A Comparative Reading of Selected Cinematic Adaptations of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 .PhD. Candidate, Department of English Literature, Tehran University, Kish International Campus, Kish Island

2 Professor of Comparative Literature, Department of English Literature, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

1. Introduction
With the immergence and overwhelming outspread of the consumption of the modern video culture, directors and producers have had the opportunity to employ literary masterpieces for their subject matter and hence, reel in huge profit.
 
2. Aims
The present study aims to thoroughly analyze three filmic adaptations of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949). In so doing, it is crucial to study the play in the first place. In the next step, the researcher aims to bring to light the dominant discourses and culture of each film’s period of production. The analysis of each adaptation encompasses the ideologies and the mindset of each director and adapter. These different directors and adapters are then compared to each other so as to further bring to light their discourses, not to mention the process of transposition each adaptation has experienced.
 
3. Methodology
What makes this study quite innovative is its comparative aspect. The general framework of this study is Comparative Literature as adaptation studies are considered a major branch of comparative methodology. Contextualization is another critical methodology, which brings to the fore the study of major discourses of the time and place of adaptations. The “wh” questions asked by Linda Hutcheon for the delineation of the creative or faithful process an adaptor has gone through in making an adaptation is the first and foremost important theory applied in this study.
The next theory applied is that of George Bluestone who analyzes three areas between literature and film. These areas encompass such aspects as linguistic and image, consciousness and inner thoughts and representation of women. Kamilla Elliot, the next theorist employed, introduces six concepts for adaptation through which different types of adaptation process are delineated.
 
4. Findings and Conclusion
The study comes to find that Benedek and Segal’s adaptations which were produced at a time when America was doing away with Communism as a whole, fail to portray the failure of the American Dream, the theme of the play. Henceforth, the Lomans’ life failure is shown to be the result of the mental demise of the protagonist. German expressionist Schlondörff’s expressionist adaptation being produced at a time when the masses were coming to a consensus that the American Dream is unlikely to come true, fully ad freely depicts the destructive result of the American Dream.

Keywords

References

References [In Persian]:
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References [In English]:
-Adaptation (2011). In oxford English dictionary (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://dictionary.oed.com.
-Aragay, M. (2005). Books in motion: adaptation, intertextuality, authorship. New York: Rodopi.
-Bluestone, G. (1957). novels into film. University of California Press: Berkley and Los Angeles.
-Bruhn, J. & Gjelsvik, A. & Hanssen, E. (2013). Adaptation studies: new challenges, new directions. London & New York: Bloomsbury.
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-Cartmell, D. & Whelehan, I. (2007). The Cambridge companion to literature on screen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-Dir. Laszlo Benedek. (1951). Death of a salesman. Columbia Pictures. Film.
-Dir. Alex Segal. (1966). Death of a salesman. CBS, Television Film.
-Dir. Volker Schlondorff. (1985, 2003). Death of a salesman. CBS/ Home Entertainment, Television Film/ DVD.
-Giannetti, L. D. (1982). Understanding movies. Prentice-Hall.
-Hutcheon, L. (2006). A theory of adaptation. London & New York: Routledge.
-Metz, C. (1974). Film language: a semiotics of the cinema, trans. Michael Taylor. New York: Oxford University Press.
-Miller, A. (1961). Death of a salesman. Harmondsworth: Perguin Books.
-Stam, R. & Raengo, A. (2004). A companion to literature and film. London: Blackwell Publishing.
Journal of Comparative Literature
Volume 12, Issue 23 - Serial Number 23
Current Issue
March 2021
Pages 209-225

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