Narrative Differences of the Pearl Earring in the Film and Painting Girl with a Pearl Earring

Abstract

This study investigates the narrative transformation of the core visual symbol—the pearl earring—across Johannes Vermeer’s iconic painting Girl with a Pearl Earring and its transmedial adaptation (Peter Webber’s film based on Tracy Chevalier’s novel). By integrating Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar, Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory, and Laura Mulvey’s gendered gaze theory, the research constructs a triaxial analytical model (formal, semantic, and power strata) to systematically examine the rhetorical reconfiguration and power metaphors of the pearl earring in static painting and dynamic cinema. Findings reveal that while the film maintains aesthetic consistency with the painting in lighting and color—featuring crisp contrasts, chiaroscuro effects, and soft natural illumination—the pearl earring, as an anchoring symbol, carries divergent narrative significances across the two mediums. The study further elucidates that transmedial adaptation fundamentally involves the negotiation between signifiers and signifieds. Critically, it cautions against oversimplified cultural-political interpretations in translating artistic classics, advocating for equilibrium between aesthetic autonomy and ethical reflection. These conclusions provide novel theoretical perspectives for transmedial narrative studies and methodological insights for adapting historical symbols.