Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art) (1952)

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ART FORM AND MATERIAL 265 art form the material once already used. We can see in detail how in the projected play he stresses aspects which are scarcely or not at all perceptible in the short story, how he tries to bring to the surface a totally different layer of reality. The course of events is similar, but their significance is different and it contains a quite different inner experience. The reality from which he borrowed his material included this inner experience; but when he shaped his material into a short story, he had to pass by this inner experience; it was for this reason that he felt the urge of dipping once more into the depths of the same life-material by means of another art form. It may at first sound paradoxical to say that it is often a respect for the laws of style that govern the various art forms which makes adaptations justifiable and even necessary. The severe style of the drama, for instance, demands the omission of the multiple colours and changing moods of real life. The drama is the art form suited to great conflicts and the wealth of detail which a novel may contain finds no room in its severe structure. But sometimes the author is loath to let all the wealth of mood and detail go to waste and so he puts it into a novel rather than impair the pure style of the drama. And if an author wants to pour into a film the colours of life which are barred by the severe style of the drama, he does so not because he does not respect the style of the various art forms, but because he respects them absolutely.