Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Tomáš Lukáč
A Comparison of Michael Blake’s Novel Dances with Wolves and its 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.
…………………………………………….. Tomáš Lukáč
I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph. D., for his valuable advice and help. I would also like to thank my parents for their support and trust.
Table of Contents
Introduction ...... 1
Theoretical Background ...... 2
The Narrative of the Novel ...... 8
Story and Narrative Patterns ...... 8
Narration ...... 10
Parallels and Contrasts ...... 11
Search for Identity ...... 13
The Narrative of the Film ...... 16
Narration ...... 16
Comic subplots ...... 19
Visual representation of suicide ...... 20
The Comparison of Both Media ...... 22
Cardinal Functions ...... 22
Comments on Cardinal Functions ...... 26
Temporal Duration ...... 29
Dialogues ...... 29
Character Functions ...... 30
Novel versus Film ...... 31
Conclusion ...... 33
Works Cited ...... 34
English Résumé ...... 36
Czech Résumé ...... 37
Introduction
Film adaptation is often discussed topic, not only by academics, but also by fans of the film and also by the fans of the original text. It brings many difficulties; everyone has his own mind about the success of the work done on the adaptation. These difficulties are created also due to the high focus on fidelity of each scene of the film to the adapted text and no other matter.
In my thesis I will provide a close look on Michael Blake‟s novel Dances with
Wolves and its film adaptation with the main focus on narrative techniques and strategies. I will highlight the similarities and differences between the two works and link them with the film adaptation terms and theories.
This thesis contains four main parts: the theoretical background of the adaptation process with the explanation of the basic terms, the narrative of the novel, the narrative of the film and the comparison of these two media. The chapter about theoretical background will provide reader with the basic adaptation techniques and also with the explanation of terms used in talks about film adaptations. In the third chapter, about the narrative of the novel, I will provide the close look on the book. The fourth chapter will bring the reader the same analysis, but for the film with the addition of new elements, by which the original work was either extended or at least modified. The last part, the comparison of these two works will provide the link between the two primary sources of this thesis – the novel and the film, both with the same name, Dances with Wolves, among other things by providing the list of cardinal functions of the storyline that moves the story forward and comparing it with the film.
1
Theoretical Background
It is quite popular in many works dealing with the adaptation to use Joseph
Conrad‟s quote from The Nigger of Narcissus which quite nicely captures the whole notion of what the adaptations and the aims of film-makers are about: “My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the powers of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel – it is, before all, to make you see” (qtd. in McFarlane 3).
In order to successfully compare film adaptation with its literary counterpart, the basic theoretical terminology must be explained. In this chapter, the main sources were
Brian McFarlane‟s Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation and
David Bordwell‟s and Kristin Thompson‟s Film Art: An Introduction.
First of all, there are several types of adaptations due to the various level of fidelity the film-maker decided to adhere. Geoffrey Wagner in The Novel and the
Cinema distinguishes three types of adaptation:
transposition – an adaptation with minimal apparent interference
(referenced to as „book illustration‟) (Stam and Raengo 11)
commentary – an adaptation is either purposely or unknowingly altered
in some respect
analogy – a deliberate and considerable shift is made by the film-maker
during the process of adaptation
Similar to Geoffrey Wagner‟s division of adaptations, is the division created by
Dudley Andrew and another one by Michael Klein and Gillian Parker (McFarlane 10-
11).
Almost every viewer of the film who had previously read the original novel feels free if not obliged to comment on the adaptation, its relationship towards the prototype
2 of the film. Most of the times, these comments are concerned mainly with fidelity of the film-makers during the process of the adaptation of the novel. Dudley Andrew in his
Concepts in Film Theory says:
Unquestionably the most frequent and tiresome discussion of adaptation
(and of film and literature relations as well) concerns fidelity and
transformation. Here it is assumed that the task of adaptation is the
reproduction in cinema of something essential about an original text (qtd.
in Braudy and Cohen 375).
Every single viewer, who had previously read the novel on which the film he/she is about to watch is based, goes to the cinema with very specific expectations towards the characters, events and settings. Because of the fact that usually only small groups of people are included in the process of the film production, there is a big chance the viewer‟s expectations will not be met, although, of course, great effort is always put into it so the number of unsatisfied viewers is as low as possible. Thus come the usual negative ratings of viewers when it comes to the adaptations, except for the very few exceptions. Nevertheless, as Michael Chanan says in The Dream that Kicks, “There is, it seems, an urge to have verbal concepts bodied forth in perceptual concreteness” (qtd. in
McFarlane 8). In other words, although one could have read the book and has his/her own idea about it, the necessity to see also how someone else pictured the same story is very strong. According to Morris Beja, “more than three-fourths of the awards for “best picture” have gone to adaptations” (qtd. in McFarlane 8). This also proves the popularity of adapting the novel to the silver screen. As it is mentioned in A Theory of
Adaptation by Linda Hutcheon, it “comes simply from the repetition of variation, from the comfort of ritual combined with the piquancy of surprise. Recognition and remembrance are part of the pleasure (and risk) of experiencing an adaptation; so too is
3 change” (4). It means that the possible viewer (and beforehand reader) seeks for the possibility of seeing the same theme all over again and again if he or she liked it, even if there is the risk of disliking the current version/execution of the topic. One must keep in mind that the two media are not the same, thus the versions of one theme cannot be the same, even if the storyline is exactly the same. One should also not forget that adaptations can reach not only to the audience acquainted with the literary works they were based on. It is even quite probable that the majority of the audience will be the nonreaders of the original text. Nevertheless, the spectators previously reading the original texts are always the ones commenting and often degrading the film adaptations.
