Caption: 2001 – A Space Oddysey
Griffith has claimed that many techniques from his films were lifted from novels by Charles Dickens. Griffith was the founder of a film editing technique. Dickens was one of the great 18th century literary writers who creatively recorded the social and political turmoil in England. Griffith is connected with Dickens through literature and he extends to the film.
Dickens has produced 15 novels. The rest of the short stories are inspired by the 18th-century social environment in England. Before the presence of Griffith, the film was not edited. Griffith founded a dramatic tempo through cut and punctuation techniques. Dickens’s novels have sparked an idea of Griffith’s editing of fade, dissolve, parallel and cross cutting techniques. He said it is inspired after reviewing the narrative style of Dickens’s novels.
Among the Dicken’s novels being the social reference include Oliver Twist (1837) inspired by the amendment of the 1834 Poverty Act in England, Tales of Two Cities (1859) concerning the French Revolution and the Hard Times (1854) on social reform.
Griffith’s argument reinforced by the essay, Dickens, Griffith and Today’s Film. It turns out that the film never grabs the audience reading the novel. Even the literary sharpening of the mind works as a mental preparation to “read” the imagery in the film.
Literature is far ahead of people to discover films. The first film was produced in 1895 by Lumiere’s brothers in Paris. The film is relatively new. Perhaps because the film was new until now strongly supported by the literature. The film never stands alone without any element of literature.
A country with high art civilizations like the West also has a high appreciation for literary works. This actually contributes to the production of the high-quality film. Literature and films need each other.
But in our society, literature looks very isolated from the world of films. The film seems to stand alone without seeing the tradition of Western films supported by the literary.
Unfortunately. here we see literature rather as small and separate steps. Some of us see literature cannot guarantee the future for job opportunities in the private sector. It is true that studying literature is not everybody can be a literary person. In the West, they even learn literature, read the great works that are high spirited not to be a literary.
In the West such as science fiction between literary genres is growing rapidly in line with current technology. Look at how Arthur C. Clarke’s works are admiring the futuristic concept and the greatness of civilization and the advancement of high technology. Clarke’s novels are looking at the future technology that has not been visually visual.
One of Clarke’s most important novel, 2001 – The Space Oddysey was filmed by Stanley Kubrick. This film has become an important indicator of science fiction films exploring the celestial universe.
Kubrick could not create tremendous visual effects in 2001 – The Space Oddysey if he did not read Clarke’s novel. Kubrick’s greatness as a director is supported by his high literary tradition of appreciation. This means, without Clarke, 2001 film – The Space Oddysey might not be as great as it produced.
The term cyberspace is now very synonymous with the world of information technology. The term was born from the science fiction novel Neuromancer by William Gibson. Perhaps without Neuromancers, the term of cyberspace may not even exist. Without the science fiction work, perhaps the film director George Lucas would not get inspiration to explore space for Star Wars.
Local literature either classic or contemporary has the potential to contribute to local films. But many of film directors and producers are not interested in literature nor would they read literary works as they are more interested in playing with computer generated image (CGI).
There are Malay literatures, for example, Malim Deman, Malim Dewa, Hikayat Indera Putera, Awang Sulung Merah Muda and more that have the potential to be adapted into a film. These classical Malay stories are very adventurous, its sketchy universe is as wide as the sky. Don’t wait for the Hollywood to pick it up and turn it into the film. By then, it will become a Hollywood film and not a Malay film.
Author / Editor
