One ongoing strand of my research into Bradbury is looking at Bradbury's imagery, and what happens to it when his stories are translated into other media. My view, generally, is that Bradbury's stories are often sensory explosions that thoroughly engage the reader; it is then almost inevitable that when someone lifts a Bradbury plot and makes a film of it, the film will disappoint. I say almost inevitable because I'm sure a strong visual artist could do much to bring Bradbury to life. If we think of the film-makers who have adapted Bradbury, very few of them have been primarily visual artists. The strongest Bradbury film adaptations have some sense of atmosphere - Something Wicked This Way Comes (in parts), Moby Dick, Fahrenheit 451 (think of the final scenes) - but still don't quite summon up the sensory response you get from reading Bradbury off the page.
I am reminded that the illustrator most closely associated with Bradbury, Joe Mugnaini, was a visual artist who was able to not just visualise what Bradbury had written, but extend it, interpret it, add twists and depth to it. Mugnaini's line illustrations are deceptively simple, and have (in many cases) created a permanent image in the reader's mind, an image which is inseparable from the Bradbury story.If only there were a film-maker with the vision of a Mugnaini...
There's very little on the web about Mugnaini - lots of references to him, but very few dedicated pages. A Google Images search will turn up lots of his work, however. The best pages on Mugnaini I can find are:
- A brief page from the Otis Art Institute, which Mugnaini attended in the 1940s
- Some Bradbury images at the Tobey C Moss gallery...
- And the same portfolio, rather more elegantly presented, at Live Auctioneers
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