Assignment 3: Précis of "Incompatible Visual Ontologies"
The following is a summary of Pascal Lefèvre’s “Incompatible Visual Ontologies – the Problematic Adaptation of Drawn Images”. Lefèvre analyzed the problems of adapting one medium to another with regard to the transformation of the comic aesthetics to film and the reaction from an audience of both films and comic books. The summary looks at the similarities, differences and problems of visual aspects when adapting a comic to a film.
Similarities of the Visual Aspects
Films and comic books have a close link as they both use a series of images to tell a story.
Another similarity is the way the originals of comic books and films are distributed. Copies are distributed unlike original works of art where it is the original which is distributed.
Differences of the Visual Aspects
The material shape is different between the two mediums. Comic books are on paper or on screen (the Internet) where they have to be paged or scrolled. Films are one screen where they have to be watched. The film viewer has less freedom with navigation than the comic book reader. Although when the film gets adapted to a
There is the primacy issue which is when the reader reads something first and then creates his own visual of what is happening. The reader lives through their own interpretation of what is happening in the story. Film makers impose their “vision” on the audience more than comic book artists.
When viewing a film, the surrounding audience can play a big influence on the visual experience of an individual. This is due to the interaction level an individual viewer encounters. The viewer has their own opinion and the audience as a whole could find something happening in the story very appealing or unappealing and the viewer, hearing their reaction such as an applause could decide to conform to their opinion. Comic book readers have a different experience and usually don’t have emotional sharing on a large scale like film-goers do.
Problems
Comics have static drawings using panels and have no sound. Films have moving images within a screen frame with sound (sometimes without). The problem adapting has to do with moving from motionless to motion.
Another problem is how close the film makers follow a storyline. In some cases it is better to add on to a story or change it to fit in with the expectations of a movie-going audience. Other times it is better to stick to the original to meet the expectations of the comic fan base. Very few films stick to the original but Lefèvre points out that “each medium has its own laws and rule”. The film maker has to figure out what is appropriate for the target audience.
The stylization and mood portrayed in a comic book can be entirely different to that portrayed in a film. The film makers may not be able to capture the exact mood or style of the book (Lefèvre, 2007). This can be difficult to achieve. Another issue is that of putting a voice to the characters. Readers already have a voice in their head of what the character sounds like (Lefèvre, 2007). Film makers have to have an understanding of what fans would expect and at the same time what the comic book writer was trying to create. Some comic books can be adapted to fill over and over but by different film makers therefore the actors would change. This is where fans have to prepare themselves for their characters to be different with each film.
One last problem is the pace of the experience. Comic readers can read at their own speed and choose to go forward or back. This allows them to decide on their own what parts of the story they want to read as well as the sequence of events (Lefèvre, 2007). The reader also has the advantage of using their peripheral vision where they can decide where to look and advance their story or just have an idea of what is going to happen next and then jumping back to where they were reading.
Lefèvre concludes that “perhaps we should not be too purist concerning adaptations” (Lefèvre, 2007). We should look at the adaptation as something that is related to the original, but is completely new and on its own.
References
Lefèvre, P. Incompatible Visual Onthologies: The Problematic Adaptation of Drawn Images. Film and Comic Books, edited by Mark Jancovich, Matthew P McAllister and Ian Gordon,
