Filming Forster
The Challenges of Adapting E.M. Forster's Novels for the Screen
By (author) Earl G. Ingersoll
Publication date:
16 February 2012Length of book:
282 pagesPublisher
Fairleigh Dickinson University PressDimensions:
235x161mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781611475173
Filming Forster focuses upon the challenges of producing film adaptations of five of E. M. Forster’s novels. Rather than follow the older comparative approach, which typically damned the film for not being “faithful” to the novel, this project explores the interactive relationship between film and novel. That relationship is implicit in the title “Filming” Forster, rather than “Forster Filmed,” which would suggest a completed process. A film adaptation forever changes the novel from which it was adapted, just as a return to the novel changes the viewer’s perceptions of the film.
Adapting Forster’s novels for the screen was postponed until well after the author’s death in 1970 because the trustees of the author’s estate fulfilled his wish that his work not be filmed. Following the appearance of David Lean’s film A Passage to India in 1984, four other film adaptations were released within seven years. Perhaps the most important was the Merchant Ivory production of Maurice, based upon Forster’s “gay” novel, published a year after his death. That film was among the first to approach same-sex relationships between men in a serious, respectful, and generally optimistic manner.
Adapting Forster’s novels for the screen was postponed until well after the author’s death in 1970 because the trustees of the author’s estate fulfilled his wish that his work not be filmed. Following the appearance of David Lean’s film A Passage to India in 1984, four other film adaptations were released within seven years. Perhaps the most important was the Merchant Ivory production of Maurice, based upon Forster’s “gay” novel, published a year after his death. That film was among the first to approach same-sex relationships between men in a serious, respectful, and generally optimistic manner.
This volume offers nuanced discussion of the five film adaptations to date of E. M. Forster's work, all released between 1984 and 1992. By way of introduction, Ingersoll (emer., English, SUNY, Brockport) surveys recent developments in adaptation studies against a decades-long backdrop of critical insistence on "fidelity" to the source novel. Drawing on contemporary scholars like Deborah Cartmell, Imelda Whelehan, and Simone Murray, he then situates his close analyses of Forster adaptations in context of both the film industry and wider culture. At his best, the author is masterful, interweaving a detailed critique of the Merchant-Ivory adaptation of A Room with a View (1985) and debates over the status of "heritage film" and "costume film" (the latter a more nebulous label). …Ingersoll's observations are astute and engaging throughout. This is a must read for those interested in Forster and/or film adaptation. Summing Up: Recommended.