The Film Adaptation of Atonement - An Analysis of the “Point of View” in Cinema and Literature and their Semiotic Implications

Authors

  • Soraya Ferreira Alves Universidade de Brasília

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1980-4016.esse.2011.35265

Keywords:

literature, cinema, point of view, adaptation

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the ways words and image interact, as well as the dialogue between literature and cinema taking the novel “Atonement” by Ian McEwan (2001) and the film adaptation by director Joe Wright (2007) as examples to be analyzed. The novel, a metafictional one, narrates the story of two lovers whose destinies where marked by the misjudgement of another character that, as time goes by, tries to atone for her mistake. Wright’s film keeps the same plot, but uses a different resource by inverting the presentation of the points of view, resulting in a different construction of the story by the viewer. This analysis will try to demonstrate how the film adaptation of “Atonement” resignifies the literary work, observing the peculiar literary and cinematographic resources regarding narration and point of view. It is based on the concept of rewriting as postulated by Lefevere which takes into consideration who rewrites, under what circumstances, and whom the rewriting is direct to. We also intend to discuss the diversity of interpretation grounded in semiotic theory by Charles Peirce, specifically concerning the point of view.

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Published

2011-06-09

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Alves, S. F. (2011). The Film Adaptation of Atonement - An Analysis of the “Point of View” in Cinema and Literature and their Semiotic Implications. Estudos Semióticos, 7(1), 76-84. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1980-4016.esse.2011.35265