Many time significant changes are made to the context of the painting, film or piece or literature. These changes are made to reach a target audience. A target audience could be defined as a cultures, races or nationalities. When there is a painting, movie or book created in one country it would display their point of few of a happening however, if seen in another part of the world it could be deeply offensive. In this sense these alterations could be essential. Another aspect to be considered is what the purpose of the media is: to inform? To entertain? The artists will create something specific for the medias purpose, being to propaganda or a profit production. For this reason the film and book were made to be entertaining, however both in a slightly varied way. To make both the book and film entertaining changes were sure to be made and aspects were added to make the story more relatable to a 21st century audience.
Of course, it is a fictional interpretation of Vermeer's life in which the author is entitled to exercise any amount of creativity. However, judging from the small number of works accomplished in his lifetime and the fact that he had a wife, mother-in-law and eleven children, plus the servants, to feed, I can well imagine that the women in his life would have preferred him to have made more pictures and might have been a bit frustrated at his obsessive ‘perfectionism’ which he wanted in his art. They didn't understand him and which slowed him down. For this reason I have the feeling that we could be seeing quite a true likeness both in the character of the real and fictional man, and in the lifestyle of a Dutch artist of the time. I base this judgement on what we have learnt in class with the presentations about all the different aspects of daily life. I do recognize that not all the facts are 100% correct but I feel that this is to be expected when the purpose is to entertain. The general descriptions however and the other details do depict a accurate picture of the time period.
As the media form transformed so did the story. The film, following the basic outline of the story, missed many significant scenes from the book and compensate this by portraying characters in a increased direct manner. The film was aimed at a wider audience than the book was. In the age we live in now there are many more people who watch a film than read a book. This causes the loss of historical accuracy of the original media. In the film, being a visual product appealing to a modern audience, it is attempted to look aesthetically pleasing. One major technique that was used was cinematography. In this context it was applied to recreate a feel of some of Vermeer’s paintings. It focuses on the lighting, in Vermeer’s paintings light came from the left and some scenes were mirroring this, and placement of objects. However the lighting would not have been so picturesque, this takes away from the accuracy but adds to the beauty of the film.
As before mentioned the book gives us many more facts than the film, for example, about Griet's father's accident when the tile-firing kiln exploded leaving him blind and injured, such that he could no longer practice his trade and hence necessitating that Griet go into service to save the family from starving. The film also tells us nothing of her brother who suffered terribly during his hard apprenticeship, nor of her sister who was devastated at Griet's departure and at her subsequent distancing from her family. In the film, one glimpse of her father's cruelly disfigured face and hand tells us enough, no explanation is needed. This makes me agree with the well known saying ‘A picture tells a thousand words’. Also you can understand the realtionship of GRiet and vermeer just by simple actions. The looks that passes between them and the closeness of their hands as they mix colours, it says it all.
I would describe the character Griet as a intelligent and perceptive young girl. She is very curious and wants to know about everything, eventhough she might not always say it. Another adjectives that spring to mind when I think of her personality are; shy, obedient, caring and respectful. She does dare to take up for herself when her boss is with her. For example in the movie they go to the market to buy meat for dinner. They get a piece of meat but Griet says it is not good enough, so the gets another one. Usually servants would not talk much to their bosses and let them handle problems like this. But Griet doesn’t she is different in that aspect. One time when you notice she is a really shy girl is the moment were she had to stand in front of Vermeer for the first time. You could see that she was a bit scared because he was looking at her the whole time
I now realise that in film, emotions are immediately visible and often make facts unnecessary. As emotions and relationships develop, the story unfolds and races onwards. Additional facts about Griet's family background would have hindered the unfolding, and her mother's tortured expression as she has to part with her daughter communicates all we need to know about the family's circumstances. Another is example is that of the relationship between Vermeer and Griet, not much is said but the looks say it all.
In conclusion, the “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painting is a masterpiece, and book is good too. We don't have to choose between them because they complement each other and each excels in its own way. However the book, especially in character development, was more subtle. I preferred this than to the direct manner in which the characters were depicted in the film. I'm sure that the author and film director have mutual respect for one another, and it would be nice to imagine that Johannes Vermeer himself would also have had respect for both of these art forms, which highlight his genius and have brought his work to the attention of so many
