Short-Film Adaptations of Munro's Stories in the 1980s: A Multimodal Stylistic Analysis

This paper presents and deconstructs the four clichés regarding the inferiority of adaptations to adapted texts identified by Linda Hutcheon (2013), by examining screen adaptations of Alice Munro’s short stories. It focuses on three short Canadian films released in the 1980s: 'Boys and Girls' (1983), 'Thanks for the Ride' (1983) and 'Connection' (1986). The theory derives from Hutcheon’s reconceptualization of adaptation(s), while the methodology relies on multimodal stylistic analysis. The inspection of the adaptation process reveals lines of narrative continuity and discontinuity that show the distinct narrative potential of audio-visual artefacts. Contrary to what is commonly thought and expressed by the clichés, the three Canadian films manage to negotiate intimacy and distance through point of view; to express interiority; to shape nonlinear, fractured and layered temporality; to give form to metaphors and other figures. In Thanks for the Ride, the representation and negotiation of intimacy and distance in point of view are central and fluid, functional to the intersectional discussion about gender and social class. Interiority is expressed in Boys and Girls through close-ups and eye-angles, with particular attention to the filmic representation of the female protagonist Margaret. Connection deploys and intertwines two diegetic and temporal plans, and the resurfacing past profoundly affects the present time. Ultimately, all three films convincingly depict a mirror scene, a semiotically layered and complex trope, which represents Munro’s concern with introspection.