A Comparative Analysis of the Novel and the Film Adaptation Bachelor‟S Diploma Thesis

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Kateřina Vykydalová Requiem for a Dream: A Comparative Analysis of the Novel and the Film Adaptation Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. 2015 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………… Author‟s signature 2 Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D., for his help, support and valuable advice. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 2. From the Novel to the Film ....................................................................... 8 3. Analysis of the Novel .............................................................................. 13 3.1 Summer ................................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Fall ........................................................................................................................ 18 3.3 Winter .................................................................................................................... 20 4. Analysis of the Film ................................................................................ 25 4.1 Summer ................................................................................................................. 25 4.2 Fall ........................................................................................................................ 30 4.3 Winter .................................................................................................................... 35 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 39 Works Cited ................................................................................................. 41 Resumé (English) ........................................................................................ 43 Resumé (Czech) .......................................................................................... 44 4 1. Introduction Requiem for a Dream was first published in 1978 as the fourth novel by an American writer Hubert Selby Jr. The author came to the attention of critics and the general public thanks to his successful, yet highly controversial, debut book Last Exit to Brooklyn, which was the subject of a much debated obscenity trial in the United Kingdom. Admittedly, these two novels belong to Selby‟s most known works, though they received relatively small critical attention. Generally, Selby is a rather underrated writer in American literature, and his later works are largely ignored by the critics. Hubert Selby started to write without any formal education and the decision that led him to become a fiction writer was in a way connected with his lifelong health problems. Selby did not finish high school and at the age of fifteen he joined the Merchant Marine. During these years at sea he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which triggered other lung problems, and he had to spend more than three years in a hospital. However, these unpleasant years marked the beginning of his writing. As Selby himself said, “That‟s where it all started: reading and then a desire to write” (“Examining” 289). And the almost fatal experiences from his youth, poor health and the struggle with substance addiction shaped Selby‟s life and were necessarily projected into his works. His fiction is often described as depressing, bleak or disturbing because Selby is basically concerned with dark and taboo subjects. For example, Last Exit contains the graphic portrayal of violence and the later novels examine addictive behaviour and obsession, which always has destructive consequences for the characters. And Requiem for a Dream is not an exception since it deals with several types of addiction. Interestingly, this novel was initially only an outline for a film with the aspects of dark humour, which Selby called “A Pound of Pure”. However, as he kept working on it, the story gradually became a novel with more serious undertones. And although some 5 reviews claimed that Requiem was “Selby‟s best work, maybe even the finest novel of a generation” (Stephens 120), the publication of the novel was not followed by any significant success. The director Darren Aronofsky knew Selby‟s work very well, as his student film Fortune Cookie was inspired by Selby‟s short story. After the success of the experimental and low-budget debut film Pi, Aronofsky and the producer Eric Watson decided to work on an adaptation of Requiem. This seemed as a risky and problematic project mainly due to the novel‟s difficult subject matter. Nevertheless, they insisted on adapting this novel and quickly secured the rights from Selby, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Aronofsky. In fact, Selby had a cameo role in the film as a prison guard and was often present during the shooting, where he was reading the parts of the novel out loud to prepare the actors for the scene. The film was then premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. Generally, it was critically acclaimed and praised for its inventive visual style and soundtrack. Without the film adaptation, the novel could have remained relatively unknown like most of Selby‟s works. Instead, it was reprinted after the release of the film and revived after twenty years possibly for another generation of readers. Still, the film paradoxically achieved more attention from scholars and critics than the original novel. The novel and the film interpret the same story of four individuals who are pursuing their dreams, but eventually each of them falls into addiction. Harry Goldfarb, his girlfriend Marion and their friend Tyrone need money to reach their goals, so they start to sell heroin. However, they soon succumb to addiction and that slowly destroys any hope for a better life. The parallel storyline involves Harry‟s mother Sara, who believes that she will be a contestant of a television show. She becomes obsessed with 6 losing weight and unknowingly develops dangerous addiction to diet pills, which causes her mental breakdown. This bachelor‟s thesis provides a comparative analysis of Hubert Selby‟s novel and its film adaptation directed by Darren Aronofsky. The main focus is put on the methods and techniques that are used for depicting the characters‟ mental and physical degradation. The thesis also aims to point out how the writer and the filmmaker utilize the apparently different means of expression, which the particular medium has at its disposal, to achieve similar effect on the readers or viewers. This intent can be summarized as the effort to bring the audience as close as possible to the main characters and their inner states. The first chapter serves as a brief introduction to the theory of adaptation, and discusses the aspects which are relevant for the particular case of the selected novel and film. In the second chapter, the thesis concentrates on the novel, its unconventional prose style and the methods employed to expressively depict the characters‟ deterioration. The thesis also attempts to examine the possible influence of these methods on the reader‟s perception. The third chapter is then devoted to the film analysis, which follows the same structure as the preceding analysis of the novel, focusing of course on the filmic techniques and their effect. 7 2. From the Novel to the Film As film often draws inspiration from literature, adaptations have become the subjects of discussions and comparisons in which one of the prevailing questions is a film‟s fidelity to an original novel. Nevertheless, sole reliance on the issue of fidelity entails several problems. Firstly, it reinforces the assumption that film as a younger medium can never achieve the quality of a book. It may also undervalue a film‟s artistic contribution because it often focuses only on the departures from the original. And McFarlane reminds us, “The film has the right to be judged as a film; then, one of the many things it also is an adaptation […]” (“It Wasn‟t Like” 9). In fact, the filmmakers usually do not seek to create a mere adaptation that would be completely faithful to the original novel. They aim to create a new piece of art which would be capable to stand independently. More importantly, there are significant differences between these two media that cannot be neglected. In connection with this issue Lothe observes, “To „transfer‟ a work of art from one medium to another is in one sense impossible” (86). This implies that the complete fidelity to the original cannot be achieved due to the basic nature of both media. Therefore, these differences should be taken into consideration while comparing a novel and its film adaptation. The primary difference between novels and films is the fact that “the novel draws on a wholly verbal sign system, [whereas] the film variously, and sometimes simultaneously, on visual, aural, and verbal signifiers” (McFarlane 26). It could also be said that the novel tells, thus the readers have to use their imagination in order to create the images. In McFarlane‟s words, the novel “works conceptually” (27). On the other hand, the film can directly show the images together with the sound element, therefore it works “sensuously, perceptually” (27). Fundamentally, each medium can affect its audience, though

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