Inroduction

Examining the The Human Stain (2003) though the lens of adaptation, stardom and whiteness discourses, this dissertation (1) foregrounds the necessity of a textual-based and aesthetic reading to connect the source and the adaptation, revisitng the dilemma of representing race and passing in a visual medium; (2) simultaneously defends and critiques the efficacy and ethics of stars' white bodies, performances and persona issues in production and circulation innexus with medium specificity; (3) unravels the anxiety of vision in regard to white (in)visibility as examined in whiteness studies by white scholars, focusing on the reresentation of senses and narrativities; and (4) incorporates two film stars' interviews and reviews to trace the displacement of white transparency and neutrality.

As corporeal signifiers, eligible performers and ideological promoters, popular stars simultaneously challenge and essentialize racial divisions and masquerade in The Human Stain.

Cao Tengyu: Posted on Facebook and IG on Jan 17, 2022

Highlights

• As coporeal signifiers, eligible performers and ideological promoters, popular stars simultaneously challenge and essentialize racial divisionsand masquerade in The Human Stain. As stars' agency and servitude are not easily severed, the benefits and hndrances of their white bodies, artistic performances and popular sway lean together.
• The unconscious threat of white transparency, the institutional racist structure and the pursuit i radical liberty or identity-formations come hand in hand in a visual platform against the backdrop of the so-called-post-racial era in the United States.
• The valie of adaptation not only lies in the evaluation of quality, but also as a rewriting of the source text that invites further readings of both two versions in a dialogic relationship.

Highlights

• The next slide gives the reading of the shot below, which captures Faunia Farley (played by Nicole Kidman) from The Human Stain
  

  

• Her saddened eyes, messy make-up, untidy hair, the gesture of swallowing the saliva, half-opening the mouth, sighing, biting the lip, and finally closing her eyes, compose the in-car scene when she fails to recuperate herself from fierce quarrel.

Highlights

• This is one of the rare moments when Fauna is photographed in the offstage: she inulges in her sophisticated sentiments including sadness, regret, pain, etc. all alone and retreats from disguise. The close-up moment, rather than arbitrarily taking away the acting techniques of the actress, or crudely "hypersemiotizing" an "actor's smallest imperfection" in the "larger-than-life quality of film projection" (holliger 56), preserves Kidman's restrained, whereas highly perceptible performance within five seconds and vividly leaves roms for interpretation: whether this woman's identity or background totally matches her won illustration remains suspended.

Experience at MALCS

The learning journey at MALCS introduced me to the most wonderful teachers who khave provided me with professionsl academic guidance, sparkling inspirations ad unconditional support. Their passion fuels my urge to have a wider grasp and deeper penetration of literary, film and cultural suies, pushing me to mve from a keen movie-goer and reader to a more dedicated and reflexive learner. Haboring the habit of reading, thinking and writing has greatly attributed to my transient and irreplaceable encounter with MALCS!