Paper Keywords: novel characters arranged by Wang Anyi "Song of Eternal Sorrow"

Many works have been adapted into controversial films by directors, such as Alive, furong town, Hanging Red Lantern, Song of Eternal Sorrow, etc. Although movies and novels belong to the same category, they show stories in different ways. This paper will take Wang Anyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow as an example to compare the differences between movies and novels from the perspective of character arrangement.

When it comes to the difference between novels and movies, it mainly means that they belong to different art categories. Fiction is a language art with static words as the medium, while film is an audio-visual art with dynamic pictures and sounds as the carrier. The characters in the novel are restored to images through the imagination of readers, while the focal plane directly transmits images. [1] This makes them have similarities and differences. Time, place and characters are three factors that cannot be ignored when a writer creates. Film shooting will also pay attention to these three aspects, but the specific operation will be different from the novel.

Song of Eternal Sorrow is one of Wang Anyi's representative works. The novel is divided into three parts in structure, telling the ups and downs of Wang Qiyao, an extraordinary Shanghai woman, in chronological order. Someone combed out three clear clues in this novel: "First, Wang Qiyao's experience pushed her to an unprecedented height of envy and admiration, which was not a blessing, but a foreshadowing for her tragedy. This is the peak of the novel. When the moon is full, it will lose money, and when the water is full, it will overflow. Wang Qiyao's plays began to decline. In people's meaningful eyes, it eventually became a social butterfly. She had an abortion, became the humblest woman, and finally died of homicide without any sympathy. The second clue comes from Wang Qiyao's friendship. From Wu Peizhen to Yan Jenny, these friendships are as thin as water, and everyone has their own interests. It's good to talk to each other in a lonely way. The third thread is Wang Qiyao's love. From Mr. Cheng to Director Li to Ah Er to Cummins to Sasha and then to Lao Kela, Wang Qiyao is not affectionate or promiscuous, but forced by life. At first, Wang Qiyao's consciousness of existence was in front of love; At that moment, the tail of love jumped in front of her eyes, but it was fleeting and could not stay. Sadness is lingering, always with helpless sadness, like it will disappear at any time. " [2]

With the help of these three lines, we can grasp Wang Qiyao's life as a whole. At the same time, readers will find that the writer has created many vivid characters in them, who surround Wang Qiyao and show her daily life and emotional entanglements. Each character's appearance has its own characteristics and plays an important role in the development of the plot. Novels are closely connected in character setting, which means "you can sing, and I will appear", which makes the stories closely connected.

The film Song of Eternal Sorrow, directed by screenwriter Guan, not only attracted the attention of the public and the media because of its gathering of stars such as Tony Leung Ka Fai, Hu Jun, Wang, and He, but also caused many heated discussions because of the adaptation of the novel. The story of the film Song of Eternal Sorrow has been changed on the basis of respecting the original work, and the character setting has also been adjusted according to the film duration, picture arrangement and other factors. This paper will compare the similarities and differences between the novel and the film according to the changes in the characterization of the novel Song of Eternal Sorrow.

First, the setting of characters.

In order to show the legendary life of Wang Qiyao, Wang Anyi spared no expense in painting and calligraphy, describing the local customs and food in Shanghai in detail, and depicting many characters in detail. Some of them are girlfriends, namely Wu Peizhen and Jenny of Yan; There are Mr. Cheng, Director Li, Uncle (played by Cummins), Sasha and Lao Kela who have emotional entanglements with Wang Qiyao; And Wang Qiyao's daughter Weiwei, son-in-law Kobayashi, and Zhang Yonghong who forgot to make friends. These characters appeared in Wang Qiyao's life one after another or at the same time, and went through ups and downs with her.

People who have seen the movie Song of Eternal Sorrow will obviously find that although the movie retains most of the characters in the novel, it is different from the novel in the specific role arrangement.