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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Adaptation

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Adaptation by Thomas Leitch , Kyle Meikle LAST REVIEWED: 29 September 2014 LAST MODIFIED: 29 September 2014 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791286-0116

Studies of cinematic adaptations—films based, as the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences puts it, on material originally presented in another medium—are scarcely a century old. Even so, particular studies of adaptation, the process by which texts in a wide range of media are transformed into films (and more recently into other texts that are not necessarily films), cannot be properly understood without reference to the specific period they were produced in. Each generation of adaptation studies has produced its own principles and orthodoxies, typically by attacking the orthodoxies and principles of the preceding generation. Adaptation studies have regularly alternated between polemics that attacked earlier assumptions in the field and readings of individual adaptations that have explored the implications of these attacks and so implicitly established new orthodoxies. The earliest work on adaptation, from Vachel Lindsay’s The Art of the Moving Picture , first published in 1915, to André Bazin’s “Adaptation, or the Cinema as Digest,” first published in 1948, grapples with the general relationship between literature and cinema as presentational modes. The second phase, focusing mostly on adaptations of individual novels to films, follows George Bluestone’s highly influential 2003 study Novels into Film , originally published in 1957, in assuming a series of categorical distinctions between verbal and visual representational modes. Most studies of individual adaptations and their sources, and most textbooks on adaptation, have been produced under the influence of these assumptions. In this third phase, Robert Stam’s 2000 article “Beyond Fidelity: The Dialogics of Adaptation” rejects the binary distinctions between source texts and adaptations; Kamilla Elliott’s 2003 book Rethinking the Novel/Film Debate deconstructs the binary distinctions between verbal and visual texts; and Linda Hutcheon and Siobhan O’Flynn’s 2012 book A Theory of Adaptation emphasizes the continuities between texts that have been explicitly identified as adaptations and all other texts as intertextual palimpsests marked by traces of innumerable earlier texts. This third phase has generated most of the leading work on adaptation theory. An emerging fourth phase is heralded by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s 1999 study Remediation: Understanding New Media and Lev Manovich’s 2001 book The Language of New Media . Both are inspired by the rise of the digital media that establishes every reader as a potential writer. These analysts use a Wiki-based model of writing as community participation rather than individual creation to break down the distinction between reading and writing and recast adaptation as a quintessential instance of the incessant process of textual production. A leading tendency of this fourth phase has been to use methodologies developed for literature-to-film adaptation to analyze adaptations that range far outside literature and cinema.

General Resources

Earlier than any other area of cinema studies, adaptation began to generate a substantial body of resources specifically designed for teachers, students, and academic researchers. The dominance of the case study in the second phase of adaptation studies produced an especially comprehensive and wide-ranging series of literature-to-cinema filmographies, some aiming for exhaustiveness, others for greater selectivity and more extended analysis of particular novel-to-film or theater-to-film pairs. The prominence of college courses in film adaptation generated a number of textbooks focusing on cinematic adaptation, and later a series of essays considering the larger theoretical and pedagogical issues that were raised, or that could be raised, by focusing on adaptations.

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Adaptation Before Cinema pp 1–17 Cite as

Introduction: Adaptation’s Past, Adaptation’s Future

Glenn Jellenik 5 &
Lissette Lopez Szwydky 6
First Online: 20 January 2023

239 Accesses

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture ((PSADVC))

This chapter situates Adaptation Before Cinema as a historical intervention into adaptation studies, making the case that an over-reliance on film adaptation has left the field historically myopic. Decentering film opens multiple directions for adaptation studies past, present, and future and brings new voices and approaches into the critical conversation. The editors of the collection trace the ways in which adaptation studies can be enriched by rethinking the function of adaptation, by not only acknowledging but also exploring adaptation as a transhistorical, global phenomenon that also crosses forms, media, and genres. Jellenik and Szwydky argue that scholars of literature and culture working in historical fields that predate the twentieth century are uniquely positioned to identify common points of interest with adaptation studies and its standard theoretical and critical approaches, demonstrating to contemporary media theorists how much twentieth- and twenty-first-century media forms and industry practices continue to be influenced not only by historical literary sources but also by early adaptation practices that predate film and other contemporary media. Attention to those older adaptations and adaptation practices can yield creative and productive critical approaches that can be applied across contemporary media adaptation studies. As Jellenik and Szwydky argue, adaptations and other forms of extension and transmediation have always driven literature, theater, art, and popular culture, as well as shaped the construction and reception histories of specific texts. These connections and broader stakes for the study of literature and culture crystallize when we excavate and analyze forms of adaptation and transmedia that drove storytelling before the twentieth century.

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Works Cited

Andrew, Dudley. “Adaptation,” in Concepts in Film Theory . New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. 96–106.

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Genette, Gérard. Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree . Translated by Channa Newman and Claude Doubinsky. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Originally published in French by Editions du Seuil, 1982.

Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation . Routledge: New York, 2006.

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Laird, Karen E. The Art of Adapting Victorian Literature, 1848–1920: Jane Eyre , David Copperfield , and The Woman in White. Ashgate, 2015.

Lanier, Douglas M. “Shakespearean Rhizomatics: Adaptation, Ethics, Value.” Shakespeare and the Ethics of Appropriation , edited by Alexa Huang and Elizabeth Rivlin, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp. 21–40.

Lev, Peter, “How to Write Adaptation History,” book chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies , ed. Leitch, Oxford University Press, 2017: (661–678).

MacCabe, Colin, “Bazinian Adaptation: The Butcher Boy as Example,” Introduction to True to the Spirit, Oxford University Press, 2011: (3–25).

Meikle, Kyle. Adaptations in the Franchise Era, 2001–2016 . Bloomsbury, 2019.

Semenza, Gregory. “Towards a Historical Turn? Adaptation Studies and the Challenges of History.” The Routledge Companion to Adaptation , edited by Dennis Cutchins, Katja Krebs, and Eckart Voigts, Routledge, 2018, 58–66.

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Szwydky, Lissette Lopez. Transmedia Adaptation in the Nineteenth Century , Ohio State University Press, 2020.

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Jellenik, G., Szwydky, L.L. (2023). Introduction: Adaptation’s Past, Adaptation’s Future. In: Szwydky, L.L., Jellenik, G. (eds) Adaptation Before Cinema. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09596-2_1

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From Celebrated Film Scholar Dudley Andrew: Andre Bazin on Adaptation

Available for the first time in English, these previously unavailable essays introduce readers to the foundational concepts of the relationship between film and literary adaptation as put forth by one of the greatest film and cultural critics of the 20th century.