Among the fundamental information one must distinguish when talking about the adaptation process, is the distinction between story and plot (discourse). Although these terms are very often used instead of each other, the distinctions between them still prevail. While the term story means the set of all events in a narrative, both, the ones explicitly presented and those the viewer infers, the term plot “is used to describe everything visibly and audibly present in the film before us” (Bordwell and Thompson
76). Simply put, the story contains all events the viewer is able to see and assume, either from the setting or the actions of characters. The plot, on the other hand, consists of everything presented in the film, all visual and audible features of the film (also containing soundtracks), and even film‟s credits – simply put, everything shown, even material extraneous to the story world. To give an example, take Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer‟s Stone. The story of this part begins when lord Voldemort kills Harry‟s parents. The viewer, though, is presented with the plot which begins with the intro followed by the talk Dumbledore and McGonagall have right before Hagrid brings little
Harry to Dursleys‟.
4
The second and third chapters of this thesis are called The narrative of the novel and The narrative of the film. The important question arises: What is narrative?
According to Bordwell and Thompson, the narrative can be considered “to be a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space” (75), basically what one would call a story. The words cause and time play the key role here.
Without cause-effect relationship and time, no story could have existed, given the fact that our understanding of actions is based mainly on characters and/or events causing some effect, thus creating chain of events which take place in time. The effects the actions of characters may show themselves right away or there is the possibility that the reader/viewer will understand the outcome of some actions only at the end of the work. In some cases the actions are hidden and only the effects of such actions are presented, either to build up the tension or to make the storyline more interesting.
In case of time one should be aware of the fact that the actions causing effects take place in time. “In constructing the film‟s story out of its plot, the viewer is engaged in trying to put events in chronological order and to assign them some duration and frequency” (Bordwell and Thompson 80).
Temporal order – beside the classic chronological story order consisting of the events following in the order they happened. The two possible violation of chronological story order are flashback and flash-forward (Bordwell and Thompson 80)
– showing scenes happening either before the story line or after it.
Temporal duration – when talking about the temporal duration, the key issue here is the distinction between story duration, plot duration and screen duration.
According to Bordwell and Thompson, “The relationships among story duration, plot duration and screen duration are complex […]: the filmmaker can manipulate screen duration independently of the overall story duration and plot duration” (81). The story
5 can take place during even several years; however the plot duration can be in the span of few days or weeks. The screen duration, on the other hand would take only a short period of time, in scope of minutes and hours. Then there are also cases of manipulating with the time some event took – either shortening or prolonging it.
Temporal frequency – although usually story is presented only once, there are cases of films where the same scenes “may appear twice or even more in the plot treatment” (Bordwell and Thompson 82). In some cases it is the simple repetition used several times, in other cases the same single story event can be shown from different viewing angles.
Another important issue connected with cause-effect relationship is the matter of cardinal functions, or nuclei which are also called kernels by Seymour Chatman (qtd. in
McFarlane 14), which basically build the narrative. Cardinal functions are, according to
Roland Barthes in his Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives:
The „hinge-points‟ of narrative: that is, the actions they refer to open up
alternatives of consequence to the development of the story; they create
„risky‟ moments in the narrative and it is crucial to narrativity that the
reader recognizes the possibility of such alternative consequences. (qtd.
in McFarlane 13-14)
This means that cardinal functions are such events in the story that move the story forward and in case of them changing, the consequences of such a change could affect the whole following story and thus it is important to compare cardinal functions of the original novel and those of its film adaptation to fully apprehend the differences between the two works of different media. The list of cardinal functions will play an essential role in further analysis of the two works. There are, of course, almost always changes made by film-makers in the depiction of the cardinal functions – the alteration
6 in their order, the omission or the addition of the new elements. These changes do not necessarily mean the big violation of the original storyline, but may definitely change the viewers‟ approach to the film.
To present the film according to film-maker‟s intended visualization without the alteration of cardinal functions, the use of different catalysers (satellites according to
Chatman) is needed. Once again, Roland Barthes says:
Catalysers work in ways which are complementary to and supportive of
the cardinal functions. They denote small actions; their role is to root the
cardinal functions in a particular kind of reality, to enrich the texture of
those functions. (qtd. in McFarland 14)
In other words, the catalysers, in comparison to the cardinal functions, do not move the storyline forward and also do not have any big influence on the further events, but they rather complete the whole picture of the scenes.
The last terms that are important to distinguish are the narration and narrator.
According to Bordwell and Thompson, “Narration is the process by which the plot presents story information to the spectator. . . . Narration may also use a narrator, some specific agent who purports to be telling us the story (92). There are, of course, different types of narration, including the first-person narration (the subjective cinema, oral narration/voice-over), the omniscient novel and the mode of “restricted consciousness”
(McFarlane 15-19).
7
The Narrative of the Novel
Michael Blake, born on July 5, 1945 is an American writer, best known for the adaptation of his work Dances with Wolves, which I chose as the topic of this thesis.
After leaving the school he wrote several screenplays, but only Stacey’s Knights made it to the actual film. Stacey’s Knights is important also for another reason – it is this film where Michael Blake first met Kevin Costner, at that time a young and unknown actor casted in the main male role. Although the film had practically no success, the friendship which bore fruit by the creation of Dances with Wolves, was created. It was
Kevin Costner who convinced Michael Blake to write a novel instead of intended screenplay of Indian story, resulting in the three hundred and thirteen pages long novel.
Story and Narrative Patterns
The novel is centered on the character of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar. The story begins with Dunbar on his way to his new post, Fort Sedgewick, with a wagon driver
Timmons. Then the attention is changed to Captain Cargill, the leader of Fort
Sedgewick, as he is forced to abandon his post due to the lack of supplies and provisions and high number of desertions. When he and his men come to Fort Hays, he learns that Major Fambrough, who, the reader knows, sent Dunbar to Fort Sedgewick, committed suicide. When Dunbar and Timmons find the abandoned post, the lieutenant decides to stay at the post in spite of Timmons‟s protests. On his way back to Fort Hays is Timmons ambushed by a group of Pawnees and killed. Thus the last man knowing about the whereabouts of Dunbar is dead.
Then comes the first retrospective part which is about the story how Dunbar got himself to the American frontier. After his foot is about to be taken off because of the wound by a shrapnel, he decides to rather take his life on a suicidal ride to Confederate
8 positions. Somehow he survives and has his leg saved by the general‟s private doctor.
As a reward for his bravery, Dunbar wishes to be sent on the frontier.
