The paper deals with temporal and narrative properties of Ian McEwan's and Joe Wright's A... more The paper deals with temporal and narrative properties of Ian McEwan's and Joe Wright's Atonement. In order to show continuity with his other works, four of McEwan's novels – The Innocent, Amsterdam, Saturday, and On Chesil Beach, have been analysed before elaborating the novel and film adaptation of Atonement. Apart from the narratological analysis, McEwan's layered works lend themselves to different kinds of readings, and the authors have used the theoretical notions of Immanuel Kant as well as concepts derived from the postmodern philosophical movement. The aim of the paper is to show how the chronotopical and intertextual nature of the literary original finds a worthy equivalent in the film version, proving the feasibility of a successful intermedial transfer of a complex narrative structure.
Film noir is one of American cinema’s most renowned and well-studied phenomena. It is a cycle of ... more Film noir is one of American cinema’s most renowned and well-studied phenomena. It is a cycle of films made during the 1940s and 1950s, mostly produced as B-movies, i.e., cheaper films presented as part of a double feature. This is one of the most important reasons why it took such a long time for American film scholars to address the importance of film noir. The first monograph on film noir, Panorama du film noir américain, was published in France in 1955, and this work by Borde and Chaumeton remains one of the most valuable studies covering this important cycle. Generally speaking, French film scholars are those most responsible for highlighting the value of American, and especially Hollywood, film while significant American contributions to the study of film noir only began in the 1970s. Like few American films that preceded it, The Killers presented a completely dark world filled with hapless protagonists, where the only location that evokes even a glimmer of happiness is a terr...
Taking the example of early films by Bob Clampett, one of the most important animators of Classic... more Taking the example of early films by Bob Clampett, one of the most important animators of Classical Hollywood cinema, the paper explores the dichotomy between the so-called artistic animation and animation as a product of the Hollywood assembly lines and mass production system. While the former is seen as a proper art form and has a venerable treatment in animation studies, the latter is underappreciated, neglected and often dealt with in a patronizing way. This dichotomy is the main reason why the field of animation studies is very often elitist and full of biased and unbalanced approaches, wherein modernist works are seriously analysed, while the lighter, entertainment-oriented Hollywood fare is dismissed with condescension. However, as also argued by Fawell, the light touch and elegance of these films today makes them among the most significant works to come out of Hollywood. Bob Clampett directed 87 films in his career and the present paper deals with his early phase, namely the...
AbstractThe paper begins with an overview of stylistic and narrative features of Christopher Nola... more AbstractThe paper begins with an overview of stylistic and narrative features of Christopher Nolan's films (tracing his sources of influence), which consistently reveals their explicit psychological motivation. The bulk of the paper thus consists of a psychological analysis of three films (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Inception) as examples of Nolan's exploration of human subjectivity. The films are primarily analysed in a Lacanian framework, but some other psychological approaches (Zimbardo, neuroscience) are used to reinforce the argument. Lacanian registers of the symbolic and the Real are applied to Nolan's exploration of the relation between the individual and society. Special attention is given to Nolan's use of classical myth ("legendary Caesar", architect Ariadne) as these intertextual references play a significant role in the structure of The Dark Knight and Inception, respectively.Christopher Nolan is one of the most popular, influential and...
This paper compares <em>Oliver Twist</em>, Charles Dickens's literary classic, an... more This paper compares <em>Oliver Twist</em>, Charles Dickens's literary classic, and David Lean's film adaptation, widely regarded as the best of the many adaptations of the source novel. The first part focuses on two of the novel's relevant topics: firstly, Dickens's depiction of London, which is not only the setting, but also a central facet of the novel, and secondly, on two of the most important characters in the book, Fagin and Sikes, both excellent examples of how Dickens excelled in portraying memorable and larger-than-life characters. The second part of the paper explores similar topics in David Lean's cinematic adaptation. Lean also concentrates on the novel's nightmarish urban setting, which even prompted some critics to call the film <em>Victorian film noir</em>. The basic underlying structural element of both the novel and the film is the principle of contrast in which, in the incessant battle between good and evil, villainou...
The first part of this paper focuses on a close reading of certain episodes from book two of Dick... more The first part of this paper focuses on a close reading of certain episodes from book two of Dickens‟s Great Expectations as it is here that the reader encounters Pip‟s descriptions of, what is for him, a new world at their strongest. Three aspects of the way Pip describes this new world are at the centre of this analysis: Pip‟s experience of urban space, the way it affects those around him, and the aspect of class. These observations will give an insight into the highly cinematic Dickens‟s world, which has been a subject of many adaptations. Probably the best is David Lean‟s adaptation of Great Expectations, the focus of the second part of the paper, which elaborates on cinematic strategies devised by Lean to successfully adapt the novel, ranging from chiaroscuro cinematography and evocative sets to a careful balance between realistic and Gothic elements.
