The present master thesis, ‘Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men – Narative Elements
in Film and Novel’, focuses on the comparision of the narrative in the adapted film No
Country for Old Men and the literary narrative in the source text by Cormac McCarthy
bearing the same tite. Its purpose is to demonstrate various distinctions and similarities of
both texts and to prove that the film significantly differs in inventiveness and the style of
rendering the story. The theoretical part explains the concepts of narrative, time and space,
Bakhtin’ s chronotope, narrative perspective, focalization and the western genre that are
essential elements in the analysis of the relationship between the film and the literary fiction
narratives. The results confirm the hypothesis of the thesis and demonstrate that the film
narrative significantly differs in inventiveness and style the story is rendered, which also plays
an important role in the fates of the characters in both stories.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 Literature review
1.1 Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers
1.2 Screen adaptation
1.3 Narratalogy: overview
1.4 Relationship of film and literary narrative
1.5 Time–space narrative
1.6 The western genre in text and film
2 Film adaptation – re-imagining a literary narrative
2.1 Intertextuality
2.2 Fidelity of film adaptation
3 Literary and film narrative as a macrostructure
3.1 Narration and a narrator
3.1.1 Narration in literature
3.1.2 Narration in film
4 Narrative perspective
4.1 Focalization in literary narrative
4.2 Focalization in film narrative
5 Time-space narrative in literature and cinema
5.1 Visual regime and narrative rhythm
5.2 On the frontiers of mise-en-scène
6 History and conventions of the western genre
6.1 Iconographic elements of the western
6.2 Gender roles in the western genre
7 Adaptation of the film No Country for Old Men
7.1 Transfer of the intertexts
7.2 Fidelity to the source text
8 Narrative construction in No Country for Old Men – the novel and the film
8.1 The narration and the narrators
8.2 The narrative perspective and the characters
9 The instance of focalization in No Country for Old Men
9.1 Focalization in the novel
9.2 Focalization in the film
10 Narrative time and space in No Country for Old Men
10.1 Mise-en-scène at work
10.2 Visual regime in the film
11 Genre and gender in No Country for Old Men
11.1 The iconographic elements of the genre
11.2 Gender roles in the genre
Research Objective and Scope
This master's thesis explores the narrative distinctions and similarities between Cormac McCarthy’s novel "No Country for Old Men" and its film adaptation by the Coen brothers. The research investigates how literary narrative elements, such as structure, perspective, and time-space dynamics, are transposed into visual cinematic language, arguing that the film significantly departs from the novel in style and inventiveness.
- Comparison of literary vs. cinematic narrative mechanisms
- Analysis of focalization and narrative perspective
- Examination of the Western genre conventions and their subversion
- The role of gender roles and intertextuality in both media
Excerpt from the Book
Adaptation of the film No Country for Old Men
Before starting the analysis, one should remember Linda Costanzo’s (2006) statement that basically all filmmakers make omissions from the source text in the adapted feature films to make them proper in the length. The adapted film No Country for Old Men is no exception in terms of omissions from its source text. The first and the foremost striking difference of the novel and the film is the omission of Sheriff Bell’s philosophical monologues that can be attributed to Linda Costanzo’s argument that the film necessitates omissions due to the limitations of the film medium. Thus, a reluctance to use several voice-overs in the film that would make the film too long and philosophical may have necessitated the omission of many Sheriff Bell’s monologues. Bell’s voice-over in the film is composed of different lines of the italicized first-person sections in the novel, which makes the voice-over significantly different from the monologue in the beginning of the novel.
Another aspect that has to be observed in terms of adaptation is the transfer of the symbols in the film, which Andrew Dudley (2001) suggests as a valid criterion for evaluation of a film adaptation. Dudley has argued that though a literary work and a film have absolutely different sets of signs that belong to different systems, they still use similar symbolic codes. His assertion makes possible a comparison of the symbols in the novel and the film No Country for Old Men.
Chapter Summary
Introduction: Outlines the scope of comparing McCarthy’s novel with the Coen brothers’ film, setting the goal to analyze narrative mechanisms, adaptation fidelity, and genre elements.
1 Literature review: Establishes the theoretical framework by exploring narrative theory, adaptation studies, and the specific context of McCarthy’s work and the Western genre.
2 Film adaptation – re-imagining a literary narrative: Investigates the history and critical debates surrounding film adaptation, focusing on fidelity and the concept of intertextuality.
3 Literary and film narrative as a macrostructure: Defines the core concepts of narrative, narration, and the role of the narrator in both literary and cinematic forms.
4 Narrative perspective: Examines focalization as a central category, differentiating between internal and external perspectives in literature and film.
5 Time-space narrative in literature and cinema: Discusses the Bakhtinian concept of the chronotope and its application to narrative time, space, and the visual regime in film.
6 History and conventions of the western genre: Analyzes the evolution of the Western genre, its classical markers, and the shift towards contemporary or neo-Western iterations.
7 Adaptation of the film No Country for Old Men: Performs a practical analysis of symbols and intertextual elements transferred from the source text to the film.
8 Narrative construction in No Country for Old Men – the novel and the film: Compares the structural differences in how the narrative is constructed, focusing on the character of Sheriff Bell as a spiritual pilgrim.
9 The instance of focalization in No Country for Old Men: Provides a comparative analysis of how focalization is manifested in specific scenes of the novel versus the film.
10 Narrative time and space in No Country for Old Men: Explores the spatio-temporal construction, the role of mise-en-scène, and the visual regime within both narratives.
11 Genre and gender in No Country for Old Men: Discusses the subversion of gender roles and the deconstruction of traditional Western genre expectations in both works.
Keywords
Narrative, Film Adaptation, Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, Coen brothers, Narratology, Focalization, Bakhtin's Chronotope, Western genre, Intertextuality, Mise-en-scène, Fidelity, Narrative perspective, Gender roles, Symbolism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary subject of this master's thesis?
The thesis focuses on the comparative narrative analysis of Cormac McCarthy's novel "No Country for Old Men" and the 2007 film adaptation directed by the Coen brothers.
What are the central thematic areas discussed?
The work covers narrative structure, adaptation fidelity, the Western genre, focalization techniques, and the construction of space and time (chronotopes) in both film and literature.
What is the main research question?
The research asks what the principal similarities and distinctions are between the narratives in the novel and the film version of "No Country for Old Men."
Which scientific methods are applied?
The author uses methods from text and film narratology, alongside comprehensive textual and cultural analysis to interpret post-modern narrative forms and draw comparative conclusions.
What is covered in the main body of the work?
The main part of the thesis includes a literature review of adaptation theory, a detailed examination of narrative construction, an analysis of character perspective (focalization), and a study of genre/gender conventions within the context of the Western.
How can the research be summarized by its keywords?
The research is characterized by key concepts such as narratology, film adaptation, intertextuality, the Western genre, and specific focalization/chronotope theories.
How does the film's narrative structure differ from the novel?
The study argues that the film utilizes a non-linear progression with a disrupted equilibrium, whereas the novel adheres to a more linear and systematic narrative structure.
How does the representation of gender roles vary between the two media?
While both media show a submissive role for the character Carla Jean initially, the film adaptation shapes her as a more independent and self-assured character in her final confrontation compared to the novel.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Inese Romanova (Autor:in), 2013, Cormac McCarthy’s "No Country for Old Men": Narrative Elements in Film and Novel, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/230737
