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Adaptations and Transformations
The novel 'Cloudstreet' by Tim Winton has been adapted both into a play by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo and into a film adaption directed by Matthew Saville. The novel has also inspired other forms of art including a song, 'Rose Pickles' by 'The Custom Kings.' Both the play and the film adaption remain largely faithful to the novel's original dialogue,nevertheless,the values inherent in 'Cloudstreet' invariably morph as the conventions of theatre and television have a significant effect on the way we interpret the text.
The conventions of theatre allow the playwrights to utilise monologues and audiences gain a heightened sense of awareness for the the depression that consumes Rose Pickles or for the grief that Quick Lamb comes to experience. This is not entirely conveyed in the film adaption as Quick and Rose's hardships are somewhat diluted and the only remnants of their suffering is conveyed. Indeed, the despair Rose communicates in the play prompts the audience to view Dolly Pickles contemptibly and it becomes difficult for us to forgive her. The film adaption, however, allows us to sympathise with Dolly as she herself is portrayed as a victim in her extra-marital affairs and a habitual drunkard, symbolically a 'victim of the bottle.' Saville's sympathy for the Dolly character encapsulates the unity we have as human beings in which there is no right or wrong, victims or villains, only love as a grand unifying force that helps man overcome his differences and problems.
Quick's monologues too offer astute insight into his sufferings and evokes sympathy from the audience for his plight. Quick's grief is purported as a result of his inability to accept the inadequacy
inherent in human existence that prevents him from saving other people's lives, primarily Fish Lamb's life by inclusive of Wogga McBride's life. This sense of futility depicts man's 'place' in the universe and the futility of man's physical state is conveyed, the necessity for acceptance and resignation to one's fate. This is the sense of 'place' that is conveyed through the symbol of the black man as the traditional values of belonging associated with his presence emphasise the importance of Quick's physical place, 'Cloudstreet.' Indeed, 'place' extends far beyond the generic Aboriginal value of belonging to one's land but extends to one's 'place' in the universe, one's position in life and one's position in family.
The magic realist elements of all forms of 'Cloudstreet' are somewhat incomplete in the film adaption. The imagery of stars, symbolic heaven and water, Fish's avenue to paradise is beautifully conveyed as it delineates man's physical self need for spirituality and something greater than physical existence. Disappointingly, this is something of an anomaly within the adaption as Saville omits the black man's impossible journey with Quick. Contrastingly, the playwrights portray the black man as a 'guardian angel of Quick' and assert supernatural qualities to his character. His actions add an element of destiny to Quick's plights and he makes the aware that human beings have higher purposes in life than the mere trivial day-to-day occurrences. The non-digetic glorious and triumphant music that accompanies the 'heaven and water scene' destroys the realist elements of an occurrence as the scene becomes a little too unbelievable. Contrastingly, the conventions of theathre assert realist elements more effectively as by definitions mistakes are made in a stage production and no one performance is perfect and it cannot be digitally altered, edited or re-made, allowing the element of realism inherent in a play to be conveyed. The stage direction, 'boat flies through the sky'
is an oxymoron as boats cannot fly and it is this that allows for the magical aspect of the magic-realism to be conveyed.
The notion of escapism is explored in the song 'Rose Pickles' by 'The Custom Kings' through the line 'gild it with coke' as Rose's state is likened to that of a drug addict attempting to escape reality in their drug-induced mindset. Escapism is explored in many aspects and characters in both adaptations, yet somewhat ambiguously in the film adaption. Quick, Rose and Oriel's sufferings are all conveyed in Enright and Monjo's adaption and each one attempts to evade their hardships but to no avail. The playwrights convey that suffering and hardships are inherent in human existence and cannot be avoided but must be overcome. Contrastingly, the film adaptation depicts Quick's physical departure and Rose's social departure from Cloudstreet as something random as neither's hardships are exemplified. This leads audiences to a more visceral interpretation of the text and the sense of deeper meaning is lost.
The modus operandi for overcoming these hardships is left somewhat unanswered in both texts suggesting this is something personal, however, invariably a key component is familial love. It is familial love that results in the unity between the lambs. Saville's imagery of a fertile and prosperous Lamb garden and the desolate, lifeless and dark Pickles side alludes to the difference between the close-knit Lambs and the fragmented pickles. The absence of marital love between Sam and Dolly is substituted for the erotic love that Dolly finds in her extra-marital partners and it is this that leads to their unfavourable position. The play too, depicts the absence of familial love in the Pickles side and extends it to the relationships between children and parents as they view each other contemptibly. Indeed, the notion is embodied in Dolly's statement, 'he (Ted) was my favourite.' The connotations of the term 'favourite' are mutually exclusive with the notion of familial love. It is a love generated solely because one is your family and that is all that is needed to receive it, there is no measure for familial love and this suggests 'favouritism' cannot exist in familial love. Dolly's pre-occupation with 'winners' exemplifies her misinterpretation that love must be earnt and partially explains her dismay for Rose and her fondness for Ted. The prominence of Dolly's favouritism for Ted is included in the film adaptation. Ted's abrupt and untimely death in both adaptations reflect the playwright and director's promotion of familial love.
The state of human existence is explored throughout all adaptations of Tim Winton's novel 'Cloudstreet.' The themes of spirituality, grief, overcoming adversity and familial love permeate throughout all adaptations in what is an explanation of man's very state of existence, what it means to be a human being as well as our place in the universe.
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