Expertly curated and with an introduction by celebrated film scholar Dudley Andrew, the book begins with a selection of essays that show Bazin’s film theory in action, followed by reviews of films adapted from renowned novels of the day (Conrad, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Colette, Sagan, Duras, and others) as well as classic novels of the nineteenth century (Bronte, Melville, Tolstoy, Balzac, Hugo, Zola, Stendhal, and more). As a bonus, two hundred and fifty years of French fiction are put into play as Bazin assesses adaptation after adaptation to determine what is at stake for culture, for literature, and especially for cinema. This volume will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in literary adaptation, authorship, classical film theory, French film history, and André Bazin’s criticism.

Dudley Andrew , Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and of Film Studies at Yale University, is biographer of André Bazin, whose ideas he extends in What Cinema Is! and Opening Bazin . With two books on 1930s French Cinema, Andrew was named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The following passage is excerpted from the book’s Introduction, written by translator Dudley Andrew, and titled: André Bazin’s Position in Cinema’s Literary Imagination

More than forty years ago, I inadvertently put my foot into what Mary Ann Doane, soon to be a distinguished film scholar, warned me was the swamp of adaptation, when I composed an under-researched article that has kept me trudging intermittently onward ever since.1 That article has many problems, but it did properly stake out the two principal directions one could take in this unmapped zone: semiotics and sociology. The former avoids history and encompasses media specificity (including media overlap), narratology, comparative stylistics, registers of equivalence, and degrees of fidelity. The latter deals with periods and movements in multiple arts; the varied incarnations and remediations of overriding themes, situations, and characters; the national promotion or censorship of topics; comparative reception and the fluctuating force of fandom, etc. Both directions demand general reflection and specific case studies. In 1980, emerging from a decade of semiotics and narratology, I held the banner of the sociological alternative high so it could at least be recognized. Actually I was unknowingly contributing to a wave that turned the leading edge of adaptation studies away from analyzing pairs of texts (novels into films) and toward cultural studies. I urged broad but controlled research into how literary texts and movements have been appropriated and exploited by producers and consumers in various times and places, and how, sometimes, there has been a reverse flow from film back to literature. The impact of the text, not its inviolability, counts for social history. Then cultural studies came to completely dominate the humanities, and I flinched to see original works of literature left unprotected from roving bands of critics who applauded while books and plays I considered masterworks were manhandled in ways alleged to be relevant, challenging, or simply postmodern. Eventually I published an about-face called “The Economies of Fidelity” in a collection neatly titled True to the Spirit . Fidelity, I argued, cannot be pushed brusquely aside. It may be overvalued, but it remains a value for all that, and one not to be dismissed even in cases when it is flagrantly traduced.

Evidently, I don’t know where I stand, apparently trudging in both directions. But I take heart, since André Bazin had done the same, though in his case with a plan and in full awareness. He knew that a social history of the arts alongside technological and stylistic knowledge of both literature and cinema must accompany, perhaps tacitly, any worthwhile examination and assessment of those many moments when these media collide in adaptation. Adaptations are not curiosities, constituting a niche genre. They are crucial for the health and growth of both fiction and film. They also open up for the critic and the public a glimpse into the (semiotic) workings of both forms and into the sociology of cultural production.

Bazin treated cinema’s rapport with literature, what I call its “literary imagination,” as the necessary complement to its rapport with reality. His most famous essay, “The Ontology of the Photographic Image,” anchoring his realism, appeared in print in 1945, a few months before his equally intricate piece on André Malraux’s Espoir came out in Poésie . There Bazin dared to suggest that Malraux’s film could be taken on a par with his novel, because, as he would state three years later in “Cinema as Digest,” it is effectively its twin and it doesn’t matter which was the first to come out of Malraux’s head. Even if they drift down different streams of cultural history—one literary, the other cinematic—they share the DNA of this auteur’s style. “Cinema as Digest” put the new medium in its place, that is, situated it among the arts as these have evolved in Western culture since the Middle Ages. This kind of historical-cultural investigation was essential to Bazin’s quest to discover “What is Cinema?,” just as were his ideas about the medium’s specificity in the essay on photography’s ontology. Certain that, pace Jean-Paul Sartre, “Cinema’s existence precedes its essence,” Bazin recognized the need for an ontogeny of the medium that would complement its ontology. Both types of investigation demand a scrutiny of cinema’s stylistic resources, such as he provided in the Malraux example and many of his film reviews. As those reviews intermittently demonstrate, cinema’s ontogeny involves an evolution in which it grew out of, and in symbiosis with, literature.

This post is part of our #SCMS22 series. Conference attendees can get 40% off the book with code 21E5879.

TAGS: #SCMS22 , 9780520375819 , André Bazin , Cinema , Dudley Andrew , Film Studies , literary adaptation

CATEGORIES: Film & Media Studies , Literary Studies & Poetry

Film and Media Studies Program

André bazin on adaptation: cinema’s literary imagination.

By Andre Bazin , Dudley Andrew (Editor) , Deborah Glassman (Translator) , Natasa Durovicova (Translator)

Adaptation was central to André Bazin’s lifelong query: What is cinema? Placing films alongside literature allowed him to identify the aesthetic and sociological distinctiveness of each medium. More importantly, it helped him wage his campaign for a modern conception of cinema, one that owed a great deal to developments in the novel. The critical genius of one of the greatest film and cultural critics of the twentieth century is on full display in this collection, in which readers are introduced to Bazin’s foundational concepts of the relationship between film and literary adaptation. Expertly curated and with an introduction by celebrated film scholar Dudley Andrew, the book begins with a selection of essays that show Bazin’s film theory in action, followed by reviews of films adapted from renowned novels of the day (Conrad, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Colette, Sagan, Duras, and others) as well as classic novels of the nineteenth century (Bronte, Melville, Tolstoy, Balzac, Hugo, Zola, Stendhal, and more). As a bonus, two hundred and fifty years of French fiction are put into play as Bazin assesses adaptation after adaptation to determine what is at stake for culture, for literature, and especially for cinema. This volume will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in literary adaptation, authorship, classical film theory, French film history, and André Bazin’s criticism.