Osvrt na opus kanadskog redatelja Atoma Egoyana. Nakon kontekstualizacije redateljeva opusa i kra... more Osvrt na opus kanadskog redatelja Atoma Egoyana. Nakon kontekstualizacije redateljeva opusa i kratke biografije, autor analizira Egoyanova djela svrstavsi ih u nekoliko skupina, pocevsi od filmova rane faze Najbliži rod, prvijenca kojim je Egoyan ujedno zapoceo svoje ceste teme potrage za identitetom i dezintegracije obitelji, Obiteljsko gledanje i Uloge s tekstom. Potom se osvrce na filmove u kojima se redatelj referira na svoje armensko nasljeđe Kalendar i Ararat, potonji prvi Egoyanov film kojem se vecina radnje zbiva u proslosti, pa na filmove zrele faze Procjenitelj, Exotica i Slatka buducnost (kojeg smatra vrhuncem Egoyanove karijere) te na djela koja odražavaju autorovu tematsku diversifikaciju Felicijino putovanje i Dobro cuvane laži. Egoyan je autor koji se cesto bavi egzistencijalnom problematikom, a njegova je vizija svijeta duboko pesimisticna ; u deset dosadasnjih cjelovecernjih filmova jako je tesko pronaci makar jedan lik koji je sretan. Seksualne opsesije, usamljenos...
The paper focuses on the analysis of the African-American film Daughters of the Dust . Due to the... more The paper focuses on the analysis of the African-American film Daughters of the Dust . Due to the film’s geographical setting, narrative techniques, feminist perspective and immersion in the postcolonial context, it is possible to analyze it in the context of intertextuality and in correlation with other important films and novels. The technique of juxtaposing the past and the present is emphasized as means of depicting the importance of communal memories. From a linguistic point of view, the film Daughters of the Dust represents an ideal site for investigating the characteristics of Gullah Creole as a product of contact between English and West African languages. Such linguistic contact represents a part of a broader cultural contatact within which it is possible to identify language conflict and language ideology, notions which emerge in the analysis of efforts to maintain the cultural and linguistic identity of Gullah speakers.
The Voices of Suspense and Their Translation in Thrillers
The paper seeks to address the most prominent stylistic and linguistic devices used to create sus... more The paper seeks to address the most prominent stylistic and linguistic devices used to create suspense in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. The wider conceptual framework for Tarantino’s oeuvre is an analysis of the most prominent stylistic strategies identified in his films, particularly the typically postmodern rearranging of ideas and a multilayered narrative idiosyncrasy. Probably the most stylistically oriented contemporary American director, Tarantino is also an adept screenwriter. His scripts are usually fractured into intricate narrative patterns deploying many nonchronological sequences, but their most distinguished characteristic is an inventive dialogue, imbued with pop-cultural references and racist colloquialisms. From a linguistic point of view, the analysis of dialogues in the two films reveals several linguistic devices used with the effect of building up suspense. The most prominent one refers to repetition of parts of characters’ utterances. Another device is analyzed via objective clauses and direct objects containing obscene expressions, which are identified as a particular type of image-provoking language and as elements of suspense creation. The paper also addresses additional linguistic devices used to create suspense. They refer to the content of dialogues which at times appears uncorrelated with different contexts of the two plots and/or individual characters.
This paper explores the possibilities of examining four of Jim Jarmusch’s films (Stranger than Pa... more This paper explores the possibilities of examining four of Jim Jarmusch’s films (Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, Dead Man and Ghost Dog) from the perspectives of various postmodern philosophies. It places Jarmusch’s opus within the larger frame of modern and postmodern cinema employing the theory of Jean-François Lyotard. Philosophies of Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Foucault and Heidegger are used to analyze several aspects of these films. However, the main focus is on a psychoanalytic approach relying on theories of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek. Thus, Stranger than Paradise is explained through the concepts of big Other and the repressed Other. Down by Law is seen as a quest for the Other which is “deprived of its Otherness”. Dead Man is a Heideggerian Exploration of the Being whose Beckettian character resonates with neurotic anxiety and childhood trauma. The ancient mythology in Ghost Dog concludes the discussion of the Other with mechanisms of condensation and projection, and ...
