(Film Review of an selective course during my freshman year~突然发现如果是文科系学生的话可以很方便把课上的东西搬到豆瓣上来2333333)
The theme of “The Dead”, according to Steve Vineberg, is “lack of communication among people”, even with their most intimate partners (Vineberg 27). Whilst the main concern of it shall be more of further investigating the essence of life and death which both James Joyce and John Huston utilize their talent to demonstrate with different media. Though sharing the same title, the story and the film differentiate in their apprehension about life. Two masters express their own views on life, love and death with different emphasis, which can be lucidly seen from their artistic expression techniques.
First, Joyce is more concerned about setting details like mental activity corresponding with surrounding scenes and the use of symbols, but Huston’s film version deals roughly with characters’ delicate psychological changes and focuses more on gradual coherence. A typical case is that in both the film and the story, the festive gathering conveys that human’s inner isolation can only be concealed but will never overcome. Guests appear joyful and savour the bustling social interactions, whereas when the couple goes back after the feast, the hidden inside gloomy emotions flourish uncontrollably, with the dark night as the surroundings become vacant in the film. Lighting scheme emphasises the atmosphere, bringing a dead silence as shadows casted from the outside flowing upon the couple. Huston also employs montage to join the inside cab scene and the outside peaceful night street scene before dawn. Silence surges between Gabriel and Gretta, presenting desolation after a lively and extravagant gathering. Pitifully, the facial expression of Gabriel is still too tranquil to assume his inner thoughts.
Dissimilarly, the story begins primarily describing Gabriel’s rich thoughts and feelings, which in turn reflects his wife Gretta’s immersion into her own memories. In Joyce’s story the description of environment, which is compatible with the narrative tone, implies the character’s feelings detailed. The joy of a winter Epiphany party is compressed into a solemn reflection when it comes to the falling snow, covering all life and death without prejudice. Even people’s lines are related to the weather and the environment, like the moment when Aunt Julia and Mary sent the couples out, they mention the Christmas snow. It’s clear that the adoption of a particular scenery possesses its symbolism.
And in the film adaptation Huston continues the technique of symbolisation yet not as obvious as in the form of literature. As for the ending scene, falling snow, the most essential symbol, presents distinctions between the two versions. Through Joyce’s words, Gabriel’s spiritual understanding appears a dead silence, more of mourning to his own life and love yet this emotion is compatible with the snow “pattern” outside. But Huston’s Gabriel begins his distinct monologue by entirely adopting Joyce’s ordinary narrative lines, which somehow more like expressing a poet’s perception.
Notwithstanding the different artistic practices create two dissimilar Gabriel and trigger Joyce and Huston’s converse apprehension to life and death, an interesting phenomenon still worth mentioning is that Joyce was only 25 when he wrote the story, whereas Huston had already been a dying old man. There is no doubt that two people at such different ages must have also different comprehension of life and death, for the elder has been through more. Compared to the Joycean Gabriel, who has experienced great transformation of his mind and displays a primitive fear and frustration of death, Huston’s Gabriel behaves more calmly and peacefully without much evidence of fury or disappointment. It is clear that Huston’s tolerance about death arouses from his much elder age.
This detail also leads to another difference of expression techniques between the writer and the director. Huston adopts a complete third person perspective during the festive time, which topples the protagonist’s psychological changes, thus abandoning the Joycean narration which unveils the comprehension of death through Gabriel’s changing inner world. In the original story, Gabriel’s nervousness and anticipation before giving the speech is tirelessly narrated as if the reader can nearly walk into his mind. The film, nonetheless, tends to overlook Gabriel’s thinking and fluctuating emotions until the end. His thoughts can only be deduced from several close-ups on his face. Instead the audiences see more of a panorama of all beings. This may unfold the story more objectively and perceive the happiness of life as well as the inevitability of separation from a higher angle.
Moreover, some of the additions in the film adaptation “strengthen the epiphany structure”, which according to some is rather constrained and tedious, but in effect recuperate the relatively loose stream of consciousness technique if applied in the film (Singer 655). For instance, the adjunction of a guest’s singing for a lamentable love story, which cannot be found in the novella, actually articulates the rather tightless plots and conveys some poignant implications to the audience.
A typical success of Huston’s omniscient perspective is the annotation of “distance” in the film. Individuals’ pathetic forlornness deep inside makes the distance between life and death vague, and this potential factor is where the communication barrier really lies in the story. Distance between Gabriel and Gretta emphasises man’s inability to walk into each other’s heart, reflected as physical form “space” in the film when Gabriel gazes at his wife full-heartedly without her notice. Long depth of field creates an insurmountable gap between spirits. Even the most intimate couples are not exclusive. Though Gabriel seems close to his wife physically, her spirit is far away from him, as Gretta’s emotions is dominated by the dead young lover of her at the exact moment. This crucially and brutally reveals a truth of life and death that sometimes the dead can be much closer to a living man than those alive who are still round his or her. Physical distance stands for nothing, and what really matters is spirit distance, which can even reverse the length of the distance between the living and the dead and that among the livings. In Joyce’s story, furthermore, through describing characters’ moods, their many-year marriage turns on its fragile aspect for “a sudden tide of joy went leaping out of its heart” (Joyce 42).
The simplest emotional contagion to people is still music, an indispensable element, employed not just in the cinema but in the literary work as well. The “textual music” in the story creates a real mental silence, which is beyond the superficial silence of contemplating death requiring “the synthesis of sound and image” (Meljac 295). Every word in the story corresponds with the outer setting of the falling snow, integrating a silent music between lines which mourns the dead and cheers for the living, as all the attenders of the party eventually stand up to sing for themselves. Huston deciphers Joyce’s silent music into classic piano sounds, penetrating all through the dancing party. It grows to halt when Gabriel and his wife are in the cab, when both of them are immersed in their wholly converse meditations. When Gretta confesses her grief for young Michael and her early admiration, she cries without music. Beautiful melodies in the film are devoted to delightful waltz and lovely party times, as a result, when Gretta’s sobbing continues mundanely in the dark night, a feeling of returning to reality abruptly seizes the audiences’ heart. Through an old song, Gretta recalls the faded life with an idyllic pastoral scenery emerging lively on her mind. Yet when she realises it has all gone, together with her youth, her love, and that it will never come back, she weeps for the crucial reality helplessly. The man with whom she can share memories of that song no longer exists. Gretta solely merging into the beautiful melodies, even music is blocked from the dead.
As can be concluded from above, James Joyce’s novella adopts description of surrounding environments and calm narrative tones to display his textual music, brimming with pessimism towards life. John Huston’s film adaptation, however, focuses more on the space and distance within narrow room. With an entire third person perspective, his camera shots prove more objective, thus emphasising reflections on life rather than pessimism. Both the film and the short story express the director and the author’s apprehension of life and death.
Works Cited
Vineberg, Steve. “Serving the Text: The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Jack Clayton; Peter Nelson; The Dead by John Huston; Tony Huston Review” The Three penny Review No. 34 Summer (1988): 25-27
Singer, Irving. “The Dead: Story and Film” The Hudson Review (Winter 2004): 655-665 Joyce, James “The Dead.” The Dubliners. 1947. Ed. Harry Levin. New York: Penguin, 1976.
190-242
Meljac, Eric Paul. “Dead Silence: James Joyce’s “The Dead” and John Huston’s Adaptation as Aesthetic Rivals” Literature Film Quarterly: 295-303
正片
