OUR ESSAY IN PORTUGAL
FROM BOOK SHELF TO THE STAGE
Have you ever heard this expression “Cinema of the
numbers of literary texts into movies which have been
found great interest by the viewers and we are still
watching Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice and the
others at the modern cinema since they are the novels of
all times.
Film-makers have always taken classic novels into
consideration in their new projects,. because they have
many reasons why they adapt classics into films.
Firstly; books and films have equal importance on
human of the 21st century that the technology is
developing rapidly. Secondly, the film-makers are aware
of that books especially classic novels are treasures for
movies with their unique characters, settings and plots
as well as they are a great source of knowledge from
history, literature, policy, social values of different nati-
ons... While Shakespeare's tragedies have rich material
for a film adaptation, Victor Hugo's Les Misérables has a
great source for a historical film as well as Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens' Great Expectation
that reflects the 18th Century English Society.
So the CLASSİC NOVELS ARE ON SCREEN trend has
been beneficial for the readers who want to watch the
film version of the classics they have already read. On the
other hand, this trend also brought immense viewers to
the cinema so that cinema has gained a good prestige
and more qualified films which include unforgettable
scenes from various classic novels which created great
influence on viewers.
Furthermore, educators have started to use cinema
and theatre as a source of teaching. They bring the film
version of the Classic novels, poetry and drama to the
classrooms as material for their subject such as
literature, history, sociology,philosophy etc. While they
are studying the books, they have begun to use their film
version to bring life in
front of eyes of the students at the same time. Even
to these days, students can watch epic poem Beowulf
from the very old times through cinema. So we can say
that films and plays have become the part of education
through poetry drama and classics.
In conclusion, we admit that these works of art are
unique resources for the cinema and theatre which are
the part of the same circle and this is the fact that books
give life to the cinema and theatre,
POETRY DRAMA AND CLASSICS enrich the stage and
the screen.
literature”? Yes since the beginning of the cinema poetry,
drama and classics have been enormous treasures for
the film-makers to come out with good productions.
If we look back to the earliest time, we can remember
dramatic poetry and epic poetry were the origins of
literature in Greece. Playwright used to write plays and
the people used to perform the earliest dramatic poetry
for Dionysus. So Dramatic poetry remained popular from
the classical period through ages up to now.
As a unique example, Shakespeare wrote his plays
Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet using
poetic language. In spite of modern theatre, we are still
watching Shakespeare's plays with a great pleasure
although they were written hundred years ago. Julius
Caesar is still remembered with Antonius poetic speech
to Roman citizen and balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet
with their poetic language has made the plays very
popular through the years. So that viewers have never
forgotten these poetic speeches which are still told all
around the World and of course make the theatre
popular and universal art. This became a good example
for upcoming playwrights through the years they used
poetic language for theatre such as Samuel Beckett, the
most influential dramatist of the last half-century.
Therefore, most playwrights started to write their plays
using poetic language to affect the audience and make
the scenes unforgettable.
Poetic language is also commonly used for many
films. For instance, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
originated from the poem “Eloisa to Abelard” which
created great influence on viewers. Furthermore, we can
take a look at V for Vendetta. In the film, poetic language
is used to remind Gunpowder Plot.
If we talk about the impact of the classic novels on
cinema, we can easily remember these novels White
Nights, Pride and Prejudice, Les Misérables, The
Godfather, Wuthering Heights, The Wren, Great
Expectations, Lord Of The Flies excellent classic novels
from the World Literature resulting in excellent films. It is
obviously seen that film-makers needed to read the
masterpieces of the famous classic writers to come up
with a successful script..
The earliest films were adaptations of literary works.
In the early 1900's, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare was
the most outstanding example of book-adaptation and
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Godfather by
Mario Puzo, The Clown and His Daughter by Halide Edip
Adıvar made a tremendous impression to the cinema.
From that time until now, film-makers adapted vast
Erol SAKA
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