The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies

Thomas Leitch is Professor of English at the University of Delaware. His most recent books are A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock, co-edited with Leland Poague (2011), and Wikipedia U: Knowledge, Authority, and Liberal Education in the Digital Age (2014). He is currently working on The History of American Literature on Film.

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This collection of forty original essays reflects on the history of adaptation studies, surveys the current state of the field, and maps out possible futures that mobilize its unparalleled ability to bring together theorists and practitioners in different modes of discourse. Grounding contemporary adaptation studies in a series of formative debates about what adaptation is, whether its orientation should be scientific or aesthetic, and whether it is most usefully approached inductively, through close analyses of specific adaptations, or deductively, through general theories of adaptation, the volume, not so much a museum as a laboratory or a provocation, aims to foster, rather than resolve, these debates. Its seven parts focus on the historical and theoretical foundations of adaptation study, the problems raised by adapting canonical classics and the aesthetic commons, the ways different genres and presentational modes illuminate and transform the nature of adaptation, the relations between adaptation and intertextuality, the interdisciplinary status of adaptation, and the issues involved in professing adaptation, now and in the future. Embracing an expansive view of adaptation and adaptation studies, it emphasizes the area’s status as a crossroads or network that fosters interactive exchange across many disciplines and advocates continued debate on its leading questions as the best defense against the possibilities of dilution, miscommunication, and chaos that this expansive view threatens to introduce to a burgeoning field uniquely responsive to the contemporary textual landscape.

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THEORIES OF ADAPTATION: NOVEL TO FILM

Related Papers

International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts- ISSN 2454-2415- Vol 1- 2017

Many film critics like have provided a base for the nature and method of the adaptation as an inter-relative idea between literature and film. The film script is not always an entirely new literary form. It simply translates. According to Balazs, the novel or drama should be regarded, as a potential raw material to be transformed at will by the writer of the screenplay. After that, the screenplay has an ability to approach reality, to approach the thematic and the formal design of the literary model and represent it with various viewpoints. The adaptation is also considered as an entirely new entity which provides several variations also. This paper attempts to explore the visual medium translation of the printed words by analyzing Shakespeare"s Macbeth in its various cinematic interpretations. Macbeth was adopted by many filmmakers across the world and this paper deliberates on three major adaptations: Indian version of Macbeth by Vishal Bhardwaj called Maqbool, Orson Welles"s version of Macbeth (1948) and Akira Kurosawa"s Japanese version of Macbeth called The Throne of Blood Introduction:

Azeez Jasim

To what extent our innermost feelings can be revealed through our works? The unbearable face of human being cannot be hidden and what a director shot in a film may reveal the real sense of what is hidden from our eyes. Thus directors sometimes try to hide their dark side behind such interesting movies after having modified the events of the original text to achieve their end. This paper, however, is an overview about the technique of adaptation which varies from one adaptationist to another depending on the historical background of the screenplay writer. Although the director succeeds to project what is on one side of his curtain, he fails to hide what is on the other side that discloses his innermost feelings.

Journal of Screenwriting

Shannon Wells-Lassagne

shyamali banerjee

John Mitras

The purpose of this paper is to show how recent research on the nature of dramatic language can further our understanding of the problematic nature of exporting Shakespearean texts on to the medium of film. This paper is written in three parts. The first part discusses the performance-orientation of dramatic language; the second part considers the possible choreography for spatial organization and kinesics suggested by dramatic language; the third part looks at some of the ways cinema neutralizes the performative potential of dramatic language. The central argument is that a successful modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's plays will in some ways be hindered by the retention of the original script.

Studies in Literature and Language

aiman al-garrallah

Cătălin Constantinescu

This research is based on my multiple readings and re-readings of the novels of George Orwell for almost two decades. Orwell’s 1984, at least, is not just a very influent writing on our perceptions regarding surveillance: “Big Brother” is everywhere as discursive instance in our days; this may be a political and sociological starting point of discussion. Besides, it is a good example for discussing various aspects of how literature is used by readers – implying a whole debate upon the functions of literature. My reading of the filmic rewriting of Orwell’s 1984 (discussed in another study) revealed profound mutations in analysing the film as medium. It provided grounds for comparison, but not just for the sake of comparison (“comparaison n’est pas raison”, as Rene Etiemble emphasized in ‘60s). It is a fruitful starting point, as I try to focus on the relationships not only between film and literature, but also on dialectics of various approaches on the relationship between these media. The main goals are to observe and to evaluate what “degree of theoreticity” is admitted in our critical reading of adaptation. Comparatists should also investigate – as Claudio Guillén stated in Entre lo uno y lo diverso: introducción a la literatura comparada (1985) – how far can we go with categories or classes when they are subject of a comparative reading. In analysing the relationships between film and literature, one must not forget Susan Sontag’s claim in affirming that film, the narrative film namely (use of plot, characters, setting, dialogue, imagery, manipulating time and space) shares with literature the most.

Siddhant Kalra

As old as the machinery of film itself, literary texts have continually informed cinematic adaptations. The interaction of two discrete media evokes questions pertaining to the nature of adaptations. Are they a new text or is a text purely 'textual'? In light of adaptation theory and the history of cinema, this paper offers a brief assessment of this phenomenological inquiry. 'Fidelity' to the source literary text has conventionally been the primary criterion for assessing a film adaptation. This paper also explores this assumption and its transformation in the postmodern world.

Literature Film Quarterly

greg semenza

Johannes von Moltke

Film Writing: Sample Analysis

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Introductory Note

The analysis below discusses the opening moments of the science fiction movie Ex Machina in order to make an argument about the film's underlying purpose. The text of the analysis is formatted normally. Editor's commentary, which will occasionally interrupt the piece to discuss the author's rhetorical strategies, is written in brackets in an italic font with a bold "Ed.:" identifier. See the examples below:

The text of the analysis looks like this.

[ Ed.: The editor's commentary looks like this. ]

Frustrated Communication in Ex Machina ’s Opening Sequence

Alex Garland’s 2015 science fiction film Ex Machina follows a young programmer’s attempts to determine whether or not an android possesses a consciousness complicated enough to pass as human. The film is celebrated for its thought-provoking depiction of the anxiety over whether a nonhuman entity could mimic or exceed human abilities, but analyzing the early sections of the film, before artificial intelligence is even introduced, reveals a compelling examination of humans’ inability to articulate their thoughts and feelings. In its opening sequence, Ex Machina establishes that it’s not only about the difficulty of creating a machine that can effectively talk to humans, but about human beings who struggle to find ways to communicate with each other in an increasingly digital world.