The paper deals with temporal and narrative properties of Ian McEwan's and Joe Wright's A... more The paper deals with temporal and narrative properties of Ian McEwan's and Joe Wright's Atonement. In order to show continuity with his other works, four of McEwan's novels – The Innocent, Amsterdam, Saturday, and On Chesil Beach, have been analysed before elaborating the novel and film adaptation of Atonement. Apart from the narratological analysis, McEwan's layered works lend themselves to different kinds of readings, and the authors have used the theoretical notions of Immanuel Kant as well as concepts derived from the postmodern philosophical movement. The aim of the paper is to show how the chronotopical and intertextual nature of the literary original finds a worthy equivalent in the film version, proving the feasibility of a successful intermedial transfer of a complex narrative structure.
Film noir is one of American cinema’s most renowned and well-studied phenomena. It is a cycle of ... more Film noir is one of American cinema’s most renowned and well-studied phenomena. It is a cycle of films made during the 1940s and 1950s, mostly produced as B-movies, i.e., cheaper films presented as part of a double feature. This is one of the most important reasons why it took such a long time for American film scholars to address the importance of film noir. The first monograph on film noir, Panorama du film noir américain, was published in France in 1955, and this work by Borde and Chaumeton remains one of the most valuable studies covering this important cycle. Generally speaking, French film scholars are those most responsible for highlighting the value of American, and especially Hollywood, film while significant American contributions to the study of film noir only began in the 1970s. Like few American films that preceded it, The Killers presented a completely dark world filled with hapless protagonists, where the only location that evokes even a glimmer of happiness is a terr...
Taking the example of early films by Bob Clampett, one of the most important animators of Classic... more Taking the example of early films by Bob Clampett, one of the most important animators of Classical Hollywood cinema, the paper explores the dichotomy between the so-called artistic animation and animation as a product of the Hollywood assembly lines and mass production system. While the former is seen as a proper art form and has a venerable treatment in animation studies, the latter is underappreciated, neglected and often dealt with in a patronizing way. This dichotomy is the main reason why the field of animation studies is very often elitist and full of biased and unbalanced approaches, wherein modernist works are seriously analysed, while the lighter, entertainment-oriented Hollywood fare is dismissed with condescension. However, as also argued by Fawell, the light touch and elegance of these films today makes them among the most significant works to come out of Hollywood. Bob Clampett directed 87 films in his career and the present paper deals with his early phase, namely the...
AbstractThe paper begins with an overview of stylistic and narrative features of Christopher Nola... more AbstractThe paper begins with an overview of stylistic and narrative features of Christopher Nolan's films (tracing his sources of influence), which consistently reveals their explicit psychological motivation. The bulk of the paper thus consists of a psychological analysis of three films (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Inception) as examples of Nolan's exploration of human subjectivity. The films are primarily analysed in a Lacanian framework, but some other psychological approaches (Zimbardo, neuroscience) are used to reinforce the argument. Lacanian registers of the symbolic and the Real are applied to Nolan's exploration of the relation between the individual and society. Special attention is given to Nolan's use of classical myth ("legendary Caesar", architect Ariadne) as these intertextual references play a significant role in the structure of The Dark Knight and Inception, respectively.Christopher Nolan is one of the most popular, influential and...
This paper compares <em>Oliver Twist</em>, Charles Dickens's literary classic, an... more This paper compares <em>Oliver Twist</em>, Charles Dickens's literary classic, and David Lean's film adaptation, widely regarded as the best of the many adaptations of the source novel. The first part focuses on two of the novel's relevant topics: firstly, Dickens's depiction of London, which is not only the setting, but also a central facet of the novel, and secondly, on two of the most important characters in the book, Fagin and Sikes, both excellent examples of how Dickens excelled in portraying memorable and larger-than-life characters. The second part of the paper explores similar topics in David Lean's cinematic adaptation. Lean also concentrates on the novel's nightmarish urban setting, which even prompted some critics to call the film <em>Victorian film noir</em>. The basic underlying structural element of both the novel and the film is the principle of contrast in which, in the incessant battle between good and evil, villainou...
The first part of this paper focuses on a close reading of certain episodes from book two of Dick... more The first part of this paper focuses on a close reading of certain episodes from book two of Dickens‟s Great Expectations as it is here that the reader encounters Pip‟s descriptions of, what is for him, a new world at their strongest. Three aspects of the way Pip describes this new world are at the centre of this analysis: Pip‟s experience of urban space, the way it affects those around him, and the aspect of class. These observations will give an insight into the highly cinematic Dickens‟s world, which has been a subject of many adaptations. Probably the best is David Lean‟s adaptation of Great Expectations, the focus of the second part of the paper, which elaborates on cinematic strategies devised by Lean to successfully adapt the novel, ranging from chiaroscuro cinematography and evocative sets to a careful balance between realistic and Gothic elements.
