Making Hachiro Yoshida screen(re)writing: adaptation as a creative discourse

Wang, Hongyi (Paris) (2024). Making Hachiro Yoshida screen(re)writing: adaptation as a creative discourse. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Wang2024PhD_Redacted.pdf
Text - Redacted Version
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (12MB) | Preview

Abstract

This research project aims to show that adaptation practice can be seen as a creative discourse capable of reinventing and improving the original text through active dialogical responses. The term 'screen(re)writing' highlights the necessity of active rewriting in forming a screenplay designed for film adaptation based on a true story or literary sources. Through investigating two case studies, my original screenplay incorporated their essential elements to serve my specific artistic intentions and narrative styles in the scriptwriting process. Using this screenplay as a medium of criticism, my study contributes to this field of creative adaptation while answering the research question – how can one establish a new type of authorship as an adapter-auteur by treating adaptation as a creative discourse?

In chapter one, I will explain the development of adaptation studies through the ‘tiresome debates of fidelity’ (Andrew, 1984). Although it is justified, the issue of fidelity proves to be outdated and quite problematic. Instead, contemporary scholars have redefined adaptation study, and the purpose of adaptation goes beyond merely being faithful or accurate. For revisionists, adaptation becomes active rewriting to ‘keep the texts alive’ (Leitch, 2013), and one must know toward what ends the adaption is designed (Cartmell, 2012). That is why it is crucial to examine two main aspects: 1) Why do numerous adaptations purposefully alter the prior texts? And how did talented directors transcend their source material?

Chapter Two analyses how Francis Ford Coppola skilfully handles the parallel narratives with dual-protagonist arcs in The Godfather Part II (1974). By interweaving two storylines together, Coppola mirrors Vito's life with Michael’s, with their separate stories reflecting on one another emotionally and thematically. While the first movie remains a faithful adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel, Part II sees Coppola shifting his stance on fidelity, treating his cinematic work as equal to literature. This sequel not only matches the original but also transcends it, showcasing Coppola's mastery as an auteur adapter and his ability to reinvent the Godfather franchise.

Chapter three analyses Hayao Miyazaki's creative adaptation of The Wind Rises (2013). In this film, Miyazaki engages in the most challenging intertextual dialogues of his career. Through rewriting multiple sources, Miyazaki adapts the source text creatively, reinventing this wartime biopic drama with his fictional re-imagination to reflect his own dreams, ideology and moral dilemmas. In the first part, we will explore what makes The Wind Rises a fictional memoir of Miyazaki and, arguably, his autofiction. In the second part, we will explore how Miyazaki addresses the issues and challenges of representing a perpetrator in an antiwar film. A deeper analysis of Miyazaki’s representation of perpetrators in his antiwar films and his rewriting of fictional autobiography is crucial for incorporating those elements into my screenplay.

Chapter four, Making Hachiro Yoshida, delves into the creative writing process of the original script, building upon the discussions from earlier chapters. The chapter begins with a project description and introduces the primary source, archive pictures, and relevant studies of student soldiers and postwar Japanese scholars in their antiwar movements. In the second half, it examines various aspects, including Miyazaki's representations of perpetrators in trauma cinema, the adaptation of Coppola's parallel storylines for the same protagonist at different life stages, social-political commentary spanning prewar and postwar Japan, and the use of a true story to recreate a fictional autobiography.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):