During Dunbar‟s settling down at Fort Sedgewick, he makes the first contact with the Comanche Indian, Kicking Bird. After two attempts to steal his horse by
Indians, he is determined to go to their village to make a serious contact with them. On his way there he finds a naturalized white woman, Stands With A Fist, who just have tried to commit suicide after her husband‟s death and he saves her. The Indians and
Dunbar make several visits and after he informs them about buffaloes, a friendly relationship begins. They become closer with the help of Stands with A Fist, who has to recall her childhood memories to be able to communicate with Dunbar. After some time he receives his own tipi and grows closer and closer to Stands With A Fist. After the victorious battle with Pawnees, on which he had huge credit, he marries her and the whole camp is about to leave for the winter camp when he remembers about his old journal left in Fort Sedgewick. When he comes there to pick it up, he is captured by the army and is considered to be a traitor. He is sent to Fort Hays, but on the way there, he is saved by Comanches. He travels safely to the winter camp, but in order to protect the whole band, he decides to leave them, because he is sure that he will be chased by the army.
Basically, the whole Michael Blake‟s novel, Dances with Wolves, is based on the search of one man‟s true identity during the period of roughly six months. The narrative spins around Lieutenant Dunbar‟s more and more frequent visits of an Indian band (and vice versa) and the gradual process of changing into Dances With Wolves with few retrospective stops.
The novel is divided into thirty-one chapters of various length which are further divided into once again various number of sub-chapters. The narrator used to tell the
9 story tends to be an omniscient narrator who knows everything about the main character and the activities of other characters that could influence Lieutenant Dunbar.
Narration
The narrative develops the most of the time chronologically, except for two short retrospective excursions – Lieutenant Dunbar‟s memory trip shortly after his arrival to
Fort Sedgewick remembering the events prior to him being posted to the frontier (29-
36) and later when Stands With A Fist tries to remember English, the memories of the events that lead to her becoming Comanche (134-143).
The narrative is told mainly by third-person omniscient narrator focused mainly on the character of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar, other characters are mentioned and their inner thoughts are expressed only in the situations concerning the main character. Even the story excursion like the Timmons‟s very short journey back from Fort Sedgewick interrupted by the Pawnee ambush, serves only as the evidence that there is no one alive knowing about Dunbar‟s whereabouts.
The omniscient narrator is from time to time interrupted by the journal entry by
Lieutenant Dunbar (28; 42; 56; 58; 118 and 250). Although the narrator offers the reader a close look in the lieutenant‟s mind, these journal entries let the reader even closer look into his thoughts, plans for the future or the events of the past period of time and when doing this, these journal entries even substitute narrator in sharing the story with the reader. The frequency of these journal entries also clearly show the initial short time between each of the journal entries, but as time goes on, they are rarer and rarer until they finally stop with the statement saying:
10
late summer, 1863
I love Stands With A Fist.
Dances With Wolves (250)
These three lines forming the very last entry of Dunbar‟s journal show not only his love of Stands With A Fist, but signing the statement with his new name can be seen as the final step in his transition from Lieutenant John J. Dunbar to a completely new person –
Dances With Wolves.
Parallels and Contrasts
To strengthen the specific characters or groups of characters in the narrative, authors tend to use different techniques, among which belong also parallels and contrasts which are able to emphasize both similarities and dissimilarities. In the work
Dances with Wolves, the most visible examples are those between characters. Whether it is Lieutenant Dunbar and Timmons (or almost any white man portrayed in general),
Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird, or whole Indian bands like Comanches and
Pawnees.
One would not be able to find more different representatives of white men as
Lieutenant Dunbar and Timmons. Timmons described as “the smelly driver” (11), not very dutiful and certainly not smart (creating the smoking fire without any mean to defend himself while inside of the Indian territory). On the top of that, his manners were quite repulsive: “Dunbar didn‟t say anything, but Timmons‟s incessant spitting made him recoil inwardly” (2). On the other hand, there is Lieutenant Dunbar, the prototype of the ideal man of the American frontier: young and handsome, according to Kicking
Bird brave, friendly and funny (116), Ten Bears thought of him as being humble and
11 courteous (125) while Stands With A Fist saw him as an honest man (218). In addition, his written and spoken utterance is clear, understandable and correct – the complete opposite of Timmons‟s speech (the reader cannot be sure whether he was literate or not): “Why don‟t he write?” (5) and another example: “Everybody‟s run off…or got kilt” (17).
Another pair of dissimilar characters is Kicking Bird and Wind In His Hair.
Once again, they are completely different characters: “They are as night and day” (118),
Dunbar wrote about them in his journal. While Kicking Bird is a medicine man of the
Comanche band, Wind In His Hair is a hot-tempered warrior. While one is quiet and patient, very intelligent and always willing to learn, the other one is fierce, of a taciturn manner and commands respect due to his physical prowess. Nevertheless, both will become great friends with Dances With Wolves.
The last big contrast can be found between the two Indian groups mentioned
Comanches and Pawnees (there are additional Indian groups of Kiowas (258) and Utes
(78) mentioned, but they are only marginal). Comanches represent the “good guys” and possess only the good characteristics – none of them has a single negative attribute – but there are few that are better than average. On the other hands, Pawnees are from the very beginning of the novel depicted as the cruel and vicious people willing to kill for almost no reason (the murder of Timmons). Later in the novel, it does not change to better at all. Fortunately, their ambush is no surprise to Comanches (thanks to already mentioned Kiowas), and therefore they are able to not only defend themselves, but also to gain such a victory no one in the band remembers.
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Search for Identity
Another important element of the novel is the search for identity. It is possible to find two examples of characters searching for their true self – Lieutenant John J. Dunbar and Stands With A Fist.
