Introduction
The film adaptation of a book can be viewed as a sociocultural phenomenon that heavily influences the formation of reading fashion in any culture. This is especially true today, when visual information prevails in society, partly reducing the reading activity of the population. Therefore, it is important to find the points of interaction between the text and its visualized adaptations, grasping the opportunity to transform the viewer into a reader.
A proper respectful for the original film adaptation may work as an incentive to refer to literary sources. Moreover, in the art of cinematic adaptation lies a general aesthetic phenomenon, namely: the translation of one artistic system into the language of another. In this case, the film adaptation, in the narrow sense of the word, turns out to be a special case of general aesthetic practice. The film, surpassing the book by the force of influence on the viewer, is inferior to it in the aspect of the wealth of associations and meanings, including the depiction of different time layers. In this essay, film adaptation is viewed as a problematic field that allows one to study such “in-demand” modern cinematic concepts as narrative, intertextuality, and intercultural interaction.
Overall View on the Possibilities of Cinematic Adaptation
Translation from one artistic language into another is justified only in those cases when by means of one language, one finds what one does not see or understand by means of another. Otherwise, this work would be meaningless, as it would simply repeat itself in two different yet similar forms. Indeed, in cinema, unlike theater, the fate of the printed text is inextricably linked with the interpretation that the director will give it in the only product that will be released on screen.
For a book like Outlaw Platoon, it remains imperative to provide an objective, unbiased recollection of the narrative; however, there is still room for interpretation. Elseewi (2019) argues that “filmmaking is the site through which this nation composes itself and explores the ambivalence at the heart of American national subjectivity” (p. 195). The possibilities of a cinematic adaptation of the book present a variety of challenges to explore and overcome.
Referring to facts and documents provided by the book and translating them into a fitting artistic image is an extremely complex process. Thus, the screenwriter tasked with writing the script must also have the qualities of a documentary filmmaker. The challenge lies in not simply retelling the brutal and gruesome events of the war but in finding a poetic expression for them. Basic visual and auditory images should be heavily influenced by American, Afghan, and Pakistani cultural and social backgrounds simultaneously. A proper cinematic translation of the book would also require constant comparison of the plot lines and detection of intertextual connections between the book and the script.
By disclosing how the texts interact with each other, the screenwriter might reveal a fundamentally new meaning, thus providing a polyphony of depths to an already deep work of Parnell and Bruning. This would help to consider how one topic is present and disclosed in another text, and, in addition, it would contribute to the analysis of different points of view, giving way to a unique cinematic perspective. However, there would also be parts of the book that would not surrender to a cinematic adaptation – still, they would need to have some sort of representation, too.
Parts That Are Possible for Translation
Among the parts that would be quite possible to translate into a cinematic narrative are the most emotional ones – such as the situation with the wounded children, which takes place during the prologue. Modern dramaturgy has developed many different methods of playing with the viewers’ feelings, and certainly, bringing onto the screen emotionally loaded scenes would make the plot thicken with meaning. Parnell and Bruning already provide great visuals with their descriptions, thus making it easier to translate the book into a movie – they show, not tell. For example, Parnell and Bruning (2013) only disclose the girl’s injury close to the end of the scene, saying that “tendrils of torn, burnt flesh tapered below the other knee to a bleeding stump” (p. 17).
Following this approach, the scene of the platoon finding their guide, Abdul, dead as he went to protect his family from terrorists’ threats during the night, would, perhaps, make a good addition to the plot. Parnell and Bruning wrote the piece beautifully, claiming that “nothing can prepare you for seeing the corpse of a man you called friend, not even the death of a little girl in your arms” (p. 61).
Parts That Are Problematic for Translation
It is more mundane things that could bring difficulties during the cinematic translation. The day-to-day life of the soldiers, while certainly revealing more of their characters and motivations, is quite hard to accommodate in a two-hour movie. Certainly, there is a scene that would fit perfectly with the narrative, such as an homage to Star Wars made by the main character’s fellow Lieutenant Taylor or his mention of Halo. Such little details would brilliantly highlight the concept of life going on even in the middle of a war, as well as underline the emotional callousness that comes with fighting for too long.
However, it would be near impossible to fit into a movie each and every little small but meaningful aspect of the soldiers’ everyday life. The film Hurt Locker (2008) provides a good example of that approach – it incorporates small details into bigger pictures, making the characters and situations more fleshed out and alive. Still, as the book Outlaw Platoon is more than four hundred pages long, the focus would have to go to the bigger plot drivers.
Possible Challenges
To properly assess the challenges that a filmmaker might potentially experience during the cinematic adaptation, it is important to understand the sociocultural features of Outlaw Platoon. The story unfolds in the war-jarred, harsh lands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that leaves an imprint on the whole story. The crucial point is that the filmmaker would have not only to understand but actually implement the social and cultural features that constitute the Eastern world. War exacted an undeniably heavy toll on both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it must be shown through the lens of the narrative, the costumes, the music – every aspect of the movie.
Additionally, the fact that the main character is present in the country during the war and is immersed deeply in the conflict affects his view of events. This is also a challenge that would need to be considered with care – how to show the events both objectively and with an emotional connection while simultaneously avoiding presenting Afghans or Pakistanis as purely “evil.”
For example, Kilcullen, who wrote the book The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One, observes the Iraq war from two sides: as an American politician and as a strategist. As he consecutively explains the mistakes and failures the US forces made in previous years, he also firmly states that the invasion was, in the end, good for Iraq. Kilcullen (2009) says that “it is correct to say that we pulled the Iraqi society back from the brink of total collapse” (pp. 116-117). Nevertheless, after this bold statement, he delivers a heavy critique of the US military counterinsurgency work, pointing out every flaw in their approach that led to the developing of the accidental guerilla syndrome towards the Iraqi people. Thus, it would be important for Outlaw Platoon to adopt a similar approach, delivering more than one-sided exposition and perspective on the situation.
Conclusion
The modern level of art dictates the need for a holistic study of cinematography as an element of artistic culture in close relationship and mutual influence with other arts – primarily with literature. Considering the synthesis of arts in cinema as a sum of literary, theatrical, musical, and pictorial principles, a filmmaker must remember that the main property of this synthesis is to create a new quality. Within this quality, the synthesized arts have to change significantly, falling into the sphere of photographic reality.
Specifically, the art of film adaptation remains an area of intersection of various communication systems, as well as the author’s, reader’s, and audience’s perspectives. It presents a particular interest precisely as a complex of heterogeneous texts, the different media nature of which becomes even more meaningful with cinematic tools. Thus, the book appears to be the fundamental foundation of culture, its text – the most meaningful and programming substance, a cultural invariant. From it, the mutational changes are generated by various options; one of the most effective of them is the film adaptation. The cinematic possibilities that the book Outlaw Platoon suggests are plenty: both the compelling narrative and meaningful disposition provide a perspective worth translating onto the screen.
References
Chiarulli, R. (2021). «Strong Curtains» and «Dramatic Punches»: The legacy of playwriting in the screenwriting manuals of the studio era. Communication & Society, 34(1), 109-122. Web.
Elseewi, T. A. (2019). Zombies, Muslims, and politics: Racism without race in contemporary America. The Myth of Colorblindness, 195-213. Web.
Kilcullen, D. (2017). The accidental guerrilla: Fighting small wars in the midst of a big one. London, UK: C. Hurst & Co.
Parnell, S., & Bruning, J. R. (2013). Outlaw platoon: Heroes, renegades, infidels, and the brotherhood of war in Afghanistan. New York, NY: William Morrow Paperbacks.