Wednesday 22 August 2018

A POV And How To Film It

Poul Anderson, Twilight World, Chapter 14.

This post is about fictional events on Mars. Nevertheless, the attached image is eminently appropriate.

Let me quote the concluding sentence of one paragraph and the opening sentence of the following paragraph:

"Ivanovitch had gotten a tommy-gun away from one man and turned it on him.
"The Russian felt a blow that brought whirling darkness." (p. 155)

(Misha Ivanovitch is the Russian. Since "Misha" is his given name and "Ivanovitch" is a patronymic, I wonder whether he also has a surname?)

In the first paragraph, Collie sees Misha get the gun. In the second, Misha feels the blow. Therefore, there should have been a double space between the paragraphs to indicate a change of point of view (pov).

Misha dies. Seeing blood and air exiting his torn suit but continuing to fire, he experiences:

approaching soldiers wavering and rippling as if seen "...through the cool green water of Earth." (ibid.) (We remember a similar phrase in Heinlein's Future History);
distance and drunkenness;
a giant buzzing as of many bees;
drowsy humming of bees through a wild clover field;
summer;
lying down in the clover under a tree;
wind and sunlight;
the smell of clover and the sound of bees;
running horses;
a woman with long hair;
the sky of Earth;
darkness and stars.

In any film adaptation, this scene should be reproduced exactly as Anderson describes it.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I do hope someone will soon try filming some of Anderson's stories for either the cinema or TV! Preferably, of course, accurately and honestly.

And I wondered just now if "Misha" is a diminutive for "Mikhail," our "Michael."

Sean

David Birr said...

Sean and Paul:
"Misha" is usually diminutive for "Mikhail." There's no certainty, however, that the culture shown hasn't altered its norms so that a child might be formally named "Misha" rather than "Mikhail." Look at all the variant spellings for given names that can be found in the present U.S.A.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

Good points! Simply look at "John" and its many forms and variants. Including my own name!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Ioannes.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That too. Or HANS Molitor! (Smiles)

Sean