Julie Grossman’s term ‘elasTEXTity’ describes sources and adaptations that have a flexibility that represents change rather than a rigid relationship between immovable objects. When matched with Jamie Sherry’s argument that the screenplay is ‘liminal’, Grossman’s framing is usefully applied to adaptation screenwriting to describe a ‘liminal elastextual catalyst’ for either syntagmatic, ‘plastextual’ and derivative adaptations, or ones that are paradigmatic, ‘elastextual’ and innovative. This framing is particularly compelling for adaptations of the 1960s and 1970s from the ‘liminal’ Soviet Republics, as evidenced in two readings of an Estonian narrative. One is non-paradigmatically focused on political borders, while the other paradigmatically describes a motivic chronotope lodged in the notion of liminality, the Bakhtinian Threshold Chronotope and the notion of transgredience that reflects realistic human characteristics. Rather than a syntagmatic transposition of people, places and actions, the latter reading is more ‘elastextual’ in holding potential for a welcome substantial challenge to the primacy, integrity and identity of the source text.
{"title":"Catalysing Elastextity in adaptation screenwriting: The motivic chronotope of liminality","authors":"L. Theo","doi":"10.1386/josc_00084_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00084_1","url":null,"abstract":"Julie Grossman’s term ‘elasTEXTity’ describes sources and adaptations that have a flexibility that represents change rather than a rigid relationship between immovable objects. When matched with Jamie Sherry’s argument that the screenplay is ‘liminal’,\u0000 Grossman’s framing is usefully applied to adaptation screenwriting to describe a ‘liminal elastextual catalyst’ for either syntagmatic, ‘plastextual’ and derivative adaptations, or ones that are paradigmatic, ‘elastextual’ and innovative. This framing\u0000 is particularly compelling for adaptations of the 1960s and 1970s from the ‘liminal’ Soviet Republics, as evidenced in two readings of an Estonian narrative. One is non-paradigmatically focused on political borders, while the other paradigmatically describes a motivic chronotope\u0000 lodged in the notion of liminality, the Bakhtinian Threshold Chronotope and the notion of transgredience that reflects realistic human characteristics. Rather than a syntagmatic transposition of people, places and actions, the latter reading is more ‘elastextual’ in holding potential\u0000 for a welcome substantial challenge to the primacy, integrity and identity of the source text.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45037141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines June Mathis’s skill as a screenwriter with two case studies: adaptations of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s Blood and Sand and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In addition to her skill in collaboration, adaptation, constructing compelling melodrama and progressive casting, Mathis also excelled at several screenwriting techniques. Indeed, an analysis of these two scripts ‐ against the novels from which they were adapted ‐ offers a kind of master class in the art of constructing a compelling universal theme that appeals to a mass audience in popular culture; introducing the protagonist in an intriguing manner that communicates with the audience via subtext; selecting an appropriate point of attack to launch the story; creating a likable hero with a satisfying arc; streamlining the plot; and constructing an emotionally impactful closing image that underscores the theme. In both films, Mathis used these techniques to craft a powerful polemic against violence in all its forms. Thus, she did indeed consider social change on a global scale contrary to the criticism that has been levelled against her and other women writers working in early Hollywood.
{"title":"June Mathis: The master class","authors":"Leslie Wilson","doi":"10.1386/josc_00081_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00081_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines June Mathis’s skill as a screenwriter with two case studies: adaptations of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s Blood and Sand and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In addition to her skill in collaboration, adaptation, constructing\u0000 compelling melodrama and progressive casting, Mathis also excelled at several screenwriting techniques. Indeed, an analysis of these two scripts ‐ against the novels from which they were adapted ‐ offers a kind of master class in the art of constructing a compelling universal\u0000 theme that appeals to a mass audience in popular culture; introducing the protagonist in an intriguing manner that communicates with the audience via subtext; selecting an appropriate point of attack to launch the story; creating a likable hero with a satisfying arc; streamlining the plot;\u0000 and constructing an emotionally impactful closing image that underscores the theme. In both films, Mathis used these techniques to craft a powerful polemic against violence in all its forms. Thus, she did indeed consider social change on a global scale contrary to the criticism that has been\u0000 levelled against her and other women writers working in early Hollywood.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42601335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The purpose of this article is to highlight a trend in the narrative use of decisions that reinforces a widely accepted discourse of freedom. Through a discursive analysis focusing on contemporary mainstream screenwriting, it explores the relationship between the protagonist’s decision and the climax of the story. This relationship is shaped by the need for a change between the darkest moment and the climax, and causality between the events and the conflict that triggers them. The decision is a standardized possibility compatible with these principles, reproducing a discourse of freedom upheld by numerous social institutions despite the problems and dysfunctions pointed out by its critics. This freedom is underpinned by the notion of individual authenticity, which promises that anything can be achieved as long as nothing hinders the individual or his/her power to make decisions. Specifically, the article highlights a channel through which this discourse influences the sector of the public that is most sensitive to socialization processes: children and youth. With the normalized practice of screenwriting and without necessarily being aware of the fact, screenwriters can reproduce this discourse of freedom and thereby take part in reinforcing its social legitimacy.
