From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father
The present study discusses the challenge of choosing an appropriate narrative structure for representing the unreliable perspective of characters with dementia in cinematic adaptations. The argument is that the chosen frameworks and techniques should create sympathy and empathy in readers/audience...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pardubice
2024-12-01
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| Series: | American and British Studies Annual |
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| Online Access: | https://absa.upce.cz/index.php/absa/article/view/2585 |
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| author | Hossein Mohseni |
| author_facet | Hossein Mohseni |
| author_sort | Hossein Mohseni |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The present study discusses the challenge of choosing an appropriate narrative structure for representing the unreliable perspective of characters with dementia in cinematic adaptations. The argument is that the chosen frameworks and techniques should create sympathy and empathy in readers/audience, and the ideal empathetic adaptation should choose narratological frameworks with the lowest level of coherence, narrative distancing and external focalization. As prototypical examples, the study focuses on the cinematic adaptations of three literary texts which treat dementia as their main thematic concern: Away from Her (2007), Still Alice (2014), and The Father (2021). The study employs critical categories and conceptualizations proposed by Per Krogh Hansen regarding unreliable perspectives, as well as the critical views of Gulce Torun, the latter of whom domesticates Endel Tulving’s mnemonic functions of episodic memory in her narratological discussions regarding the rapport between unreliable perspectives and memory. The analysis identifies features of intranarrational, internarrational, and extratextual unreliability as well as corresponding features of semantic, episodic, archival, and constructivist memory in the adaptations.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bdfa251511e6422a9082167449f1c190 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1803-6058 2788-2233 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Pardubice |
| record_format | Article |
| series | American and British Studies Annual |
| spelling | doaj-art-bdfa251511e6422a9082167449f1c1902024-12-19T18:14:26ZengUniversity of PardubiceAmerican and British Studies Annual1803-60582788-22332024-12-011710.46585/absa.2024.17.2585From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The FatherHossein Mohseni0Shahid Beheshti University The present study discusses the challenge of choosing an appropriate narrative structure for representing the unreliable perspective of characters with dementia in cinematic adaptations. The argument is that the chosen frameworks and techniques should create sympathy and empathy in readers/audience, and the ideal empathetic adaptation should choose narratological frameworks with the lowest level of coherence, narrative distancing and external focalization. As prototypical examples, the study focuses on the cinematic adaptations of three literary texts which treat dementia as their main thematic concern: Away from Her (2007), Still Alice (2014), and The Father (2021). The study employs critical categories and conceptualizations proposed by Per Krogh Hansen regarding unreliable perspectives, as well as the critical views of Gulce Torun, the latter of whom domesticates Endel Tulving’s mnemonic functions of episodic memory in her narratological discussions regarding the rapport between unreliable perspectives and memory. The analysis identifies features of intranarrational, internarrational, and extratextual unreliability as well as corresponding features of semantic, episodic, archival, and constructivist memory in the adaptations. https://absa.upce.cz/index.php/absa/article/view/2585dementiaunreliabilityPer Krogh Hansenmemorynarrational perspective |
| spellingShingle | Hossein Mohseni From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father American and British Studies Annual dementia unreliability Per Krogh Hansen memory narrational perspective |
| title | From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father |
| title_full | From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father |
| title_fullStr | From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father |
| title_short | From Having Sympathy to Showing Empathy for the Demented: A Narratological Study of the Perspectives of Characters with Dementia in Away from Her, Still Alice, and The Father |
| title_sort | from having sympathy to showing empathy for the demented a narratological study of the perspectives of characters with dementia in away from her still alice and the father |
| topic | dementia unreliability Per Krogh Hansen memory narrational perspective |
| url | https://absa.upce.cz/index.php/absa/article/view/2585 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hosseinmohseni fromhavingsympathytoshowingempathyforthedementedanarratologicalstudyoftheperspectivesofcharacterswithdementiainawayfromherstillaliceandthefather |