blog post #4 - laura

 The film adaptation of Norwegian Wood was (as we all know) underwhelming, and when we watched the short films of the first and second Bakery Attacks, I started to think that while Norwegian Wood itself might be a bad movie, the problem might have more to do with trying to translate Murakami’s writing to the screen in the first place. The voice of the narrator is crucial to Murakami’s work, and it is harder to see his typical disinterested narrator when we are only seeing what is actually happening, and not getting any inner thoughts. In this vein, the adaptation of “The First Bakery Attack” told the story better, as it implemented the narrator’s voice by having the actors narrate it within the movie. In a short form like this, I think the choice was successful, though I doubt it would hold up in an adaptation of a longer piece, mainly because film is meant to be such a visual medium, and it should theoretically be able to tell a story without needing such excessive narration, hence the problem when trying to adapt Murakami. 

The adaptation of “The Second Bakery Attack” got rid of the narrator’s inner voice entirely, thus removing the volcano motif. This significantly impacts the story—throughout the text, the volcano is an internal progression the protagonist undergoes. It becomes clearer as the narrator and his wife try to find the reason for their hunger, and goes away once they have robbed the McDonald’s, ending the curse. I’m not totally sure what the volcano is supposed to mean, but there is definitely some importance in the way it becomes more and more clear to the narrator and then vanishes entirely. Removing the ability to communicate the progression in the film adaptation makes the story much more surface level, reducing it to the physical actions. The narrator seems much more flat, a character who only acts and seems to have no internal life, and this does a great disservice to the depth of the original story. While I’m sure it is possible to execute Murakami’s ‘iceberg method’ through film, I don’t think we’ve seen it successfully—or even an attempt to. On a positive note though, I did think “The First Bakery Attack” was pretty wild, and the closest thing to capturing the spirit of the original story out of anything we’ve seen. I wouldn’t say I entirely hated it.

- Laura