Hello All!
So I have a had a some nagging questions that I would like to ask you all. The questions were sparked by my work on my final project. I started imagining just how much I would enjoy seeing a quality translation of some of my favorite pieces of art. Obviously we all have a few favorite pieces of art, whether they be books, films, musical pieces, photographs, paintings, etc. So Question 1: Would you like to have one of your favorite art pieces translated? Describe the piece and explain why or why not. If your answer to the above question was no, pick another favorite art piece that you could imagine being translated. Question 2: What would be some of the challenges to translating your work? Question 3: What are some integral elements that you feel would be necessary to maintain integrity to the original work?
I look forward to hearing your responses! Happy blogging!
-Priscilla
8 comments:
Two of my favorite novels, "Kite Runner" and "Q&A" have already been translated. However, before watching the films that were adapted from these novels, I would have told you that I didn't want them to be translated because I just loved them so much. I didn't see how an adaptation could make the novel any better. I thought that really, having these adapted would make them much worse.
"The Kite Runner" was made into a movie which I didn't really care for too much. It wasn't as powerful as the novel. It did follow the novel pretty well, but the impact made wasn't very effective. On the other hand, "Q&A" was made into "Slumdog Millionaire" which is, in my opinion, one of the best movies of its time. It is so profound and so unbelievably heart-wrenching. I loved it just as much as the book! The adaptation was really well done by Danny Boyle.
Some challenges in adapting both of these is that fact that they are both set in very violent places. "Kite Runner" is in Kabul in the Middle East while "Q&A" is in Mumbai also near the middle east. There has always been a lot of poverty and violence in those areas. In order to get the full effect, I think that the adaptation should be filmed in an area like that, however that's not always possible. It is hard to grasp as Americans the calamity of the issue in poverty, hate, and violence since we aren't always seeing the poverty in the volume that is seen in the Middle East.
Like I said above, I think one element that would really help in the overall adaptation would be to have it filmed where it is actually set to be in the novel. "Slumdog Millionaire" actually did film some in Mumbai which is so amazing! Seeing the true lifestyles that were lived by "slumdogs" had a great impact on me as a viewer. Another element would be to follow the novel in way that compliments what we read and what we see. I think "Slumdog Millionaire" did a great job at doing this. Some elements for "Q&A" were left out, however whatever was added in or left out worked well with the novel. It didn't take away any of the novel's integrity which is something I was worried about when I first found that they were adapting it. As for "The Kite Runner," I wish that the director would have thought more about the impact he was given from the novel, and tried harder to reflect that in his film. The film was sad and had a good story, but it just wasn't as effective in showing what happened to the main characters. I had a hard time relating and understanding how difficult it was to actually live with lifelong guilt.
I'm a big fan of John Donne's poetry. I'm not thinking of any poem specifically, but I could foresee his poems being translated into music or paintings. In my analytical paper, I wrote about how writing poems inspired by paintings seems appropriate because the two media employ visual elements: poems with visual language, and paintings with (obviously) visual images.
I think that a painting inspired by his poems could work, particularly an abstract painting because abstract art is more about capturing a certain feeling or emotion rather than trying to depict a scene in reality. If I were translating a poem, I might consider abstract art because that seems more approachable.
At first, I was confused by the idea of music inspired by other works of art; I didn't fully understand how a media without words could tell a story. But, as with paintings, the more I've thought about it the more I understand that music is also a very emotional media, and that's why I think a musical adaptation of poems would be a good fit as well.
I've always thought that Ray Bradbury's short stories would translate well into film. In particular there is one called "The Murderer" that is set in the future, and has a lot of action and dialogue that would translate nicely.
It has a lot of flashback scenes that would be easier to portray with film,and not very much inner dialogue which would be harder. In general, I think a character with a lot of internal emotions and thoughts is hard to translate on the screen.
So I was thinking about all of the books I have read and all the art pieces I have seen and I couldn't think of any favorites that haven't already been translated. I think that watching movies based on books is what inspires me to read the novels and find out what was left out.
However, when I was about thirteen maybe a little younger, I did read a book called Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher that to my knowledge doesn't have a movie based on it. I can remember it was a crazy twisted book and I had mixed feelings about it. It talked about rape, death, abuse, depression, hate, just a little too much for me at that age, but it was very impressive, had me going from one page to the next wanting to know why this boy felt the way he did and what was wrong with the girl. I think it would be a little hard to translate because the feelings expressed in the book are just all over the place. The characters go from sad to angry in seconds, and the situations would be really hard to portray unless really good actors were involved. It would be interesting to watch.
I haven't reread the book, since then, but thinking about it makes me wonder if I were to reread it at this age would my perspective on it change?
Ok, there is an amazing bronze sculpture I once saw—regrettably I do not recall the title or the artist—of a man. He was two or three times bigger than life size, draped in a bearskin. He was crouching and the hand in front of him held a frog. The hand hidden behind his back was clutching a human heart. It was stunning. I almost couldn’t stop looking at it.
The memory of this sculpture has floated around in my head for a couple of years, and I always wondered what else belonged to the story of the man. I would tell it to myself if I could discover how it is supposed to go. That is part of what is missing. To tell the rest of that story in words would require adding too many details and assumptions for it to belong. I wouldn’t want it to lose something and I am not sure it could be made any better.
Candace and Marissa, you both make really good points about the potential loss of something when a work undergoes translation. I know I have felt similarly to both of you, almost protective of some of my favorite pieces of art, as if having another individual recreate them would somehow lessen their original value or beauty.
One of my favorite authors is Robin McKinley who has rewritten several familiar fairy tales such as Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty. I have often thought that I would love to see one of these pieces translated to a film, but I also wonder if any film-maker would be able to do justice to their beauty and depth.
While I have not seen the sculpture that Marissa was talking about, I think that a good way to translate that particular work would be into a poem. Visual art is constantly open to interpretation, and I feel that poetry is as well. There is usually ambiguity. Because we are not entirely sure what is going on with the sculpture, a poem could be written either expressing that same uncertainty; or it could answer some (or all) of the questions the viewer may have.
As for my own favorite piece of art, I think that the new concept of taking the music of a band or artist and turning it into a musical, Movin' Out and American Idiot as examples, or a ballet is fascinating and brilliant. One Republic's first album "Dreaming Out Loud" I think would be an excellent choice to create this sort of art with. The songs on the album, while not necessarily having a plot, definitely all link together. This is not a criteria for this sort of translation, but it could be helpful. Each song, while similar, is also unique enough to create interesting movement to.
It's funny that your asking this cause I'm currently translating my absolute all-time favorite book into a triptych painting for my final project. I chose to translate it because it is the most vividly poetic novel I have ever read, and I feel I have a personal connection with the heroine.I find it difficult sometimes to depict the characters from my imagination and capture them accurately in my artwork. But I try to combat that inevitable transference of me, that is inherent in art, with research. I know that sounds dumb but what I really do is compile notes(while reading the book again), on how each character I want to depict, is described in as much detail as possible. I make different sketches of each sighting of the character, as well as the landscape, architecture, and possessions that are meaning full. Problems I face are trying to depict everything I can and still be one cohesive final piece. I feel it's important to try and capture the essence of the piece as a whole.
It is terrifying though, I warn you all. I'm finding the more emotionally invested you are in an original piece the harder I'm finding it to be objective. At some point I know I have artistic license to pick only what I feel is necessary, but it's slightly daunting as I'm afraid my own piece will not live up to the image I've already conceived in my head. It won't encompass everything I feel it deserves to be.
I don't know if I would want to translate something I'm not really invested in though, so maybe these fears are just something that comes with my way of translating things.
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