Breakfast at Tiffany’s. From page to screen. The making of a classic. Transformation of gender relations

Auteurs

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.60056/CCL.2022..105-117

Mots-clés :

screen adaptation, dramatic structure, gender roles, integration into society

Résumé

The aim of this article is to explore how the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s translated the literary original into cinematic language. My claim is that the essential transfigurations ensued in terms of gender relations. The question of what motivated them, and how they impacted the cult status which the movie work acquired, is approached by focusing on the transformations from the perspective of the dramatic structure. Through the use of script development tools: type of narration, thematic premise, central question, controlling idea, mediation, protagonists, setting, and the ways in which casting, style of cinematography and music interact with them, I will attempt to pinpoint and analyse the key differences.

Biographie de l'auteur

  • Ioana Pankova

    Ioana Pankova [Йоана Панкова]: Bachelor’s degree in Screen Studies, awarded at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, title of thesis: Evolution of the Relationship between Bulgarian Cinema and Its Audience. Master of Arts in Arts and Contemporary Culture (20th – 21st c.), Department of Philosophy, University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohrdiski”, title of thesis: American Pop Art and Media Communication. Visiting lecturer at New Bulgarian University, author of the courses: Screen Language, Writing for Screen and Visual Analysis. Currently a PhD student (unsupervised on an individual plan), title of dissertation: Order and Anarchy in the Screwball Comedy. Professional experience in film production (assistant director), film exhibition and distribution, and in festival management (Meetings of Young European Cinema – Sofia and Days of the Bulgarian Cinema – Paris). Academic interests: film language, classical film genres, American cinema, scriptwriting, gender studies, psychoanalysis. Languages: Bulgarian, English, French.

Références

Bazin, A. (2005). What is Cinema? University of California Press.

Capote, T. (2000). Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Penguin Modern Classics.

Cartmell, D. (Ed.). (2012). Literature, Film and Adaptation. Wiley-Blackwell.

Cavell, S. (1981). Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Harvard University Press.

Clarke, G. (1989). Capote: A Biography. Ballantine.

Fahi, T. (2014). Understanding Truman Capote. University of South Carolina Press.

Inge, M. T. (Ed.). (1987). Truman Capote: Conversations. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Krämer, P. (2004). The Many Faces of Holly Golightly: Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Hollywood. In Film Studies, Issue 5, Winter.

Laplanche, J., & Pontalis, J.-B. (1996). The Language of Psychoanalysis. Karnac Books.

Mulvey, L. (1992). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In R. Mast, M. Cohen, & S. Braudy (Eds.), Film Theory and Criticism. Oxford University Press.

Wasson, S. (2009). A Splurge in the Kisser. The Movies of Blake Edwards. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.

Zoerink, R. (1975). Truman Capote Talks about His Crowd. In Playgirl, September.

Archive sources:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s file, Production Code Administration Records, AMPAS.

Interview with Blake Edwards. Documentary Breakfast at Tiffany's: The Making of a Classic, 2006.

Pinckard, Reader’s Report, Breakfast at Tiffany’s file, Paramount Script Collection, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Beverly Hills.

Téléchargements

Publiée

2025-11-06

Numéro

Rubrique

II. TRANSFIGURATIONS OF LITERATURE INTO CINEMA

Comment citer

Breakfast at Tiffany’s. From page to screen. The making of a classic. Transformation of gender relations. (2025). Colloquia Comparativa Litterarum, 8, 105-117. https://doi.org/10.60056/CCL.2022..105-117