Literature and Audiovisual Media on the Example of Guillermo Del Toro's Films
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Transforming Ecocriticism and Inclusivity - Literature and Audiovisual Media on the Example of Guillermo del Toro's Films Medić, Ana Master's thesis / Diplomski rad 2020 Degree Grantor / Ustanova koja je dodijelila akademski / stručni stupanj: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences / Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Filozofski fakultet Permanent link / Trajna poveznica: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:687181 Rights / Prava: In copyright Download date / Datum preuzimanja: 2021-09-28 Repository / Repozitorij: FFOS-repository - Repository of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Osijek Sveučilište J.J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Dvopredmetni sveučilišni diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti i filozofije – nastavnički smjer Ana Medić Preobrazbe ekokriticizma i uključivosti – književnost i audiovizualni mediji na primjeru filmova Guillerma del Tora Diplomski rad Mentor: doc. dr. sc. Ljubica Matek Osijek, 2020. Sveučilište J.J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Odsjek za engleski jezik i književnost Dvopredmetni sveučilišni diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti i filozofije – nastavnički smjer Ana Medić Preobrazbe ekokriticizma i uključivosti – književnost i audiovizualni mediji na primjeru filmova Guillerma del Tora Diplomski rad Znanstveno područje: humanističke znanosti Znanstveno polje: filologija Znanstvena grana: anglistika Mentor: doc. dr. sc. Ljubica Matek Osijek, 2020. J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Double Major MA Study Programme in English Language and Literature (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and Philosophy (Teaching) Ana Medić Transforming Ecocriticism and Inclusivity – Literature and Audiovisual Media on the Example of Guillermo del Toro’s Films Master’s Thesis Supervisor: doc. dr. sc. Ljubica Matek Osijek, 2020 J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of English Double Major MA Study Programme in English Language and Literature (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and Philosophy (Teaching) Ana Medić Transforming Ecocriticism and Inclusivity – Literature and Audiovisual Media on the Example of Guillermo del Toro’s Films Master’s Thesis Scientific area: humanities Scientific field: philology Scientific branch: English studies Supervisor: doc. dr. sc. Ljubica Matek Osijek, 2020 Abstract Guillermo del Toro’s films often feature monstrous characters as symbols of humanity, and the paper will show that the prevalent theme in his films is otherness and the unjust treatment of minorities by the perceived majority. This paper will analyse two of his films, Pacific Rim (2013) and The Shape of Water (2017), both of which deal with ecological crises and question social norms. The paper maintains that the monsters both in del Toro’s original work and in its adaptations are always human, and that the two – the human and the monstrous – are inextricably interwoven, and often one and the same. Moreover, the paper will also look at the issue of adaptation and del Toro’s approach to the adaptation process. Both films have official novelizations, and the books approach the source material differently. Whereas Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus’ The Shape of Water (2018) was written with del Toro’s input, Alex Irvine’s Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization (2013) was written more independently, taking a markedly different direction than del Toro’s film version, that is, the source material. Like the aforementioned two films, other del Toro’s works also feature monster characters deeply anchored in humanity and interwoven with it, whose symbolism conveys both a positive message about differences and a cautionary tale about the human origins of the monstrous. Keywords: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water, Pacific Rim, adaptation, monsters, film, otherness. Table of Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 1 1. Otherness in Guillermo del Toro’s Works, Literary Teratology and Narrative Media... 2 1.1 Monsters and the Monstrous………………………………………………….. 5 1.2 The Questions of Representation....................................................................... 6 1.3 Ecocriticism and Sociocriticism......................................................................... 9 1.4 The Challenges of Adaptation............................................................................ 10 1.5 Del Toro’s Other Works..................................................................................... 15 2. Pacific Rim....................................................................................................................... 17 2.1 The Kaiju and the Jaegers – the Biological and the Mechanical....................... 17 2.2 Characterisation and the Question of Representation........................................ 24 2.3 Pacific Rim in the Context of del Toro’s Opus, Society, and Science Fiction... 26 3. The Shape of Water.......................................................................................................... 28 3.1 The Symbolism of the Amphibian Man and the Depiction of Otherness.......... 28 3.2 Richard Strickland – The True Monster of The Shape of Water........................ 35 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 40 Works Cited.......................................................................................................................... 42 Introduction The aim of this thesis is to show that the monstrous in the works of Guillermo del Toro is interwoven with and stems from the human. The thesis will analyse del Toro’s films Pacific Rim (2013) and the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water (2017),1 and their literary adaptations (novelizations), with the focus on the ecocritical and sociocritical perspective. In the first chapter, the paper focuses on otherness in Guillermo del Toro’s works and on literary teratology. The chapter briefly discusses the approaches to film adaptation which will be employed in later chapters, as well as key terms, such as ecocriticism. The second chapter discusses Pacific Rim, the film and the novelization, focusing on the dichotomy between the mechanical and the biological, various forms of representation in the film’s story, and the story itself within a broader context of del Toro’s work and science fiction in general. The third chapter discusses The Shape of Water, the character of the Amphibian Man as the symbol of otherness, the portrayal of minorities and Western cultural values as they are represented in the work, and it briefly analyses the differences intrinsic to media and how they manifest in storytelling in the film and the novel. The analysis of the two films and their novelizations is based on insights into the theory of adaptation and literary analysis by authors such as Caroline Joan S. Picart and John Edgar Browning, Seymour Chatman, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Peter Hutchings, Laura Podalsky, Robert Stam, Niamh Thornton, and David J. Skal. The concluding chapter revisits the most important points from the previous chapters, which reaffirm the thesis that the monstrous in del Toro’s work and its adaptations is deeply rooted in and representative of humanity. 1 The Shape of Water won four Academy Awards in 2018: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Music Score, and Best Production Design. It also won two Golden Globe Awards (Best Director and Best Original Score), and three British Academy Film Awards (Best Director, Best Production Design, and Best Original Music). 1 1. Otherness in Guillermo del Toro’s Works, Literary Teratology and Narrative Media Authors inevitably incorporate parts of themselves into their creations. This is true for all types of art – sculpture, visual art, music, and literature. It is no less true for contemporary media, such as comic books, games, or film. It is therefore of great importance to understand the author, and the context of their creative process if one wishes to truly understand their work. Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican artist, perhaps the most famous for his work as a film director. His work includes multiple genres, ranging from horror such as Mimic (1997) to contemporary fairy-tales such as The Shape of Water (2017). However, all of his films deal with the issues of monstrosity, inclusivity, and ecology – issues that are relevant for both contemporary art and everyday life and politics. Thus, there is one common element found in nearly all of his works: the representation of monsters, and, closely related to that, the question of otherness, which will be analysed in this paper primarily on the examples of del Toro’s films The Shape of Water and Pacific Rim and their novelizations. The differences between film and literature as types of media, and the inherently different forms of narration (literary as opposed to audio-visual storytelling) contribute to a more complete view of the story and its various elements, which will be analysed from the ecocritical and sociocritical point of view. According to Zygmunt Bauman, the idea of Otherness is a social construct crucial for the way in which identity categories are established in a society. Identities are set up as dichotomies in which “[t]he second member is but the other of the first, the opposite (degraded, suppressed, exiled)