[ Ed.: The piece's opening introduces the film with a plot summary that doesn't give away too much and a brief summary of the critical conversation that has centered around the film. Then, however, it deviates from this conversation by suggesting that Ex Machina has things to say about humanity before non-human characters even appear. Off to a great start. ]

The film’s first establishing shots set the action in a busy modern office. A woman sits at a computer, absorbed in her screen. The camera looks at her through a glass wall, one of many in the shot. The reflections of passersby reflected in the glass and the workspace’s dim blue light make it difficult to determine how many rooms are depicted. The camera cuts to a few different young men typing on their phones, their bodies partially concealed both by people walking between them and the camera and by the stylized modern furniture that surrounds them. The fourth shot peeks over a computer monitor at a blonde man working with headphones in. A slight zoom toward his face suggests that this is an important character, and the cut to a point-of-view shot looking at his computer screen confirms this. We later learn that this is Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a young programmer whose perspective the film follows.

The rest of the sequence cuts between shots from Caleb’s P.O.V. and reaction shots of his face, as he receives and processes the news that he has won first prize in a staff competition. Shocked, Caleb dives for his cellphone and texts several people the news. Several people immediately respond with congratulatory messages, and after a moment the woman from the opening shot runs in to give him a hug. At this point, the other people in the room look up, smile, and start clapping, while Caleb smiles disbelievingly—perhaps even anxiously—and the camera subtly zooms in a bit closer. Throughout the entire sequence, there is no sound other than ambient electronic music that gets slightly louder and more textured as the sequence progresses. A jump cut to an aerial view of a glacial landscape ends the sequence and indicates that Caleb is very quickly transported into a very unfamiliar setting, implying that he will have difficulty adjusting to this sudden change in circumstances.

[ Ed.: These paragraphs are mostly descriptive. They give readers the information they will need to understand the argument the piece is about to offer. While passages like this can risk becoming boring if they dwell on unimportant details, the author wisely limits herself to two paragraphs and maintains a driving pace through her prose style choices (like an almost exclusive reliance on active verbs). ]

Without any audible dialogue or traditional expository setup of the main characters, this opening sequence sets viewers up to make sense of Ex Machina ’s visual style and its exploration of the ways that technology can both enhance and limit human communication. The choice to make the dialogue inaudible suggests that in-person conversations have no significance. Human-to-human conversations are most productive in this sequence when they are mediated by technology. Caleb’s first response when he hears his good news is to text his friends rather than tell the people sitting around him, and he makes no move to take his headphones out when the in-person celebration finally breaks out. Everyone in the building is on their phones, looking at screens, or has headphones in, and the camera is looking at screens through Caleb’s viewpoint for at least half of the sequence.

Rather than simply muting the specific conversations that Caleb has with his coworkers, the ambient soundtrack replaces all the noise that a crowded building in the middle of a workday would ordinarily have. This silence sets the uneasy tone that characterizes the rest of the film, which is as much a horror-thriller as a piece of science fiction. Viewers get the sense that all the sounds that humans make as they walk around and talk to each other are being intentionally filtered out by some presence, replaced with a quiet electronic beat that marks the pacing of the sequence, slowly building to a faster tempo. Perhaps the sound of people is irrelevant: only the visual data matters here. Silence is frequently used in the rest of the film as a source of tension, with viewers acutely aware that it could be broken at any moment. Part of the horror of the research bunker, which will soon become the film’s primary setting, is its silence, particularly during sequences of Caleb sneaking into restricted areas and being startled by a sudden noise.

The visual style of this opening sequence reinforces the eeriness of the muted humans and electronic soundtrack. Prominent use of shallow focus to depict a workspace that is constructed out of glass doors and walls makes it difficult to discern how large the space really is. The viewer is thus spatially disoriented in each new setting. This layering of glass and mirrors, doubling some images and obscuring others, is used later in the film when Caleb meets the artificial being Ava (Alicia Vikander), who is not allowed to leave her glass-walled living quarters in the research bunker. The similarity of these spaces visually reinforces the film’s late revelation that Caleb has been manipulated by Nathan Bates (Oscar Isaac), the troubled genius who creates Ava.

[ Ed.: In these paragraphs, the author cites the information about the scene she's provided to make her argument. Because she's already teased the argument in the introduction and provided an account of her evidence, it doesn't strike us as unreasonable or far-fetched here. Instead, it appears that we've naturally arrived at the same incisive, fascinating points that she has. ]

A few other shots in the opening sequence more explicitly hint that Caleb is already under Nathan’s control before he ever arrives at the bunker. Shortly after the P.O.V shot of Caleb reading the email notification that he won the prize, we cut to a few other P.O.V. shots, this time from the perspective of cameras in Caleb’s phone and desktop computer. These cameras are not just looking at Caleb, but appear to be scanning him, as the screen flashes in different color lenses and small points appear around Caleb’s mouth, eyes, and nostrils, tracking the smallest expressions that cross his face. These small details indicate that Caleb is more a part of this digital space than he realizes, and also foreshadow the later revelation that Nathan is actively using data collected by computers and webcams to manipulate Caleb and others. The shots from the cameras’ perspectives also make use of a subtle fisheye lens, suggesting both the wide scope of Nathan’s surveillance capacities and the slightly distorted worldview that motivates this unethical activity.

[ Ed.: This paragraph uses additional details to reinforce the piece's main argument. While this move may not be as essential as the one in the preceding paragraphs, it does help create the impression that the author is noticing deliberate patterns in the film's cinematography, rather than picking out isolated coincidences to make her points. ]

Taken together, the details of Ex Machina ’s stylized opening sequence lay the groundwork for the film’s long exploration of the relationship between human communication and technology. The sequence, and the film, ultimately suggests that we need to develop and use new technologies thoughtfully, or else the thing that makes us most human—our ability to connect through language—might be destroyed by our innovations. All of the aural and visual cues in the opening sequence establish a world in which humans are utterly reliant on technology and yet totally unaware of the nefarious uses to which a brilliant but unethical person could put it.

Author's Note: Thanks to my literature students whose in-class contributions sharpened my thinking on this scene .