Osvrt na opus kanadskog redatelja Atoma Egoyana. Nakon kontekstualizacije redateljeva opusa i kra... more Osvrt na opus kanadskog redatelja Atoma Egoyana. Nakon kontekstualizacije redateljeva opusa i kratke biografije, autor analizira Egoyanova djela svrstavsi ih u nekoliko skupina, pocevsi od filmova rane faze Najbliži rod, prvijenca kojim je Egoyan ujedno zapoceo svoje ceste teme potrage za identitetom i dezintegracije obitelji, Obiteljsko gledanje i Uloge s tekstom. Potom se osvrce na filmove u kojima se redatelj referira na svoje armensko nasljeđe Kalendar i Ararat, potonji prvi Egoyanov film kojem se vecina radnje zbiva u proslosti, pa na filmove zrele faze Procjenitelj, Exotica i Slatka buducnost (kojeg smatra vrhuncem Egoyanove karijere) te na djela koja odražavaju autorovu tematsku diversifikaciju Felicijino putovanje i Dobro cuvane laži. Egoyan je autor koji se cesto bavi egzistencijalnom problematikom, a njegova je vizija svijeta duboko pesimisticna ; u deset dosadasnjih cjelovecernjih filmova jako je tesko pronaci makar jedan lik koji je sretan. Seksualne opsesije, usamljenos...
The paper focuses on the analysis of the African-American film Daughters of the Dust . Due to the... more The paper focuses on the analysis of the African-American film Daughters of the Dust . Due to the film’s geographical setting, narrative techniques, feminist perspective and immersion in the postcolonial context, it is possible to analyze it in the context of intertextuality and in correlation with other important films and novels. The technique of juxtaposing the past and the present is emphasized as means of depicting the importance of communal memories. From a linguistic point of view, the film Daughters of the Dust represents an ideal site for investigating the characteristics of Gullah Creole as a product of contact between English and West African languages. Such linguistic contact represents a part of a broader cultural contatact within which it is possible to identify language conflict and language ideology, notions which emerge in the analysis of efforts to maintain the cultural and linguistic identity of Gullah speakers.
The Voices of Suspense and Their Translation in Thrillers
The paper seeks to address the most prominent stylistic and linguistic devices used to create sus... more The paper seeks to address the most prominent stylistic and linguistic devices used to create suspense in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. The wider conceptual framework for Tarantino’s oeuvre is an analysis of the most prominent stylistic strategies identified in his films, particularly the typically postmodern rearranging of ideas and a multilayered narrative idiosyncrasy. Probably the most stylistically oriented contemporary American director, Tarantino is also an adept screenwriter. His scripts are usually fractured into intricate narrative patterns deploying many nonchronological sequences, but their most distinguished characteristic is an inventive dialogue, imbued with pop-cultural references and racist colloquialisms. From a linguistic point of view, the analysis of dialogues in the two films reveals several linguistic devices used with the effect of building up suspense. The most prominent one refers to repetition of parts of characters’ utterances. Another device is analyzed via objective clauses and direct objects containing obscene expressions, which are identified as a particular type of image-provoking language and as elements of suspense creation. The paper also addresses additional linguistic devices used to create suspense. They refer to the content of dialogues which at times appears uncorrelated with different contexts of the two plots and/or individual characters.
This paper explores the possibilities of examining four of Jim Jarmusch’s films (Stranger than Pa... more This paper explores the possibilities of examining four of Jim Jarmusch’s films (Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, Dead Man and Ghost Dog) from the perspectives of various postmodern philosophies. It places Jarmusch’s opus within the larger frame of modern and postmodern cinema employing the theory of Jean-François Lyotard. Philosophies of Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Foucault and Heidegger are used to analyze several aspects of these films. However, the main focus is on a psychoanalytic approach relying on theories of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek. Thus, Stranger than Paradise is explained through the concepts of big Other and the repressed Other. Down by Law is seen as a quest for the Other which is “deprived of its Otherness”. Dead Man is a Heideggerian Exploration of the Being whose Beckettian character resonates with neurotic anxiety and childhood trauma. The ancient mythology in Ghost Dog concludes the discussion of the Other with mechanisms of condensation and projection, and ...
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