Publication: “The woods are burning, boys, you understand?” Exploring directorial choices in the adaptation of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to Film
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Date
2024-09-10
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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Universidad de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Abstract
This TFG aims to critically analyse how Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, an iconic work of the modern American theater, is adapted to film in countries outside the United States. In order to do this, three screen adaptations are examined: the 1963 German TV film Der Tod eines Handlungsreisenden, directed by Michael Kehlmann; the 1979 Swedish TV film En Handelsresandes död, directed by Bo Widerberg; and the 2016 Iranian-French feature film The Salesman, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. While there is a certain number of works dealing with the American film adaptations of Miller’s theatrical text, very few academic research has been conducted so far on film adaptations from outside the Anglo-American world. Moving away from a narrow comparative analysis between filmic adaptations and source playtext, which solely judges fidelity or infidelity to the “original” and value adaptations as minor artistic products, the aim of this essay is to examine these directors’ choices by focusing on the main narrative, thematic and aesthetic features of their film adaptations. The analysis is carried out within the framework of adaptation studies, resorting to the pioneering and influential works of Robert Stam (2000, 2005) and Linda Hutcheon (2013). The findings of the analysis reveal that in the adaptation of Miller’s theatrical text each film director proceeds through distinct creative decisions, reworking the story according to a process that involves both reproduction and transformation, while also incorporating key elements of realism and/or expressionism in the play. Making use of distinct resources and film techniques, these film-makers’ creative choices, while also shaped by specific contexts, make each one of these adaptations a unique artistic statement of Death of a Salesman.
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Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller, film adaptation, adaptation studies, contemporary American theatre
Citation
Marques Simão, Lurdes Maria, 2024. “The woods are burning, boys, you understand?” Exploring directorial choices in the adaptation of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to Film, Trabajo Fin de Grado. Universidad de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Center
Facultad de Filología
Department
Filologías Extranjeras y sus Lingüísticas