Fetishized writing in The English Patient and Atonement film adaptations

Abstract

Reading and writing-related objects, whether in the form of books, letters,or typewriters, are central elements in the films The English Patient,by Anthony Minghella (1996), and Atonement, by Joe Wright (2007),both adapted from novels. By drawing similarities between these twoadaptations (Hutcheon 2013; Elleström 2017), the present text illustrateshow written words and writing-related objects can be cinematicallyfetishized (Apter 1991; Mulvey 1996). It also suggests why, despite beingcapable of existing as autonomous creations, both films proudly maintaina tight connection with their source novels, thus standing as purposefuldoubles.

Cultural memory and neuro-critical reading of Ian McEwan's atonement

“…Nevertheless, this first clumsy attempt revealed that the image was the source of the story: once she had begun, everyone would know what had happened. Trying to pretend in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, and too embarrassing to reveal (Costa, 2021;Zhang et al, 2020).…”