Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2008

Increasingly in contemporary media practice, texts are deployed across a range of different platforms, often simultaneously. Many theorists assume that these platforms are distinct forms, whereas theories of remediation and heteroglossia suggest more fluidity and exchange between literature, theatre, cinema, radio, television and videogames. This article examines the adaptation of the comic book character, Superman, and traces the origins of the Superman comic book narratives into their current transmedia state. Such adaptations can alter the status and authority of pre-existing versions of a text. In Superman's case, an adaptation can eventually become canonical and act as a source text, rewiring previous versions into a dialogical sphere of influence. In addition, some canonical texts can undergo a process of disconnection and can be discounted entirely. This article proposes an approach that is medium non-specific, but one that is text specific when examining the complex rewirings between parallel versions of a text.

This article looks at the relationship between Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Shakespeare's King Lear and genre cinema. Instead of seeking to prove Ran's debt to Shakespeare, debate centres on Kurosawa's inventive intertextualization, part of which involves his manipulation of the generic codes of Eastern and Western cinema. The article argues that although widely regarded as part of the canon of Shakespeare on screen and appropriated by a Shakespearean heritage of global proportions Kurosawa's Ran refuses to be consumed by Western academia. The film offers a social critique of patriarchal systems across a range of genres, from Japanese jidai-geki epic to Renaissance tragedy, to Hollywood western, linking the concerns embedded in Shakespeare's King Lear with those of other historical eras, other nations, other mythologies.

This article considers the ways in which ancient cultures are represented within contemporary cinematic narrative. The study uses the notion of attribution as its starting point, and focuses on two recent cinematic adaptations, Snyder's 300 (2007) and Petersen's Troy (2004). Attribution is defined as the retrospective assignation of particular sensibilities and beliefs to ancient cultures. The directors and/or authors who generate perspectives on the past may not appreciate the exact provenance of the traditions from which they have drawn their material. Displacing the Gods? examines some of the historical and literary antecedents of modern attitudes, in order to place cinematic accounts of Thermopylae and Troy in a more objective context. The second major feature of the enquiry concerns the ways in which power or agency is assigned to the various characters and forces within the films studied. Particular reference is made to the distinction between human and divine activity, and the evident need to offer rational explanations of events while reinforcing the view that ancient Greek societies were driven by religious superstition.

Studies carried out by Susan Bennett (1997), Jonathan Burston (1998) and Maurya Wickstrom (1999) suggest that American theatre has become a massculture business. This critique is now even more apparent given the current state of Broadway comedy best exemplified by Mel Brooks's adaptations of his film The Producers (1968), including his Broadway show The Producers (2001) and his movie remake of that show, The Producers (2005). Brooks's original film may have been topical, shocking and full of controversy, but by 2001 those same old gags about Nazis, dumb blondes and homosexuals had become outdated. For this reason, the international acclaim of The Producers (2001) with theatre critics, as well as the critical backlash by many film critics, illustrates scholars' observations namely that modern Broadway's mass audience is not necessarily interested in provocative or original comedy but applauds recycled jokes.

In considering two of my stage adaptations, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1997) and Emma (1996), I will explain the challenges involved in matching authorial method to theatrical inventiveness. Aspects discussed include the consideration of style, tone and authorial voice, and a comparison between prose and dramatic narrative. Hardy's and Austen's backgrounds, correspondence and literary tastes are referred to, and the impact of this exploration on the respective dramatic methods is illustrated. The production elements are discussed in as much detail as the scripts themselves, including descriptions of the design, musical and movement aspects. Actor challenges, including the depiction of caricature as well as character, are examined. Finally, the context for the adaptations is broached, including my background as a director and artistic director, and how cast-size and resources can often determine the nature of an adaptation as much as the artistic vision.

Signes du spectacle: Des arts vivants aux mdias, Andr Helbo (2006) Brussels: PIE-Peter Lang, 147 pp., ISBN 978-90-5201-322-0, Paperback, 13.90

Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of Christ, Thomas Leitch (2007) Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 354 pp., ISBN 978-0-8018-8565-5, Hardback, $55

Shakespeare on Film: Such Things As Dreams Are Made Of, Carolyn Jess-Cooke (2007) London and New York: Wallflower, 125 pp., ISBN 978-1-905674-14-5, Paperback, 12.99

Literature Through Film: Realism, Magic, and the Art of Adaptation, Robert Stam (2005), First edition Oxford: Blackwell, 388 pp., ISBN 1405102888, Paperback, 17.99, ISBN 140510287X, Hardback, 60.