Sylvia Duncan

• Any movie that is based on a previously written work of literature. This includes, but is not limited to, comedy (The World According to Garp written by John Irving), tragedy (Hamlet written by William Shakespeare), romance (Emma or Persuasion written by Jane Austen), horror (The Shining written by Stephen King), and drama (Girl Interrupted written by Susanna Kaysen).

• Literature Film Quarterly proposes "four critical paradigms of film adaptation." Each paradigm discusses the different criterion in which a critic will typically evaluate a film adaptation.

1. The ‘"translation’ paradigm" addresses whether the film aligns directly with the different facets of the novel, "such as character, setting, and theme."
2. The ‘"pluralist’ paradigm" evaluates whether the film remains "true to the spirit’" of the novel. This examines whether the movie is adhering to the "tone and value" of the text.
3. The ‘"transformation’ paradigm . . . consider(s) the novel raw material that the film alters significantly." Basically, this approach looks for basic alignments with the novel, thereby ‘transforming’ the novel into a work seen from a wholly new perspective.
4. The ‘"materialist’ paradigm" analyzes the film product in terms of its "cultural-historical" merit. While the essential facets of the novel are not ignored, they are pushed into the background in lieu of an attempt to "understand the world from which [the novel] comes and the one toward which [the novel] points."

Related Genres: Live Theatre, Literature in Television Movies

Representational Genre: combination of Drama or Dialogue and Narrator + Dialogue

Narrative Genre: Virtually any literary genre can be adapted to film. Tragedy, comedy, satire and romance are a few samples of genres in film adaptations. Various works of poetry have even been adapted into films, such as Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling.

Highlights of Example: Compare and contrast the two film versions of Romeo and Juliet (1968 and 1996).

Additional Examples of Genre: The Green Mile by Stephen King, The Cider House Rules by John Irving, Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway, Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote, Moll Flanders by Daniel Dafoe

http://www.lib.unc.edu/house/nonprint/filmedlitindex.htm

Applicable Course Objective: 2a. Read important texts . . . and describe the identities, problems and values they represent in various cultures and periods of western history.

Research sources: The above web address.

Questions:

1. Describe which "paradigm" you feel most closely corresponds with each version of Romeo and Juliet.
2. Which version of Romeo and Juliet captures today’s audience better and why?
3. Which version do you think aligns the closest with Shakespeare’s vision of Romeo and Juliet?
4. How do you feel about film adaptations of literature?