The "Miracle Boy" released in 2017 can be regarded as a very successful adaptation of the film. The original novel "Wonder" is a best-selling book. It has been at the top of the "New York Times" children's book list for 120 weeks, even though it is a fictional novel. , The author Palacio was adapted from a real incident: when she and her three-year-old son went out to buy ice cream, she saw the girl in the line with severe facial injuries. The son was scared to cry, Palacio quickly Taking him away, the mother of the little girl behind her said very calmly, "Okay, kids, let's go." The experience
personally experienced deeply touched Palacio, and she restored a true and credible boy story through fiction. The touching story of this story stems from the author's too much real feeling in the book. In the novel, it seems that the author is the mother of the unfortunate child, and the focus of his thoughts is on the child. This kind of emotional projection, coupled with real and vivid characters, makes every reader have an immersive reading experience.
director Stephen Choboski was deeply shocked after reading this book. For the adaptation of the novel, there is a prerequisite that the director has feelings for the novel. He must first convince himself that the character is real, and then he can restore the character in his mind in front of the audience through artistic processing or reconstruction.
It can be said that the quality of the book "Wonder" is very high. Starting from the introduction of August in the first chapter, he describes the friends and family around Augie one by one, and records them from their perspectives. The opinions and thoughts of life and the people around them eventually fell back to Auguste’s primary school graduation in Chapter 8. (August in the novel and August in the movie) The
novel requires readers to transcode through the interpretation of the language, conceive the different characters in the whole work in their minds, and experience them according to their behaviors and activities. The pleasure of reading. A picture of a movie can contain more textual information, but due to the limited stay time (we often call "persistence of vision"), it will cover up many beautiful texts and the time for independent thinking . It is precisely because of the natural difference between the two that, for film adaptation, it is often necessary for the director to not only be familiar with the characters' stories, but also to make good use of the lens and narrative characteristics to complete the presentation of the movie theme with some trade-offs. The success of the "Miracle Boy" adaptation, in my opinion, is inseparable from the following four strategies.
01. Through the advantages of visualization, the image of Gonow is perfectly "restored", and every image display is a metaphor for the connotation of the story. The creation of the artistic conception of
novels can be told by different characters, but it is impossible to hide too much in the movie. This is concentrated in the face of Gio. In the first chapter of the novel, we know that August is quite scary, but the novel adopts a subtle and introverted way, but indirectly expresses it through "No one sees me with ordinary eyes" and "I have a cracked jaw". The protagonist looks different from ordinary people. What really reveals August's true appearance is through the mouth of his sister Wea in Chapter 2:
"His appearance looks like melted, like a weeping candle. A series of surgeries to correct the upper jaw left around his mouth. There are several scars, the most striking is a jagged incision, extending from the center of his upper lip to the nose. His upper teeth are small and slanted in a figure eight. He has very serious buck teeth and one The jawbone is too small, and the chin is pitifully small. When he was very young, if he hadn't had an operation to transplant his leg bones to the lower jaw, he would not have a chin at all. If there was no chin, his tongue would be It fell out of the mouth."
But For the film, the image of Augie is the key to the success of the film. Regarded as his amulet, the vivid image of Augie "perfectly" restores the aforementioned facial features. The helmet of Auguste is not overly mentioned in the novel, but it is everywhere in the film. Whether is playing at home or going to school, the helmet has become a weapon for him to isolate the outside world and avoid disputes, which reflects his loneliness and slight inferiority complex.
In the novel, this helmet is a gift from Miranda, and the relationship between August and Miranda is like brother and sister. Auguste couldn’t find the helmet since he was seven because his father threw itUp. However, in the movie, the father did not throw it away, but hid it. Regardless of whether it was thrown or not, it actually conveyed a voice: one's appearance cannot be changed, only a strong heart can resist outside sounds.