[ Ed.: The piece concludes by tying the main themes of the opening sequence to those of the entire film. In doing this, the conclusion makes an argument for the essay's own relevance: we need to pay attention to the essay's points so that we can achieve a rich understanding of the movie. The piece's final sentence makes a chilling final impression by alluding to the danger that might loom if we do not understand the movie. This is the only the place in the piece where the author explicitly references how badly we might be hurt by ignorance, and it's all the more powerful for this solitary quality. A pithy, charming note follows, acknowledging that the author's work was informed by others' input (as most good writing is). Beautifully done. ]

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Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays

— with discussion questions and assignments.

For a list of movies frequently shown as adaptations of literary works, see TWM’s Adaptations Index .

Used appropriately, movies based on novels or short stories can supplement units based on the written original, enhance students’ interest in analyzing the written work, and motivate classes to excel in completing assignments that teach the skills required by the ELA curriculum. Filmed versions of plays supply the same benefits and often provide an experience that is close to viewing a live performance. Studying a cinematic adaptation of a literary work will show students how words are converted to visual media and allow a comparison of the written original to the cinematic version, permitting teachers to highlight the techniques of both film and the written word in telling a story. Presenting a filmed adaptation with high production values will demonstrate that movies can be an art form which communicates differently, but no less importantly, than the written word. Moreover, when used as a reward for having read a novel, a filmed adaptation can demonstrate that novel-length works of fiction usually contain a wealth of detail, information, and subplot that cannot be included in a movie. For all of these reasons, filmed adaptations of novels, short stories, or plays, are excellent resources for lessons requiring students to learn and exercise the analytical and writing skills required by ELA curriculum standards.

Note that novels and short stories can be analyzed for their use of the devices of fiction. Plays employ most of the devices of fiction but add the theatrical devices of music, sound effects, lighting, acting, set design, etc. Movies employ most of the fictional and theatrical devices as well as a separate set of cinematic techniques such as shot angle, focus, editing, etc. This essay focuses of the literary devices shared by written works, theatrical works, and film. For an analysis of theatrical and cinematic devices, see TWM’s Introducing Cinematic and Theatrical Elements in Film .

I. SHOWING THE FILM BEFORE READING A NOVEL, SHORT STORY, OR THE SCRIPT OF A PLAY

Usually, a filmed adaptation of a written work is best shown after a novel or short story has been read by students. This avoids the problem of students watching the movie in place of reading the book or story. However, in certain instances, where the written work is hard to follow or when students have limited reading skills, it is better to show the film before reading the written work or to show segments of the film while the writing is being read. Students who have difficulty reading a novel or a short story can often follow the conflicts, complications, and resolutions in a screened version that they would otherwise miss. For example, obscure vocabulary and difficult sentence structure in The Scarlet Letter and Billy Budd make these classics difficult reading for today’s students. The PBS version of The Scarlet Letter and the Ustinov version of Billy Budd are excellent adaptations which can serve as an introduction and make the reading more understandable. Viewing a filmed adaptation of a book by Jane Austen enables students to understand the story and avoid getting lost in the language as they read. (See “Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility as Gateway to Austen’s Novel” by Cheryl L. Nixon, contained in Jane Austen in Hollywood, Edited by Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield, 1998, University of Kentucky Press, pages 140 – 147.)

Plays, which were meant to be watched rather than read, are usually a different matter. Viewing a staged presentation with actors, a set, sound, and lighting is an experience more like watching a movie than reading a script. One of the few exceptions are the plays of Shakespeare which are usually better when read and studied before they are seen. Students need to be introduced to the Bard’s language in order appreciate a performance.

II. SCREENING ALL OR PART OF THE MOVIE IN SEGMENTS

A film can be segmented, or chunked, and shown before or after the corresponding segment is read by students studying the novel, story or play on which the movie is based. Have students keep up with the reading so that the timing is accurate and the events in the film do not get ahead of their presentation in the written work.

Several of the assignments suggested in Section IV can be modified for segmented viewing. The following assignment will allow students to exercise their analytical and writing skills after a segment of the film has been shown. The assignments can be modified to focus on specific elements of fiction or literary devices.

Discussion Question: What is the difference in the presentation of the story between this segment of the film and the corresponding sections of the [novel/story/play]? [Lead students into a discussion of any important elements of fiction or literary devices which are present in both or which are present in one but not the other.]

Assignment: [Describe a scene in the film.] Compare this segment of the movie with the corresponding sections of the [novel/story/play]. Cite specific examples to illustrate how the presentation in the two media either differ or are the same. Your comparison should include: (1) any elements of fiction and literary devices which are present in both or which are present in one but not in the other; (2) a discussion of the tone of the two presentations; and (3) an evaluation of the two presentations stating which you think is more effective in communicating the ideas contained in the story, including your reasons for that opinion. When you refer to the [novel/story/play], list specific pages on which the language you are referring to appears.

III. WATCHING THE MOVIE AFTER THE BOOK HAS BEEN READ

Comparing film adaptations with their literary sources can enhance students’ ability to analyze, think, and critique the writing, imagery, and tone of a literary work. Differences between the movie and the written work can be used to explicate various literary devices. The discussion questions and assignments set out below, as they are written or modified to take into account the needs of the class, will assist teachers in making good use of a filmed adaptation of a novel, short story, or play.

Before showing the film, think about whether you want to point the students’ attention toward any issues that you want them to think about as they watch the movie. This could be the use of a motif or other literary device or changes in theme. Many of the discussion question and assignments set out below can be easily adapted to be given to students before they watch the film, the discussion to be held, and the assignment completed after the movie is over.

IV. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR USE WITH FILMED ADAPTATIONS

Fill in the blanks with a number appropriate to the abilities of the class and the relationship of the written work to the filmed adaptation. To make sure that students complete the assigned reading, the exercises set out below require a thorough knowledge of the written work with references to page numbers of the text.

Discussion Question: How is the presentation of [name a major character who appears in both versions] different in the [book/story/play] and the movie? [Follow up with:] Why did the filmmakers change the way in which this character was presented?

Assignment: Describe _____ characters which appear in both the film and the [book/story/play]. At least one of them should be a minor character. Specify how dialogue, action, and physical appearance in the movie define the individual. Using direct quotes from the written work, citing page numbers, describe the characters using the same criteria. Evaluate which presentation is best in allowing either the viewer or the reader to fully grasp the nature of the characters.

