Term Paper on "Comparing Film Adaptation to a Literary Work"

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Term Paper 4 pages (1314 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Godfather

Prose that cuts like a knife

The superiority of the verbal over the visual in an ethical manner when portraying violence in Mario Puzo's the Godfather vs. Coppola's film

One of the dangers of portraying violence on film is that almost anything that is put on the cinema screen takes on a kind of glamour. Even the ugliness of the shoot-out in the Italian restaurant that changes the entire power constellation of New York's underground organization has a kind of beauty in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather." The red of the blood of the slain men splatters upon the floors and tablecloths. The carefully arranged decor of the dining room cuts a sharp, elegant contrast against the darkness of the blood. The environment still looks lavish and charming and the men who execute the killing have a kind of silent, deadly force that is intoxicating to the eye of the viewer. In contrast, the cool, blunt force of the Mario Puzo's prose in the original novel more effectively shows the consequences of living in a violent and lawless world.

Mario Puzo places the Mafia's history and legacy in a historical context that takes away some of the glamour of its power. The Mafia is not a silent, deadly, unstoppable force that suddenly and inexplicably rears its head in history. It is not just an exotic Italian import, like pasta and oranges, in contrast to the rather bland wholesomeness of Michael's traditional American fiancee. In the film, the Mafia could be luring behind any corner, like a monster, which also makes it perversely attractive, like Dracula, while Puzo clearly situates the rules of the organization, how such apparently silent but

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deadly attacks can occur, and also shows how easily violence can become tolerable within a society, society, and an individual's psychology.

Prose also allows the reader to make verbal connections between the emphasis on blood, familial ties, and living one's life by shedding blood: "Blood was blood and nothing else was its equal," in the world of the Mafia (Puzo 99). "The bloody victory of the Corleone Family was not complete until a year of delicate political maneuvering established Michael Corleone as the most powerful Family chief in the United States" (440). This shows how placing too much of an emphasis on blood ties in America, where merit rather than Old World laws should reign, results in bloodshed and the inability of an immigrant family to become fully integrated into the American melting pot. Thus violence and the act of dismemberment are present in almost every prose metaphor used in Puzo's text: "Even a Sicilian sentenced to twenty years might break the omerta and talk his brains out" (288). The metaphor of 'talking his brains out' suggests that spilling words is just the same as spilling your brains, that talk is death.

In both film and book, silence figures prominently in the Don's ability to exercise his power. For example, in the film, Don Corleone's raw, behind-the-scenes power is evident by his ability to secretly and stealthily kill movie executive's beloved racehorse, showing how "the Mafia cemented is power by originating the law of silence, the omerta" (327). He has his followers, unbeknownst to the viewer as well as the studio head put the head of the horse in the man's bed while the man is sleeping. This image, more than the silence and stealth of the Don's power, lives on the viewer's mind, and takes away from the fact that this is not about cruelty to animals, but about different kinds of force -- the obvious financial power shown by the film industry, and the subtle, violent power of Don Corleone.

The studio head Woltz is arrogant in that he thinks because people can see his power and he is stands on the side of the law, he can do as he pleases. "There couldn't be any kind of world if people acted that way," he… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Comparing Film Adaptation to a Literary Work" Assignment:

“

Comparing Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" to Francis Ford Coppola "The Godfather Part I". Show how each have a different way of portraying violence in the book and the movie. Show how the book did a better job of portrayin violence then the movie.

Title of Essay:

Does it go beyond simply stating the title of the movie and literary work it's adapted from by indicating the focus of the essay?

Introduction:

In addition to identyfying a specific way the movie has adapted the orginal printed source, have you connected this specific film adaptation technique to a specific them or technique in the book?

Is the thesis too broad to be supported in detail in this length essay?

Is it interesting?

Supporting Paragraphs:

1.Does the topic of each paragraph relate to the thesis?

2.Is the topic of each paragraph supported wit well-developed examples? These examples should not only identify a technique or point about the movie or literary work, but describe in detail how that technique was employed i.e.. don't just mention that a technique is use, show how it is used.

3.Because in the first part of this class film focused on the film adaptation, its easy at this point to pay to little attention to the orginal printed source. Have you given enough details about the literary work to vividly illustrate your point about it?

Conclusion:

Does the conclusion end ona general note that either sums up what the essay has proved and/or provides a sense of resolution?

For parenthetical citations:

Don't forget to follow quotations from a book with parenthetical citations giving the author and page number. If you quote only from the book the movie is adapted from, give the author's name in the first citation only.

Make sure to refer to the characters in the movie by the characters not the names of the actors unless you're specifically talking about an actor's performance.

Stick to present tense.

Works cited page citing bothe the movie and the orginal printed source you analyzed.

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