No one in his right senses would ever want to be sent to the frontier. Despite this, Dunbar has his lifelong dream fulfilled when he is, on his own request, sent to Fort
Sedgewick. It is already stated in the previous part how different lieutenant was in comparison to Timmons. But this comparison could be applied to almost anyone there at the time. At first he missed the company of people, but soon he became the part of the Comanche camp, so this problem solved itself quite smoothly. He has never felt so happy in his life so far, like when he was becoming the Indian, if not by blood, then by his manners, customs and behavior. The visits back at Fort Sedgewick would become bitter to him and later also more and more seldom:
He returned to Fort Sedgewick often, but the visits were prompted
primarily by guilt, not desire. . . . What held him was the pull of another
world, a world he had just begun to explore. . . . He had discovered a
great thirst and he could no ore turn it down than a dying man could
refuse water. He wanted to see what would happen, and because of that,
he gave up his idea of returning to the army. But he did not fully give up
the idea of the army returning to him. Sooner or later it had to. (211)
During the later conversation with Stands With A Fist, the reader learns about his feelings from his own words:
He lifted it (a pipe-bone breastplate) to his cheek and said, „I love this.‟
Then he said, „But I‟m white…and I ‟m a soldier. Is it good for me to be
here or is it a foolish thing? Am I foolish?‟ He could see complete
13
attention in her eyes. „I don‟t know,‟ she answered. There was a little
silence. He could see she was waiting. „I don‟t know where to go,‟ he
said quietly. „I don‟t know where to be.‟ She turned her head slowly and
stared out the doorway. „I know,‟ she said. She was still lost in thought,
staring out at the afternoon, when he said, „I want to be here.‟ (246)
Finally, when he meets the white men again, his feelings towards them are described as follows:
As he walked toward the bluff, sandwiched between two soldiers, he
found himself repulsed by these men and their camp. He didn‟t like the
way they smelled. The sound of their voices seemed rough to his ears.
Even the way they moved seemed crude and ungainly. (298)
These three extracts demonstrate the slow, gradual, but continuous change in Lieutenant
Dunbar‟s psychological state as he changed, step by step, from Lieutenant Dunbar into
Dances With Wolves – the same person when talking about the appearance (although newly arrived soldiers to Fort Sedgewick could argue), but with completely different personality inside.
On the cover of the book, there is an apt quotation presented: “Unless he gave up the past, he could never have a future”. It seems that his final breaking of strings with the past comes in the scene of him leaving his father‟s watch behind him: “He took his father‟s broken pocket watch off its peg, intending to slip it into his trouser pocket. He looked at it for few seconds and on the second thought, he put it back” (249). This is very likely to be the symbolical giving up on his past, so it could not spoil his future.
After his liberation by the rescue mission led by Wind In His Hair and Kicking
Bird, he is unable to live happily among his friends knowing that the army will probably search for him tirelessly. Because he is convinced that his presence puts his friends and
14 their families, all innocent, in harm‟s way, he sees no other choice than to leave them for good, to make sure they would not be harmed because of him, so in fact, he sort of sacrifices himself for their good. When the tribe‟s chief, Ten Bears, learns this he speaks about the transformation Dances With Wolves went through:
You can go away from us anytime you like… but not for those reasons.
Those reasons are wrong. All the hair-mouth soldiers in the world could
search our camp and none would find the person they are looking for, the
one like them who calls himself Loo Ten Nant. The one called Loo Ten
Nant is not here. In this lodge they will only find a Comanche warrior, a
good Comanche warrior and his wife. (311-312)
He himself thinks that current Dances With Wolves is someone completely else than the soldier who visited their camp for the first time. Now, Dances With Wolves is the part of the camp like any Indian.
The second person having troubles to know her true identity is Stands With A
Fist. Her problems appear with the arrival of Dunbar. Because she is forced to remember her past before she was the part of the Comanche camp, she is not sure where she is supposed to belong to. On one hand, Dunbar is always honest with himself. He knows he is a white man, but this does not stop the irresistible pull of the Indian culture.
Him wearing his pipe-bone breastplate which he combines with his army pants and boots only underline the two mixed parts of his personality. On the other hand she was raised by Indians and thus come her doubts about her identity, but she comes to the satisfaction with being herself, once she finds her love in Dances With Wolves: “I had a good life with him (her previous husband). He went away from me because you were coming. That is how I see it now” (254).
15
The Narrative of the Film
Originally, Michael Blake planned to write the screenplay for the film about
Native Americans. Only after he was urged by Kevin Costner to write the book instead of screenplay, he did so. It was once again Kevin Costner who took care of directing the future film (Michael Blake.com 1).
The novel, published in 1988, was produced two years later, in 1990 as the film.
The film was highly criticized for its naïvety, historical inaccuracies (for example it was mainly big in numbers and therefore strong Comanches as the aggressors and not vice versa) and because of its similarity with the film A Man Called Horse by Elliot
Silverstein. Despite this, almost three-hour long film won 7 Academy Awards out of 12 nominations on the 63rd Academy Awards Ceremony during the evening of 25th March
1991 – an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay,
Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Original Score
(Oscars.org 1).
Narration
Basically, the whole film dangles around the main character, Lieutenant Dunbar.
The film Dances with Wolves uses the first-person narrator - that‟s why it is Dunbar‟s voice saying the voice-over, it is his view, spectator is few times offered to see, and it is him who appears in almost all scenes of the film. Michael Blake, the author of the original novel and also the scriptwriter of the film, explained himself: “When I‟m writing a script, I prefer to write in a linear way from the main character‟s point of view.
I do some cross-cutting from time to time, but basically I just try to tell the story” (Syd
Field.com 1).