The very loving scene is the astronaut costume on Augie’s bedding. His dream is to become an astronaut. From the layout of this room, the audience can feel the love of his parents for him, and he will do everything possible to satisfy his dream. The pursuit. The
novel has a very detailed description of Augie’s Halloween costume every year. The first year is dressed as a pumpkin, the second year is Tigger, the third year is Peter Pan, the fourth year is Captain Hook, the fifth year is an astronaut, and the sixth year. Obi-Wan Kenobi, cloned the Empire Stormtrooper in the seventh year, Darth Vader in the eighth year, the ghost of the skeleton in the ninth year, and Boba Fett this year. In 10 years, there were 5 "Star Wars" characters dressed up. I saw that Augie liked the movie very much, so the image of Chubaka can be seen everywhere in the movie. At the same time, the use of skeleton ghost costumes in the film is actually quite meaningful, because blood oozes under the mask, and Augie heard his best friend Jack Will say "he is too ugly" to him. The mood is very consistent.
When we heard this sentence, we found Augie was stunned. His heart was dripping blood. It would be understandable if it was someone else, but Jack is his best friend. The destructive power of this friendship is beyond words. Use the ghost of the skeleton to show the state of mind at the time.
Astronaut, helmet, Halloween and the real Augie respectively metaphors the happiness and sadness in Augie’s heart. He aspires to become an ordinary person. Although the film has always conveyed the "different" point of view, I prefer to understand it as loneliness for everyone Individuals are fair. Although his appearance cannot be changed, Augie overcomes the pessimism on the road of life by seeking his true self and becomes a better self.
02, from a child’s perspective to an omniscient perspective, the fragmentary stories are placed in the time period between Auguste’s fifth grade school and sixth grade graduation.
Although the audience of "Wonder" is 8-12 year old children, we found that both books and movies have received great support from adults. Although the views of each child in the books are a bit trivial, they mainly satisfy the need for setting suspense. When it comes to the scene of the movie, it is clear that introducing the theme faster and deepening it is the kingly way, so it is logical to condense what happened to the children to the time period from fifth to sixth grade graduation. Compared with the chapter-by-chapter introduction of the novel,
makes it easier for the audience to understand the cause and effect through the appearance of the characters one by one in a story. So Jack, Julian, Summer, and Miranda show dramatic stage tension in the film, and this main line also constitutes Augie's growth axis. In
novels, each child’s perspective is from the first point of view. For example, Weiya began to recall from August, Jack began when he received a call from the principal, Tussman, and Samer met August for the first time. Start. Their starting point is Auguste, but the film pays more attention to storytelling and fluidity, and pays more attention to the succession and transformation of the story, so it is more malleable and easier to express the insights and feelings of the characters.
For the film, obviously has an omniscient perspective that more easily reflects all aspects of Augie's growth, his troubles and happiness. For example, after Augie’s mother met the principal, Jack became the student who guided Augie to visit the school. Augie inferred from the shoes on his feet that Augie was poorer. On the one hand, the picture here portrays the inferiority Augie’s unwillingness to raise his head to show others, but also humorously. I teased Jack a bit. This change of perspective discards the result of Jack’s behavior from the description of Jack in the novel: It is necessary to take the initiative to treat August in a friendly manner, because this is the task of the principal and relates to his scholarship. The
novel can inadvertently tell readers that although the principal intentionally arranges, Jack does not hate Augie. On the contrary, he had an inexplicable intimacy when he first met Augie. This turned into the climax turning point of the film's story, that is, when Augie appeared in front of Jack wearing a ghost costume on Halloween, Jack didn't know his existence, and told his friends that he also hated Augie.
