Alternative Scriptwriting, 5th Edition

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Adaptations from Contemporary Literature

It is a commonplace that literary fiction that depends on internal voice or that is highly stylized does not translate well into a mainstream film. This is because these literary techniques need a channel, a means to communicate, in addition to that provided by the story. In fiction, this channel is frequently provided by the narrative voice, but, as we have discussed, mainstream films tend to subordinate narrative voice to the more dominant dramatic voice. Beyond voice, the other element that limits the translation of literary fiction is that mainstream films impose a much more circumscribed notion of how far characters can stray before they will threaten audience identification. Thus, the moral ambiguity ...