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A. voice-over – in films, the use of this type of commentary is always just sporadic
and cannot provide the explanation of the events for the duration of the whole film
and is therefore reduced to only couple of occasions. In case of Dances with
Wolves, the voice-over is provided by the main character, Lieutenant Dunbar and
most of the time it provides the journal-like commentaries and can suggest the
passing of time or a change of location. The occasions of voice-over in the film are
listed below:
a. 00:11:30 – Dunbar on his way to Fort Hays from the battle-field; indicates
some time passed during which he healed
b. 00:19:55 – talking about Timmons
c. 00:28:20 – after Timmons‟s departure, talking about the state of the post
d. 00:36:30 - thinking about the reasons why the post is abandoned and the
mention of wolf – indicates the passage of time
e. 00:40:55 – about the first contact with Indians and again after about two
days because of no response from them
f. 00:49:55 – about waiting and his plan on visiting Indian camp
g. 01:01:04 – describing Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird
h. 01:08:30 – talking about Two Socks and Indians
i. 01:16:30 – about the Fort Sedgewick and the progress in conversation with
Indians
j. 01:20:30 – about the camp trailing buffaloes – indicates change of location
k. 01:24:00 – about devastation left after white hunters and his thoughts on
sleeping in the camp among Indians
l. 01:40:50 – after three days of hunting + him already missing his new
friends – indicates the passing time
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m. 01:44:20 – about his life in the camp and the upcoming war party against
Pawnees; again an indication of the passing time
n. 02:10:30 – feelings after the battle against Pawnees
o. 02:17:20 – thoughts about the marriage
p. 02:47:20 – thoughts about posing the threat while staying in the camp
B. Dances With Wolves‟ near omnipresence – there are only very few moments when
spectator has the access to the information which is denied to the main character:
a. 00:17:00 – the suicide of Major Fambrough
b. 00:32:05 – Pawnees ambushing Timmons
c. 00:42:15 – Indian council about Dunbar
d. 01:03:04 – discussion of Kicking Bird and Stands With A Fist
e. 02:13:30 – conversation of Kicking Bird and his wife about Stands With A
Fist
f. 02:37:10 - Dunbar‟s Indian friends hiding behind the hill
g. 02:54:15 – the late arrival of army at the place of winter Indian camp
C. subjective camera work – there are even fewer occasions when the point of view of
Lieutenant Dunbar are shown. However, these scenes provide the spectator with the
opportunity to identify with the main character and to imagine and feel his inner
self:
a. 00:01:01 – at the medical tent observing the conversation of two doctors
about amputating his foot
b. 00:07:22 – when riding Cisco towards Confederate positions
c. 00:23:30 – the view of abandoned Fort Sedgewick
D. composition of screen space – screen space is used very specifically in Dances with
Wolves. Quite characteristic is the use of long panoramatic shots and, once again,
18
quite long shots of Dunbar‟s head, sometimes with his upper body, from down
below.
Comic subplots
The comic scenes in the film, because of their nature, almost do not fit into this specific film and the genre of westerns in general. First of all, the scenes which will be mentioned in this section do not appear in the novel. Thus it is sure that they were created specifically for the film to entertain spectators.
The first one is the scene right after the first attempt to steal Cisco failed. Three young boys (Horn Bull‟s son, the one called Otter and the unnamed third one) have a rather harsh argument because of their expectations resulting from their mission back at home (00:45:40):
„What happened? What happened?‟
„I do not know, my arm is probably injured.‟
„You should have not fallen from the horse. We are going to be in
troubles.‟
„It was your idea!‟
„My idea was taking the horse, not falling from him.‟
„Otter is hurt.‟
„What is happening?‟
„What are you looking at? I am hurt!‟
„And what about me when my dad finds out? My back will feel his bow.‟
In this demonstration the comicality is accomplished by the heated argument coming from the fear of the possible punishment for their failed quest of stealing the horse from the god (Lieutenant Dunbar).
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The second example is based on the scene of Lieutenant Dunbar trying to mimic a buffalo to Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird during their first visit to Fort Sedgewick
(00:59:50). Lieutenant in his effort to learn something about buffaloes tries to mimic one, causing Wind In His Hair to think that he has gone crazy. If it were not for Kicking
Bird, the friendship between Indians and Lieutenant Dunbar would end earlier than it had at least an opportunity to begin.
Visual representation of suicide
There is a huge contrast between representation of two suicides depicted in the film (or rather one actual suicide and one attempted suicide). First of all, neither of them is actually showed – spectator can watch events before the actual suicide, the one of
Major Fambrough, and in comparison he can see consequences resulted from the attempted suicide of Stands With A Fist.
First of all, it needs to be mentioned that Major Fambrough suffered from a mental disorder causing him to think that he is a king and all people around are his servants. Timmons was supposed to be peasant and Lieutenant Dunbar was sent on a mission as an Indian killer and actually as Dunbar leaves his office, he is called Sir
Knight. Spectator can see him as clearly not well at all and also clearly not suitable for his duty. One can only guess how it is possible that he has not already been replaced by somebody mentally healthy.
The reason why he points a gun to his head is unknown to the spectator. All he/she can see is the Fambrough‟s statement, “King is dead. Long live the king!”
(00:16:45), then he points the handgun to his head and the next shot depicts Timmons with Lieutenant Dunbar sitting on the wagon and the actual gunshot can be heard from distance.
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The approach chosen by film-makers to depict his death makes the last take of him showing Major Fambrough holding the gun aimed at his temple saying “Long live the king!” Because his suicide attempt was successful, spectators will obviously never see him after that.
In comparison, there is an attempted suicide of Stands With A Fist. Contrary to
Major Fambrough, she is completely sane. Her motifs are clearly explained later in the film - her suicide was supposed to serve as a symbol of her love of her dead husband without whom she could not even imagine the life.
Although it was not mentioned in the film, but in fact, that was her second attempt on her life, so one can guess she was quite determined to end her life. She approached her self-destruction the oldest way - she chose to cut the veins on her hands.
Unlucky for her (one could say, on the contrary, the very opposite), she did not manage to cut both of her hands when Lieutenant Dunbar approached her and therefore saved her life.
There is a huge difference in portraying the attempted suicide of Stands With A
Fist and the actual one by Major Fambrough. While Fambrough says his farewell to the film by committing suicide, Stands With A Fist enters it. This quite unusual entrance shows the possibility of a new beginning, not only for her, but also symbolically for
Lieutenant Dunbar.
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The Comparison of Both Media
When the two media, such as the novel and the film, are compared, there come inevitable problems connected to the differences between these two media. As George
Bluestone said, “between the percept of the visual image and the concept of the mental image lies the root difference between the two media” (qtd. in McFarlane 4).
