Adaptation: From Literature to Film, to Television 4018-KON328-CLASS
We define adaptation as use of an existing artistic work for the creation of a new one. The most basic and frequent kind of adaptation is translation from one language to another. Another instance is a transformation of an artistic work using the language proper to another domain of art – from visual arts to verbal (ecphrasis), from verbal to musical, from musical to visual, from verbal to audiovisual and vice versa. We will explore – using examples - various models of adaptation, from the point of view of fidelity to the original, relations between arts, and techniques of translation, discussing models of transposition, commentary, analogy, as well as deconstruction, interpretation, and transformation. We will distinguish between adaptation of cannon of literature and masterpieces of national literature done to safeguard them and adaptation leading to the creation of separate works of art. We will reflect on a series of questions, namely: are there differences between adaptation of various genres – novels, novellas, plays, or poem? What role in deciding on the model of adaptation play the realities of the film and television industry? Why adaptation is omnipresent and extremely popular but at the same time its artistic value is spurned? Television adaptation of detective novels in Greta Britain will be analyzed separately, as an exercise in history of culture and as as an illustration of the importance of detective fiction for the understanding of the nature of crime and and the stereotype of the British culture. We will pay particular attention to cycles of adaptations of contemporary cult classics, such as Tolkien and Rowling, and to television adaptations.
As the class is divided into ten sessions, attendance is compulsory, an absence requires a note from the doctor. To obtain expected effects of learning, students will have to schedule from three to five hours to prepare themselves for each class.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing the class, students acquire the following effects of learning:
Knowledge:
• Knows basic methods of interpretation of an audiovisual work, including also analysis of its language and the evolution of the genre
• Masters the basis of an interdisciplinary approach in media studies
• Understands the difference between the creative process in literature and in mass audiovisual culture
• Understands the requirements and the course of the creative process leading to producing an adaptation
• Understands the phenomenon of popularity and the social functions of a work belonging to mass culture
• Skills:
• Applies basic theoretical approaches and paradigms in cultural interpretation of discussed works
• Applies the acquired knowledge about creative processes in interpretation of audiovisual works.
• Identifies and analyzes needs of the viewers of film and television series adapted from literature and relates them to the phenomenon of popularity and success
• Improves the command of English in the area of language used in media culture.
Social competencies:
• is aware of the dynamic development of culture and of emerging new methodologies and research paradigms
• understands and applies the need and rules of team work in an interdisciplinary group
• participates actively in discussion and other creative group activities
• reinforces the habit of courteous exchange of views and readiness to listen to opinions and advice
• keeps actively aware of cultural audiovisual events in Poland and internationally.
Assessment criteria
Based on participation in the presentation of selected texts (30%), taking part in the analysis, critique and assessment of the presented film materials (30%), exercises in comparative analysis (40%).
Bibliography
Set of texts selected by the teacher.
Bazin, André. „O film nieczysty – obrona adaptacji filmowej,” [in:] Film i rzeczywistość, wybór tekstów, przekład i posłowie B. Michałek, Warszawa 1963, 79-103.
Choczaj,Małgorzata. „O adaptacji, ekranizacji, przekładzie intersemiotycznym i innych zmartwieniach teorii literatury, filmu i mediów,” Przestrzenie Teorii 16. Poznań 2011, Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 11-39.
Costanzo Cahir, Linda. Literature into Film. Theory and Practical Approaches. London: McFarland, 2006.
Godzic, Wiesław. Telewizja i jej gatunki. Kraków: Universitas, 2004.
– . Telewizja jako kultura. Wyd. II popr. Kraków: RABID, 2002.
Harrison, Stephanie (ed.). Adaptations. From Short Story to Big Screen. 35 Great Stories That Have Inspired Great Films. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005.
Helman, Alicja. „Adaptacja – podstawowa technika twórcza kina,” [w:] Intermedialność w kulturze końca XX wieku, red. A. Gwóźdź, S. Krzemień-Ojak, Białystok: Trans Humana, 1998
Helman, Alicja. Twórcza zdrada. Filmowe adaptacje literatury, Poznań: Ars Nova, 1998
Hopfinger, Maryla. Literatura i media. Po 1989 roku, Warszawa: Oficyna naukowa, 2010
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Kino według Alicji, red. W. Godzic, T. Lubelski, Kraków: Universitas, 1995, s. 75.
McCaw, Neil. Adapting Detective Fiction. Crime, Englishness and the TV Detectives. London: Continuum, 2011.
Mittell, Jason. Genre and Television: From Cop Shows to Cartoons in American Culture, New York: Routledge, 2004.
Naremore, James (ed.). Film Adaptation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000.
Plisiecki, Janusz. Film i sztuki tradycyjne, Lublin: Wyd. Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, 2005.
Sanders, Julie. Adaptation and Appropriation. London; Routledge, 2010.
Additional information
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