Discussion Question: Were any scenes described in the [book/story/play] substantially altered in the filmed adaptation? [Follow up with:] Why did the filmmakers change the scene?

Assignment: Select at least _____ scenes from the film that were altered considerably from similar scenes described in the [novel/story/play]. Use direct reference to details in order to illustrate the differences. Cite specific page numbers when you are referring to anything appearing in the [book/story/script]. Evaluate the changes in terms of how well the intention of the scene is made manifest in either media.

Discussion Question: What elements of fiction appear in the [book/story/play] but not in the film? Did this detract from the quality of the story told by the movie?

Assignment: Note _____ examples of elements of fiction that have been left out of the film but seem important in the [book/story/play]. Suggest reasons that may justify the elimination of the scenes, characters, subplots, or settings. Be sure to use direct reference, with page numbers, to the written work in order to support the opinion offered.

Discussion Question: Did the filmmakers add any characters or events that do not appear in the [book/story/play]? Did this help to tell the story first suggested in the literary work?

Assignment: Often in movies, the screenwriters will add characters or events that do not appear in the original [book/story/play]. Note _____ examples of these additions and suggest reasons that they may have been written into the film.

Discussion Question: How does the tone of the story told in the film differ from the tone of the story told in the [book/story/play]?

Assignment: Evaluate the tone created in the movie. Cite clear examples of color, visuals, editing, and music that may have contributed to the tone of any particular scene. Compare the tone created in the film to the tone created in the [book/story/play] using the same scene. Cite specific examples, giving page numbers, of the description that created the tone in the written work.

Discussion Question: Did this film change the theme or any of the ideas presented in the [novel/story/play]? What were they? Did these changes improve on the story underlying both the written work and the movie?

Assignment: Ideas are the reasons stories are told. Themes are the major ideas in a story; however, most stories contain other ideas as well. Some films change the ideas presented in the work of literature from which they were adapted. Pay close attention to theme and other ideas in both the written version and in the movie and write about how they were changed. Evaluate the changes.

Discussion Question: Which told the story better, the [novel/story/play] or the movie?

Assignment: Often a story will seem to be deprived of beauty or meaning by the changes made in a filmed adaptation. On other occasions, the experience of the written story will be enriched by watching a filmed version. Write an informal essay stating your opinion of the quality of the story told by the movie as compared to the [novel/story/play]. Justify your opinion with direct reference to both the film and the written work; for the latter, cite the specific page numbers for the passages on which you rely.

Discussion Question: Compare the settings of the story in the written work and in the movie. Is the movie faithful to the [novel/short story/play] in terms of the settings used?

Assignment: How do the settings in the movie reflect the images of place found in the [novel/story/play]? Describe specific details in both the film and the work of literature that support your conclusion. When referring to the written work, cite page numbers.

Discussion Question: Compare the use of visual images in the movie and in the [novel/story/play] in the description of the various characters.

Assignment: Using specific examples of written descriptions in the literary work and visuals in the movie, discuss the presentation of character contained in both.

Discussion Question: Describe any important differences in theme between the story appearing in the written work and the story told on screen.

Assignment: Attitude toward subject, meaning the basic topic (such as war, love, politics) can shift dramatically between a [novel/story/play] and its movie adaptation. Explain through example any changes that can be seen between the attitude toward the subject expressed by the filmmakers and presented by the author of the [book/story/play].

Discussion Question: Were any important motifs, symbols, or allusions included in the work of literature missing or changed in the movie adaptation? Why do you think the filmmakers made these changes?

Assignment: Important motifs, symbols, or allusions contained in a written work of fiction are sometimes missing or changed in the movie. Specify examples of these literary tools that are not a part of the filmed adaptation. Note any replacement motifs, symbols or allusions contained in the movie.

Discussion Question: What, if any, were the changes in the plot between the [book/story/play] and the film?

Assignment: Rising action, an important part in the plots of both written fiction and movies, may be different in filmed adaptations. Note any changes. Describe details which are important in the written work that have been removed from the movie and details which are not in the [book/story/play] which have been added by the filmmakers. When referring to the written work, give the page numbers of any passages or details to which you refer. Justify the changes.

Discussion Question: Which ending did you like better, the conclusion of the [book/story/play] or the way in which the movie ended? Explain why.

Assignment: Compare the ending of the [book/story/play] to the ending of the film. Illustrate how any differences either reiterate or obscure the intention of the original work. Cite specifics and support all assertions.

Movies with screenplays that are carefully adapted from novels, short stories, and plays can be an important part of lesson planning. Using the techniques described above, teachers can make film adaptations an integral part of the learning process.

Written by Mary RedClay and James Frieden .

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

55 Writing about the Novel: Film Comparison

You began the process of writing your literary comparison paper in the Introduction to the Novel chapter by choosing an essay, reading it carefully, and writing a personal response. In this chapter, we will move through the remaining steps of writing your paper.

Step 3: Choose a Film for Comparison

The key to a good comparison essay is to choose two subjects that connect in a meaningful way. The purpose of conducting the comparison is not to state the obvious, but rather to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities.

When writing a film comparison paper, the point is to make an argument that will make your audience think about your topic in a new and interesting way. You might explore how the novel and the film present the theme…or how the novel and the film explore the identity of a main character…or…the options are limitless. Here’s a quick video giving you a little overview of what a film vs novel comparison might look like:

To this end, your next goal is to choose a film adaptation of your novel. Some novels may only have one, but some have many that have been created over the last 100 years! Your adaptation could be a feature film, a YouTube short, or an indie film. Choose one that allows you to make an interesting point about the portrayal of the theme of the novel and the film.

Step 4: Research

Once you’ve chosen a second piece, it’s time to enter into the academic conversation to see what others are saying about the authors and the pieces you’ve chosen.

Regardless of the focus of your essay, discovering more about the author of the text you’ve chosen can add to your understanding of the text and add depth to your argument. Author pages are located in the Literature Online ProQuest database. Here, you can find information about an author and his/her work, along with a list of recent articles written about the author. This is a wonderful starting point for your research.

The next step is to attempt to locate articles about the text and the film themselves. For novels, it’s important to narrow down your database choices to the Literature category. For essays, you might have better luck searching the whole ProQuest library with the ProQuest Research Library Article Databases or databases like Flipster that include publications like newspapers and magazines.