Cardinal Functions
In order to properly compare both versions of the narratives, both film and novel, it is useful to create a list of major cardinal functions analyzing them closely. The list of cardinal functions of the novel is bellow, accompanied by the comparison with the cardinal functions of the film. Putting them next to each other clearly shows whether the cardinal functions correspond, are altered in some way or completely missing. The list of cardinal functions which map the essential moments of the storyline:
Novel Film
1. Captain Cargill deciding to abandon Fort Not in film.
Sedgewick post.
2. Major Fambrough‟s suicide after sending As for the novel.
Lieutenant Dunbar to Fort Sedgewick
resulting in no one knowing about Dunbar‟s
departure for the post.
3. Lieutenant Dunbar deciding to stay at As for the novel.
abandoned Fort Sedgewick.
4. Timmons attacked by a Pawnee band. As for the novel.
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5. Lieutenant not wanting to have his foot Depicted at the very
amputated resulting in his suicidal ride beginning.
towards and around Confederates‟ positions
and saving his leg by General Tipton‟s own
physician (retrospective).
6. Cisco running away from his young As for the novel.
Comanche kidnappers back to the post.
7. An attempt of a small Comanche party lead As for the novel.
by Wind In His Hair to steal Cisco
unsuccessful the same way as the previous
one.
8. Stands With A Fist‟s attempt on her own life As for the novel.
and Lieutenant Dunbar taking her back to
the Comanche camp.
9. A delegation consisting of Wind In His Hair As for the novel.
and Kicking Bird sent to Fort Sedgewick.
10. Kicking Bird‟s decision for Stands With A As for the novel.
Fist to try to communicate with Loo Ten
Nant.
11. The attack on Christine‟s family, her As for the novel.
survival and at last her acceptance by
Comanche (retrospective).
12. The arrival of the buffaloes and the As for the novel.
lieutenant informing Indians.
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13. The hunt and eating the liver “ceremony”. As for the novel, but with
the addition of the scene of
Dunbar saving Indian boy.
14. The change of Lieutenant Dunbar‟s status As for the novel.
among the Comanche band.
15. An exchange trade (a hat for a knife and a As for the novel.
tunic for a pipe-bone breastplate).
16. Creation of the name for Lieutenant Dunbar As for the novel.
– Dances With Wolves.
17. Building the tipi for Dances With Wolves. Only mentioned in voice-
over.
18. Long talks between Dances With Wolves, Only mentioned in voice-
Stands With A Fist and Kicking Bird. over.
19. The stroll in the canyon and the cave. Not in film.
20. Dances With Wolves‟ demand to go on the As for the novel.
warpath against the Pawnee with other
Comanche refused.
21. The talk about lieutenant‟s confusion on Not in film.
being a white in the Indian camp.
22. Dances With Wolves‟ and Stands With A As for the novel.
Fist‟s secret love.
23. Kiowa‟s message about a big Pawnee war As for the novel, but altered
party. – hunters spotted them.
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24. Dances With Wolves‟ offer to ride for rifles As for the novel.
to Fort Sedgewick for Comanches to defend
themselves.
25. Dances With Wolves‟ plan of defense and As for the novel, but only
the battle. following the plan, not
creating it.
26. The wedding. As for the novel.
27. The desecration of the sacred grove. Not in film.
28. The discussion about the never-ending flow As for the novel.
of white men and the helmet of Spanish
conquistador.
29. The decision to move the village to the As for the novel.
winter camp.
30. The ride for his old journal, the death of As for the novel, but Two
Cisco and Two Socks and the capture of Socks dying only during the
Dances With Wolves. deportation of Dances With
Wolves to Fort Hays.
31. Dances With Wolves rescued by Kicking As for the novel, but Stone
Bird, Wind In His Hair, Stone Calf and other Calf is already dead, so he is
Comanches. not participating.
32. The plans of the departure of Dances With As for the novel, but with
Wolves and Stands With A Fist from the actual departure which was
Comanche band. not shown in the novel.
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Comments on Cardinal Functions
One has to keep in mind the fact that the selection of what will be on this list of
“major cardinal functions” is quite subjective and could considerably differ if someone else would create it. On the other hand, all of these “narrative hinge-points” create the risky moments in the story and without them (or in case of their alteration), the following events could have completely dissimilar outcome.
Generally, the most of the major cardinal functions of the novel correspond with those of the film, thus the main events of the story are preserved. However, the events may not necessarily appear in the same order in the film as they were appeared in the novel; the events, or their doers can be slightly changed and finally the events were also either omitted or added.
When talking about the changes created during the filming process, probably the biggest change is concerned with tribe to which Indians of the novel/film belong to.
While in the novel they were Comanches, they called themselves Lakota people in the film. The reader may think that this is not a big issue, but considering the fact that
Comanches lived on plains spreading through various parts of New Mexico, Colorado,
Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and Lakota people occupied land in both North and South
Dakota, these two completely different groups of indigenous people lived on the very opposite sides of the present-day United States. Michael Blake on the issue of changing the tribe of the main Indian group in the story:
I had first written the novel to be about the Comanches, but because of
the locale, and other logistical problems, I changed it to be about the
Sioux. But no matter what the differences between the Sioux and the
Comanche, the spirituality of it is pretty much the same. And that‟s what
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I was writing about – the spiritual aspects of the way these people lived.
(Syd Field.com 1)
Another change involves the 23rd cardinal function of the novel. In the novel, it was a group of chased Kiowas that warned Comanches against possible Pawnee ambush, while in the film it was hunters who spotted them. Soon after this scene,
Dances With Wolves is the main character in planning the defense against Pawnees.
This, however, is not the case in the novel, where the viewer watches the smooth transition from the scene of picking up of the rifles to the scene of Pawnees prowling to the borders of the Comanche camp, followed by the battle scene.
Next important scene is concerned with the death of Two Socks. In the novel, his dead body is just brought to Fort Sedgewick on a wagon, while the film creates the wholly new scene dealing with this topic instead.1
The only important events being completely left out are the scenes concerning
Captain Cargill abandoning Fort Sedgewick and later receiving the information about the suicide of Major Fambrough. In fact, the character of Captain Cargill is completely omitted in the film. Why Costner decided to leave him out of the film narrative is difficult to answer because of the fact that these scenes explained why was Fort
Sedgewick abandoned at the time of Lieutenant Dunbar‟s arrival there.
