Adaptation Theory
Throughout this course, one main thing that was looked at in regards to adaptation was fidelity, or how closely a film resembles a novel and in which ways it attempts to emulate this. Some examples that were brought up were the text on the screen in The Fault in Our Stars, which served to mimic Hazel and Gus’ communication over text and email. Another example from earlier in the semester was the inclusion of many unnecessary voice overs in My Sister’s Keeper to keep the feel of the book intact in the film. However, even though fidelity is an easy idea to wrap ones head around when looking at adaptation, I propose that it be disregarded. Instead, we should be taking a closer look at the readings of the source material by the filmmakers. This will answer the questions we have about the closeness of the novel and the film, but it also does the favor of answering the questions we have about why the two are different, which is equally as important as why they are similar. Also, in looking at the reading of the source material (instead of looking at the film through the lens of fidelity), we are given an answer about whether the adaptation is a success or a failure. The reading of source material is an important thing to look at because of the fact that the way a filmmaker reads a novel that they are turning into a film will drastically affect the final product. Therefore, when an audience sees a film, they are being told that the filmmaker took away from the
The PBS article on film adaptation discusses the challenges of adopting a novel into a film and the changes film makers must make. Most of these novels that are being read in schools are being made into movies. In these movies though, the narrator disappears in the movies which is a main factor of a book because they would show many characteristics about a character. The great thing about movies is that instead of a narrator, everybody can see the emotions on the characters faces and explains what the character goes through. For example, in the film “The Pedestrian” instead of having a narrator the creator of the film added another character in to show their feeling and emotions and others(Bollinger). Film is limited in many aspects as in
The personalities and depictions of the characters in the movie had to be "interpreted" by
Children today have access to many forms of literature, some of which are books made into movies. As the children become older, comments such as “the book was way better” or “the movie didn’t even come close to matching the book” or “the movie and book are the exact same, so save time and just watch the movie” are heard once children begin to make connections between the book and the film. It is important to me, as a future teacher, to be able to address such comments from my students and, in turn, help them understand why and how movies can either help or hinder the book’s original value and message. To help me prepare, I will compare a children’s film to the literary work that came from it.
Today we are going to talk about two adaptations; Watchmen and Fight Club. I believe Watchmen to be a failure of an adaptation and Fight Club to be a resounding success. Watchmen falls on the faithful side of the spectrum, while Fight Club falls in the middle. We aren't going to talk about the unfaithful side today, because the further we stray that direction the less we focus on adaptations and more on projects that simply steal the name of a property for the sake of branding sort of like World War Z, which can’t even be called an adaptation because it only takes the name.
One reason may be that it gives us visual representation of the book. Some people may understand things in a better, more thoughtful way if they see people portraying them on the screen. So after watching the movie, those students can gain a full understanding on the plot and the characters.
Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate.
The task of creating a film based on a work of literature sends filmmakers on a challenge of sorting through which parts of the book are incorporated into the movie. The creators had to find a way to turn almost over 200 hundred pages of paper into about two hours of time. Consequently, many details of the original writing are left out, shortened, or changed entirely to “fit” into the script. This concept is shown in the movie version of the book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, which tells the story of young Huck Finn as he travels down the Mississippi with a slave friend. Differences and similarities are apparent between the two adaptations of the story but both remain true to the original plotline. Even though certain literary elements of a novel, such as use of time, events of the story, and the characters, are altered, the main plotline is unaffected as a literature-based film is produced that meets specific real-life constraints.
The PBS article on film adaption discusses the challenges of adapting a novel into film and the changes film makers may need to make. There are many differences between the two due to their prepositional setups. This can cause key factors of a novel to be lost once transferred into a film. This includes a narrator, personal attachments with the characters, engaging your imagination and possibly even scenes due to the time limitation a film has(PBS). However, when a director takes on this challenge they’re able to alter the novel and fix any faults they see. They also must make many attempts to successfully convey the protagonist’s emotions through other tools with actions or visual aids. This results in the director's
“The last thing you want is Hannibal Lecter inside your head.” It is a daunting task to effectively transfer textual tonality from page to screen. Balancing proper visual interpretations of the text with original insights is not an easy procedure, and not every filmmaker is equipped with the artistic skills necessary to complete such an undertaking. Alejandro Jodorowsky’s wildly unsuccessful attempt at adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune, for example, ended in bankruptcy for the studio and premature cancellation of the project due to the extensive runtime the film was to have in accordance with the length of the book. Many filmic adaptations fail in their inability to recapture and translate what originally gave a text literary merit. Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of the quintessential Thomas Harris novel Silence of the Lambs is so well
Behind every great movie, comes a storyline that is derived from a book however, most of the books to the movies have a great number of deviations. The screenwriters and other staff members to include the director come up with these deviations to enhance the plot in the attempt to make it a more interesting film to which in turn can make a better profit. The majority of differences that is found in films main objective is to enhance the mind. For example, when a scene has the ability to get a particular feeling out of a viewer, it is imperative to be able to understand the reasons for those feelings. The dialog and the visual effects of a scene sets a tone that differs from that of the book that it was taken from. Also, screen writers and
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
In recent years, it has become popular for many of America's great literary masterpieces to be adapted into film versions. As easy a task as it may sound, there are many problems that can arise from trying to adapt a book into a movie, being that the written word is what makes the novel a literary work of art. Many times, it is hard to express the written word on camera because the words that express so much action and feeling can not always be expressed the same way through pictures and acting. One example of this can be found in the comparison of Ken Kesey's novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the film version directed in 1975 by Milos Forman.
It is common in today's media-driven society to reach into the past for inspiration and ideas. A trend has developed where original works are transformed into other mediums. For example: books are turned into movies and/or plays, movies are turned into weekly sitcoms, and cartoons will spawn empires (Disney). These things happen so often that an audience rarely stops to question the level of authenticity that remains after these conversions. Perhaps it is only when a project is not well received that people begin to think of the difficulties involved with changing a work's genre. Using Gulliver's Travels as an example, discrepancies and additions in the movie can be
In the world, over 12.7 million people discover they have cancer. The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green is a compelling novel that presents the story of a sixteen year-old girl named Hazel who suffers from thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs. Throughout the book, Hazel is battling her disease, causing her pain and suffering. In The Fault In our Stars, Green illustrates suffering is apart of life, therefore being human is to have the ability to overcome pain and become stronger.
The two main places that involve the two main characters, Hazel and Gus, were Amsterdam and Indianapolis. Hazel was scared that she will one day hurt the ones who love her when she would one day die from her lung cancer. When Hazel had to go to the emergency room that one time because of fluids in her lungs, Augustus was scared Hazel might die. Then as we learn towards the end of the novel, Hazel ends up being scared of Augustus dying when his cancer came back. Hazel was angry when Augustus died besides being very upset. They were disappointed and Hazel got angry when they saw who Peter Van Houten really was. They both felt like they were cancer victims, but they made the best of it with each other by going to Amsterdam and other events. They had many safe times such as when they were at the Support Group and Amsterdam because there were no health related emergencies and they had a good time together. The dangerous times is when Hazel had to go to the emergency room due to fluids in her lungs and when Augustus got his cancer back.