{"title":"The deliberated decision in children’s mainstream cinema: On socialization in the discourse of freedom","authors":"M. Plana","doi":"10.1386/josc_00069_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00069_1","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this article is to highlight a trend in the narrative use of decisions that reinforces a widely accepted discourse of freedom. Through a discursive analysis focusing on contemporary mainstream screenwriting, it explores the relationship between the protagonist’s\u0000 decision and the climax of the story. This relationship is shaped by the need for a change between the darkest moment and the climax, and causality between the events and the conflict that triggers them. The decision is a standardized possibility compatible with these principles, reproducing\u0000 a discourse of freedom upheld by numerous social institutions despite the problems and dysfunctions pointed out by its critics. This freedom is underpinned by the notion of individual authenticity, which promises that anything can be achieved as long as nothing hinders the individual or his/her\u0000 power to make decisions. Specifically, the article highlights a channel through which this discourse influences the sector of the public that is most sensitive to socialization processes: children and youth. With the normalized practice of screenwriting and without necessarily being aware\u0000 of the fact, screenwriters can reproduce this discourse of freedom and thereby take part in reinforcing its social legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45923924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article considers the case of Shokojo Sera (1985), a Japanese animated series based on the novel A Little Princess, within the context of the World Masterpiece Theater, a television staple that popularized the practice of adapting classic children’s books into long-running anime. The analysis identifies the changes occurring in the adaptation, casting a light on the creative and productive choices undertaken by the Japanese staff. In doing so, the original novel and its reception in Japan are taken into account, with regard to the role of translated literature for local children’s and girls’ fiction. The study thus demonstrates that the alterations found in the series are both genre-related and explicable in terms of cultural-filtered interpretations, as can be seen in the negotiation of the protagonist as a Christian damsel-in-distress, combining melodramatic tropes, a signifier of westernization and a domesticating rationale of her alleged passivity.
{"title":"Children’s fiction and anime: The case of Shōkōjo Sēra","authors":"Maria Chiara Oltolini","doi":"10.1386/josc_00068_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00068_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers the case of Shokojo Sera (1985), a Japanese animated series based on the novel A Little Princess, within the context of the World Masterpiece Theater, a television staple that popularized the practice of adapting classic children’s books into\u0000 long-running anime. The analysis identifies the changes occurring in the adaptation, casting a light on the creative and productive choices undertaken by the Japanese staff. In doing so, the original novel and its reception in Japan are taken into account, with regard to the role of translated\u0000 literature for local children’s and girls’ fiction. The study thus demonstrates that the alterations found in the series are both genre-related and explicable in terms of cultural-filtered interpretations, as can be seen in the negotiation of the protagonist as a Christian damsel-in-distress,\u0000 combining melodramatic tropes, a signifier of westernization and a domesticating rationale of her alleged passivity.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48437550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The dramaturgs of the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), the GDR’s state-owned film production company, played a particular role in socialist children’s film culture. Within the production process, they acted as important mediators as well as developed themes and defended them before the state film censors. In this article, I argue that screenwriting for children and the changing role of the dramaturg were remarkable inasmuch as the creative collaboration between authors, dramaturgs and directors became a collective process of navigating between politics, education, film and the young audience that can reasonably be described as ‘collective authorship’. First, I will show how DEFA children’s film production was an example of the ‘state-socialist mode of children’s film production’ and examine Szczepanik’s model in the light of the current question. Following this, I will examine the structural and practical development of children’s film production in view of both official images of the child and the images of children anticipated by the filmmakers. At the same time, I will discuss the role of dramaturgs as participants in a collective authorship process.