In my opinion, does Jack really hate Augie? Obviously not, the subsequent series of actions proved this point. He discovered Augie's unusual behavior and tried to recover. The reason is nothing more than the children's loss of self-identity before they grow up. For Jack,He wants to be recognized by his companions, hopes to be encouraged and accompanied, and does not want to be isolated like Augie. That's why he would confirm Augie's presence or absence before speaking, but ignored the most important factor: Everyone wears makeup on Halloween. The
film effectively connects each child's thinking about life and friends through Augie, and everyone's heart is clearly and completely displayed from the omniscience perspective , allowing the audience to further reflect on the children's growth process. Just the face of the child has such a big influence, and this is just a not very important event in life. What about issues such as skin color, gender, and wealth? Children will think and judge when facing everything, and the most important thing for is to form correct and independent values.
03. Although the film chose to portray group portraits, all the focus is on Augie, and all the details in the novel have been excerpted, condensed and adapted. The starting and ending point of the story in the
film is Augie. The story unfolds around Augie, deepens it through Augie, and carries on deep reflection.
There is a kind of magnetism in Augie, not to attract others, but to keep others away. Even his own sister has expressed an unacceptable description of this face. Three words are used in the novel to describe "fear! Disgusting! Fear". What was scared was that such a child turned out to be his own younger brother. What was disgusting was that Auguste's tongue could not be closed at the time, and his saliva was still flowing out. The fear is that this life will continue forever. This short and accurate emotional response does not matter to the sister, what about the parents? What about friends? If the coat of affection is stripped away, who can treat August with sincerity? The images of parents in
's novels are all restored through the children's oral narration, but in the movie, they are real and empathize with the children's experience. At the beginning of the film, Augie joked that his father was happily recording the video, but he had an accident because of a doctor on the first day of work.
However, the fact is that it is mentioned in the novel that the birth attendant is a violent doctor. The real reason for Augie is actually a genetic defect. This defect is caused by the joint action of both parents. Sister Wei Ya is also a recessive carrier, but Augie became the dominant representative. The
movie makes it easier to arouse the emotions of the audience through this method of shifting flowers and trees, and humor dissolves the grief component. This adaptation is loyal to the spirit of the original, and the form is more flexible and interesting, and many minor details have been deleted and changed.
From the perspective of people who have not been in contact with Augie, Augie is inferior and annoying, but for Augie, his family and companions, Augie is quite optimistic and kind. He lightly mentioned "after 27 operations", and said "how much effort I took to become so handsome". For Augie, his appearance is unchangeable. Friends who really understand him are not. Will dislike him because of his appearance.
But this kind of self-confidence is not inborn. A conversation between him and his mother revealed this point, "Why am I so ugly?", "You are not ugly at all", "You say this because it is my mother." "Because I am your mother, what I say counts, because I know you best, and everyone who wants to know you will understand this." is the encouragement and company of his mother that made Augie dare to face his true self.
Father’s encouragement is equally important. Every time the family walks, his father will habitually knock on Augie’s helmet. In the novel, August’s father is the focus of much attention. He is humorous and enthusiastic. This trait makes him very considerate in the film. He not only cares about Augie but also his sister. He knows that he ignores his sister because of Augie. There will be a feeling of rejection, and he will accompany Augie to play games and tell jokes. The film seems to deliberately weaken the father's verbal function, but through his company he speaks a thousand words . The
novel mentions that August’s face is like a plague that prevents every child from approaching. This is directly reinforced in the film. Only Samer dared to approach him. Friends said that touching his hand would get sick. This It is such a ridiculous and true statement. Just ask which child did not have deep concerns because of a sentence from the person next to him. For example, after kissing a girl, he would give birth to a child, and he would become deaf after eating earwax, etc. These statements actually appeared due to lack of knowledge In everyIn the mind of a child. The
film has a natural aura that focuses all the focus on Augie. All contradictions, doubts, fears and joys are caused by Augie. The inconspicuous and irrelevant information in the novel shows that other children are innocent and lively or mischievous. There is no trace of the details in the film, which makes Augie the top priority of the discussion , allowing the audience to think more deeply about what caused Augie and his friends to make these changes? Or how should our children deal with this situation? It is this multi-angle single protagonist's narrative structure that makes the theme more prominent and makes thinking more and more important.