Finally, you might look for articles pertinent to an issue discussed in the novel. For example, The Grapes of Wrath is about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, but it also contains an environmental theme. Depending on what aspect you want to highlight in your comparison, you might look for articles about the Great Depression or about farming and the environment.

Remember, it is helpful to keep a Research Journal to track your research. Your journal should include, at a minimum, the correct MLA citation of the source, a brief summary of the article, and any quotes that stick out to you. A note about how you think the article adds to your understanding of the topic or might contribute to your project is a good addition, as well.

Step 5: Thesis & Outline

Similar to other academic essays, the film comparison essay starts with a thesis that clearly introduces the two subjects that are to be compared and the reason for doing so.

This video highlights some of the key differences between novels and films:

Begin by deciding on your basis for comparison. The basis of comparison could include items like a similar theme, differences in the focus of the piece, or the way both pieces represent an important issue.

This article gives some helpful advice on choosing a topic.

Once you’ve decided on the basis of comparison, you should focus on the points of comparison between the two pieces. For example, if you are focusing on how the literary elements and the cinematic elements used impact the message, you might make a table of each of these elements. Then, you’d find examples of each element from each piece. Remember, a comparison includes both similarities and differences.

By putting together your basis of comparison and your points of comparison, you’ll have a thesis that both makes an argument and gives readers a map of your essay.

A good thesis should be:

Statement of Fact: “The novel and the film of Pride and Prejudice are similar in many ways.”
Arguable: “The film version of Pride and Prejudice changes key moments in the text that alter the portrayal of the theme.”
Personal Opinion: “‘The novel is definitely better than the movie.”
Provable by the Texts: “Both the novel and the film focus on the importance of identity.”
Obvious: “The movie provides a modern take on the novel.”
Surprising: “Though the movie stays true to the original themes of the novel, the modern version may lead viewers to believe that the characters in the book held different values than are portrayed in the novel.”
General: “Both the novel and the film highlight the plight of women.”
Specific: “The novel and the film highlight the plight of women by focusing on specific experiences of the protagonist. “

The organizational structure you choose depends on the nature of the topic, your purpose, and your audience. You may organize compare-and-contrast essays in one of the following two ways:

Block: Organize topics according to the subjects themselves, discussing the novel and then the film.
Woven: Organize according to individual points, discussing both the novel and the film point by point.

Exercises: Create a Thesis and Outline

You’ll want to start by identifying the theme of both pieces and deciding how you want to tie them together. Then, you’ll want to think through the points of similarity and difference in the two pieces.

In two columns, write down the points that are similar and those that are different. Make sure to jot down quotes from the two pieces that illustrate these ideas.

Following the tips in this section, create a thesis and outline for your novel/film comparison paper.

Here’s a sample thesis and outline:

Step 6: Drafting Tips

Once you have a solid thesis and outline, it’s time to start drafting your essay. As in any academic essay, you’ll begin with an introduction. The introduction should include a hook that connects your readers to your topic. Then, you should introduce the topic. In this case, you will want to include the authors and title of the novel and the director and title of the film. Finally, your introduction should include your thesis. Remember, your thesis should be the last sentence of your introduction.

In a film comparison essay, you may want to follow your introduction with background on both pieces. Assume that your readers have at least heard of either the novel or the film, but that they might not have read the novel or watched the film–or both–…or maybe it’s been awhile. For example, if you were writing about Pride and Prejudice , you might include a brief introduction to Austen and her novel and an introduction to the version of the film you’ve chosen. The background section should be no more than two short paragraphs.

In the body of the paper, you’ll want to focus on supporting your argument. Regardless of the organizational scheme you choose, you’ll want to begin each paragraph with a topic sentence. This should be followed by the use of quotes from your two texts in support of your point. Remember to use the quote formula–always introduce and explain each quote and the relationship to your point! It’s very important that you address both literary pieces equally, balancing your argument. Finally, each paragraph should end with a wrap up sentence that tells readers the significance of the paragraph.

Here are some transition words that are helpful in tying points together:

Finally, your paper will end with a conclusion that brings home your argument and helps readers to understand the importance/significance of your essay.

In this video, an instructor explains step by step how to write an essay comparing two films. Though you will be writing about a novel and a film, rather than two films, the same information applies.

Here’s another instructor explaining how to write a comparison essay about two poems. Note the similarities between the two videos.

Here’s a sample paper:

Attributions:

Content created by Dr. Karen Palmer. Licensed under CC BY NC SA .
Content adapted from “Comparison and Contrast” from the book Successful Writing licensed CC BY NC SA .

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Film Adaptation: American Splendor Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction, analysis of the adaptation, works cited.

Film adaptation refers to the representation of work of literature in a film. It is the interpretation of a source material such as a comic into a live film. The interpretation of comics can accurately depict the original work or detract from it, because, often, comics are “impossible to adapt outside the comics genre” (Lefèvre 2).

Adaptations often face many challenges, which affect the authenticity of the films in representing the actual social and natural environment inherent in the comics. This paper, based on Hight’s arguments, analyzes the adaptations and interpretations of the original work in the film American Splendor and evaluates the artistic approaches taken by the directors in this film.

Adaptation involves sticking closely to the original work, altering the original work according to the film director’s intentions or developing a new theme that is different from the source material. Adapted works employ a number of film styles that help to bring out or extend the meaning as contained in the original work.

Lefèvre outlines four problems associated with filmic adaptation: (1) the original comic texts may be tampered with when writing the script; (2) the page layout may not match the film screen; (3) the problem of converting drawings to photography; and (4) comics lack sound, which is present in films. Assessing these problems in the American Splendor will help compare this film to the original work.

In this film, Pekar claims that “he did not actually read the script before filming commenced” (Hight 181) implying that he was not involved in the writing of the script. Individual artists usually write the comics themselves, as autobiographic comics tend to express individual perspectives of the author.

Many film directors transpose the original works to ensure that the original text is followed as closely as possible. In this film, the failure to involve Pekar in script writing may have compromised the validity and authenticity of the script.

Pekar’s portrayals of himself in the comics are consistent in style and content with those in the film.

The film combines five different types of representations to retain Pekar’s artistic style; the narrative parts in the film involve Pekar’s original voice, played by actor Paul Giamatti; the interview sequences feature Pekar himself; the archival footage also features Pekar; in a stage play (actor Donal Logue); and in animations or graphics in the film (Hight 180).

