Looking for Literary Metaphor on Film: A Structuralist Study of East of Eden, Doctor Zhivago, and To Kill a Mockingbird

A system based on existing research in semiotics and metaphor is developed and used to compare three novels with their film adaptations: East of Eden, Doctor Zhivago, and To Kill a Mockingbird. By grouping literary metaphors together in the novels, a subtext of meaning is revealed that can both aid in the understanding of the novel and serve as a tool for evaluating the faithfulness of the film adaptation. While none of the films studied completely followed this subtext, there were different levels of similarity between the novel and the visual metaphors used in the film. One reason for this lack of fidelity by the films is that filmmakers may not have been aware of the fact that a unified metaphorical subtext exists within the novel.