On The Moral Connotation And Practical Significance Of The Film The Bridges Of Madison County

The Bridges of Madison County,written by Robert James Waller in 1992,is considered as an influential and profound novel in the literary circle.And it has excited many literary critics’ interest and also it arouses controversy because of the theme of extramarital affair since its publication.The most surprising fact is that The Bridges of Madison County created a selling myth on the New York Times bestsellers list in 1992 and topped the US bestseller list for 3 years.In addition,The Bridges of Madison County was made into a film of the same name in 1995 by Hollywood and was starred by Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood and became very popular across many countries But now the academic community pays little attention to this film and the literature analyzing the film in terms of narratology is also deficient.All of these reasons make this study on the film The Bridges ofMadison County valuable and significantBased on the substantial reference materials and absorbing the researches written by other scholars,this paper makes a study of the film with the theory of film narratology from the aspects of narrative content,narrative strategy and narrative language to present the value and connotation of the film The Bridges of Madison County.By reading their mother’s last will and diary,Carolyn and her brother,Michael Johnson find out that their mother,Francesca falls in love with Robert Kincaid,a National Geographic photographer from Washington,coming to Madison County in Iowa to photograph the seven covered bridges.They stay four days happily and enjoy the beauty and the magic of love to the fullest.Although they depart eventually because of the social and moral responsibilities of the marriage and the family,they miss each other deeply till the death.Moved by their mother’s love story deeply,Carolyn and Michael start to reconsider their own marriage and give up the thought of getting divorced hastily.The film raises the four-day extramarital affair to the level of love and responsibility,which is the sublimation of the theme.And it teaches people to cherish their family and marriage,which endows the film with a deeper theme and more valuable significanceThe film shows the characters’feelings,emotional changes and inner struggle by using a series of film narrative strategies such as realistic details,frank dialogues,close-up shots,silent plays,the usage of props,the theme music and film asides and so on.Furthermore,narrative features such as the arrangement of plots and structure,the shifts between first-person and third-person omniscient perspectives,and the crisscross of time and space are impeccably interwoven with the intended themes.It expounds the moral connotation of the choice between love and responsibility,and deepens the narrative theme.