The Comparative Analysis of Narrative Structure In The Book “A Man Called Ove” (2013) And Its Film Adaptations

Abstract

As novel-to-screen adaptations have been a growing trend for many decades, the comparison of the original story and its adaptations has always caused arguments. One of the significant alterations made during the adaptation is the narrative structure, in other words, how the events are rearranged or reorganized in this process. Especially novel A Man Called Ove (2013) by Fredrik Backman, which has a non-linear narrative structure with a huge amount of flashbacks shedding light on the events from the main character’s childhood till his death, sets a good example in this case. During the comparative analysis of the novel and two adapted movies, the plot is somewhat similar, but slight variations in flashbacks or additions and reductions of some characters and events in present-day segments make sense in this case. During the comparison of narrative structure analysis of the movie and the two adaptations, 29 similarities and 4 differences in the Swedish remake, while 22 similarities and 16 differences in the American remake have been calculated. Although the American remake has a lot of differences in comparison with the Swedish remake, both screen adaptations have been a hit during their run time in their respective country and all around the world.