Of course there are some other scenes omitted concerning Dances With Wolves‟ stroll to the canyon with the cave and the desecration of the sacred grove (the 19th and
27th cardinal function), but one could consider them as redundant when the whole story needs to be retold, because the antipathy against white men is already established.
The last scenes that are left out are the talking scenes – the 18th cardinal function which was concerned with the long talks where the gradual understanding between the
1 more detailed information in the section dealing with the added scenes 27 two sides took place and the 21st cardinal function which deals with the psychological state of the main character.
On the other hand, there were few scenes in the film that have no basis in the novel. Following the hunt on buffaloes, the scene of Dances With Wolves rescuing a young Indian boy threatened by the angry wounded buffalo bull was added. By adding this scene, Costner made the Dances With Wolves‟ status change among the Indians more understandable to the viewer who might have not read the novel prior to watching the film.
The second scene added to the film is the scene when Dances With Wolves is transported to Fort Hays from Fort Sedgewick and Two Socks appears. Soldiers who are in charge of the transportation make a competition out of shooting the wolf. This scene, completely made up, serves as an even further warning against the white men.
No viewer is supposed to take their sides and Costner achieves this by adding the scene showing such a cruelty and viciousness expressed by the white soldiers.
The last scene added to the film is the very last scene depicting the Union army which was following Dances With Wolves, arriving at the winter Comanche camp only to find it abandoned and Dances With Wolves with Comanches disappearing without a trace, thus giving the story happy ending.
According to McFarlane, “Fidelity to the text is not measured merely by what is retained and how that is presented, but also by the extent and nature of inventions and departures from the original” (163).
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Temporal Duration
Many of the events in the film that could be called adventurous, dangerous and maybe more engaging, such as the battle with Pawnees and before that the buffalo hunt or the rescue mission, take considerable amount of time in comparison to the novel, where the same exact scenes took two to three pages at most. This is mostly due to the fact that the two media differ mainly in a sense, that literature creates the mental experience, while films create the visual one. It can be exhausting for the reader to read through the long, dense description of the big hunt or the battle among the tents where one cannot clearly see anything. But providing the same scenes on the silver screen will certainly make the viewer interested enough for fairly long time.
One could call this feature manipulation with the temporal duration. Putting much bigger focus on the specific scenes (in this case the scenes of the battle, hunt and the rescue mission) signifies concentrating on these short, relatively cohesive time spans either because of their importance in the storyline or their visual attractiveness.
Dialogues
While in the novel, the Comanche – the Indian language is mentioned to be used, the reader will never see a single word written in it. On the other hand, Lakota
(the language spoken in the film outside English) fulfills around at least the third of all dialogues of the film. This can be seen as the definite positive for the film, thus giving it the touch of authenticity. Of course, the medium is a big obstacle in this case, but the effort put to find out actors either speaking or forcing them to learn to speak Lakota definitely bore its fruit.
The second issue that is worth mentioning in this part is the interesting shift in the character saying the same replica in the novel and in the film. In the novel, Stands
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With A Fist says to Dances With Wolves shortly after they declare love to each other for the very first time, “I had a good life with him (former husband). He went away from me because you were coming. That is how I see it now” (254). In the film, on the other hand, it is Wind In His Hair who is saying the same words, word by word:
You know, that man she wept for, was my best friend. He was a good
man. It was difficult for me to like you. I am not a thinker, Kicking Bird
is. I always feel angry at first. I didn‟t know the answers for my
questions. Now I think that he had to go, because you were coming. That
is how I see it. (02:15:45)
The same sentences are used in both novel and film, and yet, the characters saying them are different. In the novel, the issue of Stands With A Fist‟s former husband is well studied and analyzed between the two lovers, so it is only natural, that it is Stands With
A Fist who says these lines. On the other hand, there is much less space for psychological analysis, discussions about characters‟ psychological states or arguments which could present the inner world of characters in the film, so the issue of her former husband is never really brought up to light. Therefore a short cut is made and the dialogue, obviously important to the film-makers is given to Wind In His Hair.
Character Functions
Although the character of a young Indian boy is in the novel mentioned, it plays no significant role. He, Horn Bull‟s son, tries to steal Cisco with his two friends – Frog
Back and Smiles A Lot. He is not even worthy of being named, because of the fact that he will never appear in the novel again.
On the other hand, in the film, the spectator can observe significant re-attribution of this character, his attributes and motivations. Though he is still not given a name, he
30 plays much more significant role. After the already mentioned, unsuccessful attempt to steal Cisco, it is him with his two friends (one is now called Otter) who are supposed to watch over the horse herd and do not notice arriving Dunbar (in the novel, it is Smiles A
Lot alone who makes this mistake), later it is again him who is in danger of death by the wounded, angry buffalo, but Dances With Wolves saves him and he appears also at the end of the film when he joins the rescue mission and kills one of the guards. His last appearance depicts him saying farewell to leaving Dances With Wolves and giving him the old journal which he found in the river during the rescue.
The character of Horn Bull‟s son is given much more character development in the novel. At first, the viewer can see him as a quite unlucky boy who is hungry for success. Nevertheless, over the time he shows the depth of his character as he grows very fond of Dances With Wolves (and vice versa), especially during the scene of saying their farewells. What is more important, he also takes part in all the key events happening in the Comanche camp, having more and more responsibilities. However, all of this happens only in the film.
Novel versus Film
Although the film structure copies the narrative of the novel very closely, spectator will never have the same experience from watching the film as from reading the book and vice versa. This applies to all film adaptations and their original pieces of literature.
On the other hand, this particular example differs from others due to the fact that the author, Michael Blake, knew that his work is going to be adapted into the film and he even took part in the process of creating the film, so Dances with Wolves cannot be taken as the general example for all film adaptations.