Also, the film directors maneuvered the adaptation problems by using representations of Pekar’s voice in the narrative sequences. Both the scripted voice-over and interview segments involve Pekar; these help to articulate Pekar’s original intent.

The film also achieves a high level of verbal-visual blend, whereby scenes that cannot be filmed are expressed visually using captioned drawings (Hight 183). It involves maintaining the faithfulness of the original work with respect to visual and verbal cues.

However, revisions in the film including the use of pseudo names and telescoping of certain events affects the transposition of events in Pekar’s comic (Hight 181). These actions leave out essential details contained in the original work such as Pekar’s love for Cleveland, his criticism of jazz and his intellectualism (21). As Harvey states, a film gives the same content to the audience, only that it does it differently through special effects (15).

Thus, films manipulate the audience by matching image and sound. In contrast, in comics, “pictures and words blend to tell the tale” (Harvey 9) in a way that resonates with the storyteller’s original intent. Sound and music in a film serve to bring out the context of each scene. In the American Splendor , Pekar’s voice-over and sound equipment are used to enhance the authenticity and bring out context in each scene and context in the film.

Jazz music introduces each live action before fading away into a distance. Thus, in American Splendor , the ‘special effects’ introduced and the specific details edited out from the comic affected the representations of Paker’s autobiography in the film.

The differences between autobiographic comics and films are evident, with the introduction of sound and voice to ‘silent’ comics being the most crucial one (Lefèvre 6).

Unlike films, written stories tell the reader about the details of the event, with the interpretation largely dependent on the reader. In this film, actors Donal Logue and Paul Giamatti depiction of Pekar may not accurately represent Paker, the character, in the film both in terms of sound and intent, as the comic did.

As Lefèvre puts it, a film is primarily a ‘visual medium’ and a distinct artistic genre (7), which omits specific character content that only language provides. Thus, the absence of sound in the American Splendor allows the reader to rely on words and his or her imaginations to understand the comic. By comparison, in the film, the viewers only consume the actors’ interpretations of Pekar’s original meaning.

The transfer of drawings to photographic forms in the film is another artistic approach that film directors use in adaptation. The transposition of visual images in comics into photographic images is often inaccurate (Lefèvre 5).

In the American Splendor depiction of the comic drawings was accurate; this enhanced the “proximity of the film to Pekar’s original intent” (Hight 182). Cartoons differ from film graphics with respect to graphic images; while comic strips involve static images films use motion pictures (Harvey 13). All that the film director needs is a particular amount of time to film motion pictures to completion.

In contrast, a cartoonist needs enough space or panels to illustrate a particular action in its entirety. Space and time are two different aspects, which make a filmic adaptation of comic drawings a challenge. Therefore, it can be argued that the transposition of drawings to graphic images in American Splendor was not ‘faithful’ and thus, the viewer cannot receive the intended message.

In the American Splendor , graphic constructions are infused with the narrative sequences to try and depict Pekar’s illustrations as closely as possible. Being a drama-documentary, captions are replicated from the comic panels to retain the authenticity of the film (Hight 183). Also, the captions are presented in a similar fashion like in comics (in black and white and in speech boxes on the screen).

The film succeeds in using captions; for instance, the caption, “Our story begins” (24) is framed next to a comic strip, which makes it appear like a motion comic.

Furthermore, the graphic representations in the film follow the format of Pekar’s comic, with each photographic image alternating with the actual Pekar’s comic panel, which serves to increase authenticity and validity. Thus, the interplay of scenes in the film reflects the actual comic panels in Pekar’s comic book.

The screenplay in the film also mimics page layout in the comic book. There is a transposition of the layout of Paker’s American Splendor in the film. Narrative breakdown, which involves a careful connection of the specific events in the story, is evident in the film. Each comic panel introduced in the film is followed by actual panels as represented in the comic book.

Speech balloons help the audience to understand the actions of the character. Similarly, in the actual comic panels, words placed in boxes are used for the comic strips. Lefèvre identifies two problems associated with the transition from page layout to single screen graphics; first, transposition of the entire page layout to film screenplay affects the quality of the film since the two belong to two separate genres (8).

Thus, the film directors must edit the original work to ensure that it conforms to the rules of montage and video editing while retaining the original intent of the author.

Secondly, the page layout differs from the screen used in film theatres. A layout is the way events or scenes in a film are organized. It is the plot of the film that describes the sequences of events from the outset through to the end of the film. Unlike in a film, comic books allow the reader to go through the panels at his or her own speed.

In the American Splendor , the directors use the interplay of comic panels to reinforce their transposition of Pekar’s intentions. The different moments are pieced together “in the same way you do with documentary footage” (Hight 183) to make it appear real and authentic.

However, the original work was revised to conform to the characteristics and rules of screenplay, leaving out specific details about Pekar’s love for Cleveland as well as his criticism of jazz music (21). The film did not accurately imitate the relative locations of the various panels as the directors used different multiple-frame images, where the comic adaptation images were combined with actual comic images (Hight 185).

Nevertheless, this approach allows the viewer to make reference to the original work. However, the same approach “breaks the characteristic cinematographic illusion” (Lefèvre 10) associated with films. Thus, in this film, the transposition from page layout to screenplay does not give an accurate depiction of Pekar’s original work.

As stated before, American Splendor is a drama-documentary, a non-fiction work that combines factual information with film melodrama in a documentary format (Hight 189). A drama-documentary is defined as a genre comprising of “dramatized versions of actual events” (Hight 19), which makes it more popular than a documentary.

The American Splendor employs realism to depict historical and political components that people are familiar with. Several instances of realism are apparent in this film. Muted tones that are used in the narrative sequences and Pekar’s terminal illness enhance the authenticity of the film (Hight 186). Also, in the film, actor Giamatti who depicts Pekar is romantically involved with actress Davis, who represents Pekar’s wife.

The essence of this relationship is to depict a real story and make the scenes in the film to resonate well with the audience. In this way, the viewers are able to relate the scenes in the film to the actual events in the comic.

Harvey, Robert. Only in the Comics: Why Cartooning Is Not the Same as Filmmaking . Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. Print.

Hight, Craig. American Splendor. Translating Comic Autobiography into Drama- Documentary . Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. Print.

Lefèvre, Pascal. Incompatible Ontologies? The Problematic Adaptation of Drawn Images . Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007. Print.

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