as it does in the book, and it really does not stray too far from the book in regards to plot and characters while also creating a new piece of work.

Translations

A film translation that is effective and successful gives readers insight into the novel with out the viewer having to read it. It generally has the same storyline as the novel as well as the same characters, setting and moods. These things can be tweaked as much as the "translator" likes, however they must be careful not to lose the essence of the book because a translation that is successful and effective finds a balance between these. Three evaluative criteria that I think are essential for assessing a film translation are the storyline; moral, message, or point of the novel; and the feeling or mood. The storyline of the novel must be incorporated somehow into the film. Although this may seem obvious, many screen writers try to get around this. They cut out chapters, add characters, and edit scenes. These tweaks are fine in minor amounts, but if changed too much, then it really is adapted to the book at all. Writers have a point when they write. They try to display a message to their readers and teach them a lesson. Entire novels can be based around these "messages" so if those threads are not run throughout the film, then it was no adapted well. Lastly, readers end the book with a certain feeling or mood depending on the writer. They have opinions about certain things that happened and the characters. Film-viewers must leave the adapted film with the same feelings, otherwise the essence of the ook was not captured. Things in movies cannot have different conotations than they do in books.

Adaptations

Although the movie is very different from the article, I think that the screenplay did a good job of reflecting the main ideas and story within the article. It would be very hard to stick to the text of the article and book, Orchid theif. As Charlie Kaufman says in the movie, the story really has no plot or dramatic elements and I think he twerked it in just the right way to make it appealing to audiences, add his own twist to it, but yet keep somewhat true to the overall aspects of the article and made a movie about flowers. When he chose to add himself to the movie as well as Susan Orleans, it made the movie very interesting. He even addressed and made clear in his movie the difficulties of making a movie and writing a screenplay. It was extremely hard for him to start because he didn'y know where to begin. He couldn't stick to the charaters, becasue they were dull and boring so he added love interests, added characters that weren't even there, and made the characters do things in the movie that they wouldn't do in the book. He added plots and small conflicts to make the entire thing more interesting. Charlie Kaufman took many risks in writing the screenplay of this movie and I think it turned out for the better.