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One of the biggest problems is the matter of depiction of the psychological state of characters and the possible changes of their nature in the film. On one hand, the film- maker can put more voice-overs talking about the current state of the character or more dialogues discussing the matter could be planted into the storyline, but these solutions will never be able to fully comprehend the experience, the reader would have while reading the novel. On the other hand, this does not mean, that the character‟s psychological transition and growth (in this case the one of Lieutenant Dunbar) is not captured. This was done mainly by using voice-over serving as a window into Dunbar‟s mind.
The extensive use of the voice-over substituting not only Dunbar‟s journal entries, but also the omniscient narrator used in the novel who tells the reader everything there is to know about the changes in Dunbar‟s psychological state, his emotions and his thoughts on every aspect of the world surrounding him.
Despite the problems with capturing character‟s thoughts, feelings and sensations, film as a visual medium excel in depicting various settings and scenes on which the novel would need pages of description, still not capturing the topic vividly enough.
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Conclusion
The aim of this thesis was the comparison of the Michael Blake‟s novel, Dances with Wolves, and its film adaptation by Kevin Costner. Firstly, I provided the theoretical background of the adaptation theory based mainly on the works of Brian McFarlane and the one of David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. This chapter offered the explanation of theoretical terms necessary to understanding adaptation theory. Then I presented the narratives of both novel and film, focusing on issues, such as the narration patterns, contrasts and parallels, character developments, comic subplots, etc.
Although the protest against fidelity as the single criterion of the adaptation accomplishment and success is expressed at the very beginning of the thesis, the issue of fidelity is still important part of the adaptation process. Because of that, the list of cardinal functions of the novel is provided with the comparison with the film right away. After that, the issues of manipulating with temporal duration, dialogues and character functions are discussed followed by the final confrontation of the two media.
The story depicts an escape of Lieutenant John J. Dunbar from the civilized world to the American frontier during its very last years of existence in a search for his true self. Furthermore, it provided a voice to Native Americans and despite the various mistakes made in the story, it enabled them to identify with the characters and the cultures portrayed. Clichés and stereotypes rooted deep down not only in the film culture, but also inside spectators were if not destroyed, than at least questioned and that is more than anyone could have asked for.
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Works Cited
Primary Sources:
Blake, Michael. Dances with Wolves. New York: Fawcett Books, 1988. Print.
Costner, Kevin, dir. Dances with Wolves. Perf. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell,
Graham Greene and Rodney A. Grant. Orion Pictures: 1990.Film.
Secondary Sources:
“1991: 63rd Academy Award Winners.” The Oscars. Oscars.org. 2000-2015. Web. 26
March 2015.
Andrew, James Dudley. Concepts in Film Theory. New York: Oxford University Press,
1984. Print.
Barthes, Roland. “An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative.” New
Literary History 6.2 (1975): 246-250. JSTOR. Web. 20 February 2015.
Beja, Morris. Film and Literature. New York: Longman, 1979. Print.
Blake, Marianne. “Dances With Wolves.” Michael Blake. Michael Blake.com. 2011-
2015. Web. 13 March 2015. Wolves.html>. Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison: The University of Wisconsin. Press, 1985. Print. Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. New York: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. Print. Braudy, Leo, and Marshall Cohen. Film Theory & Criticism: introductory readings. Seventh Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1978. Print. Conrad, Joseph. The Nigger of the Narcissus. London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1945. Print. 34 “Dances with Wolves.” The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. 1990-2015. Web. 15 February 2015. sr_4>. Field, Syd. “Michael Blake on Adaptation: Dances With Wolves.” Syd Field: Academy of Screenwriting. Syd Field.com. 2013-2015. Web. 3 April 2015. wolves/>. Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2006. Print. McFarlane, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Print. Naremore, James, ed. Film Adaptation. London: The Athlone. Press, 2000. Print. Stam, Robert, and Alessandra Raengo. A Companion to Literature and Film. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Print. 35 English Résumé The aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide a close look on Michael Blake‟s novel Dances with Wolves and its film adaptation with the main focus on narrative techniques and strategies. The thesis highlights the similarities and differences between the two works and links them with the film adaptation terms and theories. The second chapter of the thesis presents the theoretical background and provides reader with the basic adaptation techniques and also with the terms used in film adaptation discussions and academic works. The third chapter concerned with the narrative of the novel, will provide the close look on the book with the focus on story and narrative techniques. The fourth chapter will bring the reader the same analysis, but for the film. The last part, the comparison of these two works, will provide the link between the two primary sources of this thesis – the novel and the film, among other means also by providing the list of cardinal functions of the novel that move the story forward, and comparing it with the film. In the conclusion, the thesis is summarized and it is pointed out that the adaptation being well-handled is the result of the amount of determination and effort put by Costner in the film, as well as the fact that the author of the original novel, Michael Blake, was involved in the production of the film too. 36 Czech Résumé Cílem této bakalářské práce je poskytnout bližší pohled na román Michaela Blakea, Tanec s vlky, a jeho filmové adaptace. Práce se zaměřuje na narativní techniky a strategie, upozorňuje na podobnosti a rozdíly mezi těmito dvěma pracemi a přepojuje je s termíny a teoriemi filmové adaptace. Druhá kapitola práce představuje teoretické zázemí, které poskytuje čtenáři základní techniky filmové adaptace a také znalost pojmů používaných v diskuzích a akademických pracích zabývajících se filmovými adaptacemi. Třetí kapitola zabývající se vyprávěním románu, poskytne bližší pohled na knihu s důrazem na příběh a narativní postupy. Čtvrtá kapitola přináší čtenáři stejnou analýzu, tentokrát ale pro film. V poslední části srovnávám poznatky z předešlých dvou kapitol a hledám spojení mezi originálním dílem a jeho filmovou adaptací mimo jiného i tím, že u obou děl předestřu seznam kardinálních funkcí, které posunují příběh dopředu. V závěrečném shrnutí mé práce zdůrazňuji fakt, že tak dobré zvládnutí filmové adaptace, je výsledkem množství odhodlání a úsilí vložené Costnerem do filmu, stejně tak jako skutečnost, že na výrobě filmu se podílel také Michael Blake, autor původního románu. 37