ABSTRACT |
Girl
with a Pearl Earring
is much about perceptions. Vermeer’s perceptions as shown in his
paintings, Griet’s perceptions as shown in Tracy Chevalier’s novel,
and also Griet’s perceptions as seen in Peter Webber’s film. This paper
demonstrates how perception can become narrative in as much as it
reveals character. Perception requires a point of view and point of view
may identify an individual subject. At its most basic, perception
involves a visual point of view, such as that in a painting. But also a
perceptive point of view, such as the film’s, and even a psychological
stance as revealed through inner thoughts in the novel. Perception can
also be made a discovery process related to elements such as degree of
familiarity with the objects perceived. Thus readers and spectators can
experience Griet’s surprise when she looks for the first time through
the camera obscura, and accompany her as she progressively develops a
new way of looking at things. The representation and experience of
perception becomes central to the story in the paintings, the novel and
the film. Vermeer articulates a story in his painting by arranging
pictorial elements in a certain way although most meanings remain
inconclusive. In Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier sets
out to fill many of the gaps by developing Griet’s point of view in both
a visual and dramatic narrative. In his turn, Webber seems to have
concentrated largely on the visual and compositional aspects of the
story at the expense of character depth and narrative drive.
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