UMass Amherst COMM 494AB - Point of View in Literature and Film

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Point of View in Literature and Film POV in Literature Literature a lens through which readers look at the world Point of view way authors allow you to see and hear what s going on Authors emphasize specific opinions details etc by manipulating the point of view of the story POV not only tells how the story will be told but which story will be told POV reflects specific bias of narrators authors or attempts to deflect bias Three Main Modes First person character narration of a story with I me my mine Get to hear the thoughts of the narrator and see the world depicted in the story through his or her eyes Self knowledge is incomplete however but reader must go beyond what narrator offers and work to understand the entire story Sometimes used not only for one person but multiple speakers or characters Second person Author uses you and your direct address Shakespeare s narrators often addressed the audience in such direct ways Seldom used in literature When used pay attention because author is using direct address with a specific purpose in mind Draws the reader into the story almost making the reader a participant in the action Third person Resembles an outsider looking at the action Two types 1 3rd person omniscient he she they 2 3rd person limited restricted Third person omniscient vs Limited 1 Third person omniscient unlimited The thoughts of all characters are open to the reader 2 Third person limited restricted Reader enters only one character s mind either throughout the entire work or in a specific section Usually author s voice not the character s voice is what you hear in descriptive passages POV in film Third person narration most frequent in film Narrator either intrusive or impersonal Intrusive evaluates through descriptive information used commonly in older works of fiction Impersonal describes without making judgment aloof used more widely in 20th century with the advent of journalistic styles of writing objectivity Neutral descriptions Scenes are established commonly with neutral language and descriptions Attempt to hide or make narrator invisible However this is only manipulation Third person limited Identification with one specific character or characters is evident The knowledge that is shared is then from that specific character and the reader and viewer is capable of knowing what that person thinks and feels Actions presented impersonally in film Omniscient narrators shape our responses as viewers This is done through composition Examples are camera angles lighting framing proxemics etc Third person Limited POV One character presents a consciousness through with the entire film is filtered Example Being John Malkovich First person The I narrates Authors are restricted to the voice of their own chosen protagonist Can report only what the protagonist knows and is cable of understanding firsthand Story presented directly Result often is a sense of hierarchy over a third person limited narrator Subjective shots or POV Similar to the field of vision for given characters in Lit and film What we see represents what we see through their own eyes However subjective shots can lead to awkward and strange filmic moments if taken to a literal extent Most often we have moments of POV and then camera switches to omniscient Hollywood s Notion of Adaptation Censorship and Figurative Language and Interiority Hollywood s Desire to Control Ideology and Political Ideas The message of the book is not necessarily the message of the film The trade association the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America MPPDA Deliberately sought to prevent the prevalent type of book and play from becoming the prevalent type of picture Will Hays first president of the MPPDA wrote that When you buy a book by a certain author you have at least a general idea of what it is about and of what sort of psychology is going to be offered to you A book is not a film Arguing that a limited number of people will read certain types of books Hays felt that unlike books motion pictures had a following infinitely more numerous and made up of the vast majority of Americans who do not fling defiance at customs and conventions but who cling with fine faith and devotion to the things that are wholesome and health and who live lives similar to those of their forefathers who made America what it is 1925 Early Hollywood Rules on Adaptation MPPDA s first regulation of motion picture content June 1924 The Formula Studios discouraged from picturizing a book or play containing salacious or otherwise harmful subject matter for fear that it might have a deleterious effect on the industry in general This formula kept 160 works from the screen in 1925 when it was first used to blacklist certain novels and plays thought to be unfit to produce for the American public Adaptation as Ideological Texts What the early censors in Hollywood tried to contain Ideas and representations thought to be indecent and threatening to middle class virtues The Hays Code Published in 1930 Motion Picture Production Code followed and became the second attempt after the Formula for Adaptation at introducing film censorship in the US Lays down a series of guidelines to film producers and the groundwork for an initial rating system The Code was based on three principles No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime wrongdoing evil or sin Correct standards of life subject only to the requirements of Law natural or human shall not be ridiculed nor shall sympathy drama and entertainment shall be presented be created for its violation Hays Code These were developed in a series of rules grouped under the self explanatory headings Crimes Against The Law Sex Vulgarity Obscenity Profanity Costume Dances i e suggestive movements Religion Locations i e the bedroom National Feelings Titles and Repellent Subjects extremely graphic violence Directly indirectly influenced the content of almost every American film made between 1930 and 1966 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 due to excessive violence and Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1966 for references such as screw and hump the hostess shifted the tide in Hollywood changing the industry standards of acceptable sex and violence on screen The Hays Code Rules Concerning Books D The latitude given to film material cannot in consequence be as wide as the latitude given to book material In addition a A book


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UMass Amherst COMM 494AB - Point of View in Literature and Film

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