04. At the end of the movie, the narration is used to highlight the changes of Augie over the past year, instead of the implicit foreshadowing and simple analysis of the novel, the audience is full of warmth.
In the novel, the awarding session only exists like a dream. Auguste won the Henry Ward Beecher Medal, took a happy photo with his family, went home, and went to bed. From fifth to sixth grade is the best experience for August, so August kissed his mother before going to bed and said "thank you for everything" to him, and his mother was in August Te whispered in his ear, "You are a miracle." Obviously, the novel is highlighting the preciousness of family affection, and it is the existence of family affection that made Auguste such a change.
, however, the ending of the movie requires a high theme, that is sonorous and powerful. So the implicit and introverted approach seems a bit too plain. So the film chose to retreat at the moment of the highest light in Augie. The
novel describes in detail the meaning of the Henry Ward Beecher Medal, "We are not just talking about the kind nature, but the kind nature of a person. The power of a person’s friendship. To a person’s character. The test of humanity. The power of a person's courage. Courage, kindness, friendship, personality, these qualities define us as human beings, and sometimes can push us to achieve greatness. This is the meaning of the Henry Ward Beecher Medal: Discovering Greatness ." And made a long foreshadowing before: Simone Chen won the gold award of the "Academic Excellence Award", and Charlotte won the silver award. Charlotte also won a gold medal for music. Amos won the "Sports Achievement Award", Summer won the "Creative Writing Gold Award", and August thought that the most important Henry Ward Beecher Medal commendation should be given to Charlotte, because She organized this year's "Winter Clothes Donation Activity". What I didn't expect was that the name Tushman read was himself. The feeling at that moment can be described in two words: "floating".
But is he really not sure why he won this medal? Obviously not, the novel uses a passage like "It's like sometimes you meet some people and you can't imagine their lives-whether it's those in a wheelchair or someone who can't talk. I just know, yes For people, I am this kind of person, and maybe for everyone in the auditorium." The ending of the
film should try to cover as much content as possible. It is shown like this: he will hug his parents before coming to the stage, and after coming to the stage, he will specially thank his sister who always supports him, the humorous father and the mother who has never given up on him. He said "No one is ordinary", which is consistent with the theme of "Everyone is different" that has been repeatedly emphasized in the film.
My favorite sentence is actually his last sentence at the end, " be kind, because everyone is struggling with life. If you want to truly understand others, you just need to look at it with your heart. " is actually for the miracle boy The suffering he experienced was only the beginning. It was mentioned in the novel that "So far, August’s little broccoli-like ears have pretty good hearing. But the hearing aid is only the smallest of all his problems." Vision, taste, and sensation may eventually degenerate, but in the face of many hardships in life, he is struggling stubbornly. For those who are in good health, is there any reason not to look carefully and live hard? The ending of the
film is more contagious. Through reflective discourse, the audience can experience the pains, joys, sorrows and joys. This expression is simple, clear and powerful, and it is this warm and full ending that makes the audience warmer. , Reflect on the beauty of human nature in joy.
Conclusion: "Miracle Boy" has a magical power in both novels and movies, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in it. As soon as you see, Augie is an ordinary childSon, there is a huge amount of energy in his tiny body. This is a gift from heaven and the result of life training. Director Stephen Choboski faithfully restored the happiness and cheerfulness that a child should have in his life with his whole-hearted love. There are family factors and the help of friends. Life is fair for everyone. Although Augie has many birth defects, God has opened the windows of his heart for him, giving him a happy family and friendly friends. Whether it is a novel or a movie,
is worthy of recollection. reveals love and equality, kindness and humanity . Isn't this what life is like? It’s just the busyness of work and the trivial things at home that can easily blind our eyes. Just like Augie said, if you want to really understand others, just watch and feel with your heart.