{"title":"Just dancing with ideology? The role of dramaturgs within the socialist mode of children’s film development","authors":"Steffi Ebert","doi":"10.1386/josc_00067_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00067_1","url":null,"abstract":"The dramaturgs of the Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), the GDR’s state-owned film production company, played a particular role in socialist children’s film culture. Within the production process, they acted as important mediators as well as developed themes and defended\u0000 them before the state film censors. In this article, I argue that screenwriting for children and the changing role of the dramaturg were remarkable inasmuch as the creative collaboration between authors, dramaturgs and directors became a collective process of navigating between politics, education,\u0000 film and the young audience that can reasonably be described as ‘collective authorship’. First, I will show how DEFA children’s film production was an example of the ‘state-socialist mode of children’s film production’ and examine Szczepanik’s model\u0000 in the light of the current question. Following this, I will examine the structural and practical development of children’s film production in view of both official images of the child and the images of children anticipated by the filmmakers. At the same time, I will discuss the role\u0000 of dramaturgs as participants in a collective authorship process.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49397120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Royals Next Door: Team writing for children on Zoom","authors":"Line Langebek","doi":"10.1386/josc_00072_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00072_7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49276507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Review of: A Tale from Constantinople: The History of a Film that Never Was, Bo Florin and Patrick Vonderau (2019)Höör: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion, 248 pp.,ISBN 978-9-18748-341-7, p/bk, SEK 200 (approx. $24)
{"title":"A Tale from Constantinople: The History of a Film that Never Was, Bo Florin and Patrick Vonderau (2019)","authors":"A. Ksenofontova","doi":"10.1386/josc_00075_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00075_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: A Tale from Constantinople: The History of a Film that Never Was, Bo Florin and Patrick Vonderau (2019)Höör: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion, 248 pp.,ISBN 978-9-18748-341-7, p/bk, SEK 200 (approx. $24)","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48094274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
During my 25 years working as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, I developed a reputation as a writer who could craft vivid and believable scripts about young people. Initially, this was based on my teleplay for the first episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series, and later for the semi-autobiographical Josh and S.A.M. released by Columbia Pictures. I also wrote uncredited revisions of DreamWorks’s Small Soldiers and Castle Rock’s Alaska, both involving prominent child characters. I have to confess that my reputation for writing content for children and adolescents realistically did not stem from any natural ability. It came from mining my personal childhood memories, and from studying movies and literature I felt authentically captured what it is like to be new in the world. This text explores my journey writing from a child’s perspective.
我在洛杉矶做了25年的编剧，因为能写出生动可信的关于年轻人的剧本而名声大噪。最初，这是基于我为史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格的《惊奇故事》系列第一集所演的电视剧，后来是哥伦比亚电影公司发行的半自传体电影《Josh and s.a.m》。我还为梦工厂(DreamWorks)的《小士兵》(Small Soldiers)和城堡岩石(Castle Rock)的《阿拉斯加》(Alaska)撰写了未署名的修订版，两者都有突出的儿童角色。我必须承认，我在为儿童和青少年撰写内容方面的声誉实际上并非源于任何天生的能力。它来自于挖掘我个人的童年记忆，也来自于研究电影和文学，我觉得自己真实地捕捉到了初来乍到的感觉。这篇文章从一个孩子的角度探索了我的写作之旅。
{"title":"Fear and wonderment in a limitless world: Learning to write from a child’s point of view","authors":"Frank Deese","doi":"10.1386/josc_00071_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00071_1","url":null,"abstract":"During my 25 years working as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, I developed a reputation as a writer who could craft vivid and believable scripts about young people. Initially, this was based on my teleplay for the first episode of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series,\u0000 and later for the semi-autobiographical Josh and S.A.M. released by Columbia Pictures. I also wrote uncredited revisions of DreamWorks’s Small Soldiers and Castle Rock’s Alaska, both involving prominent child characters. I have to confess that my reputation\u0000 for writing content for children and adolescents realistically did not stem from any natural ability. It came from mining my personal childhood memories, and from studying movies and literature I felt authentically captured what it is like to be new in the world. This text explores my journey\u0000 writing from a child’s perspective.","PeriodicalId":41719,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Screenwriting","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46830881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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