Blog 26

Caitlin Goerlich

ENG 3029

12/17/13

Adaptation: How do Viewers Feel?

Introduction

Recently there has been more of an interest in the connections between film and novels. Throughout the book, A Theory of Adaptation by Linda Hutcheon with Siobhan O’Flynn, the authors discuss different theories of adaptation and exactly what adaptation is.  The book discusses different forms of adaptation with examples of novels to films, novels to stage, screenplay to novels, etc.  A Theory of Adaptation also discusses the appeal of adaptation and why it works and what the point of it really is.

What seems to be missing in this book is how viewers view adaptation.  Yes, there are discussions of how each work or don't work but there isn't one big section set aside for the people who read a novel and see the film that it has been adapted into and what their opinion of adaptation is.  Hutcheon and O'Flynn did include an epilogue where they do discuss how adaptation is perceived but to me, it isn't enough to help authors and adapters figure out if there is a right way to adapt a work.

In this paper, I will be discussing the connection of adaptation between novels and films by focusing on how viewers feel about adaption between novels and films.  Whether they like or dislike how their favorite novel gets adapted into film or the other way around.

Literature Review

            Before I could start my own research to answer my research question, I needed to find out if or whether other researchers have written/researched this question.  What I realized as I was looking for research papers, this question has not been a focus for other researchers and there has not been much of research done of how viewers feel.  I did find a research book, the second edition of A Theory of Adaptation written by Linda Hutcheon with Siobhan O’Flynn.  In this book, they answer many questions of what exactly adaptation is (without clearly defining exactly what adaptation is), the difference of each adaptation (from novels to film, film to novels, play to novels, play to films, etc.), how to adapt, and gives advice for writers who want to become adapters.

            There is an epilogue in A Theory of Adaptation that includes how adaptation is perceived but to me, once again, it doesn’t seem to be enough information on my research question.  Most of the epilogue talks about how social media takes part of adaptation.  The “Epilogue” part of the research book plus the “Preface to the Second Edition” were written after the first publication of 2006 because social media has taken a charge over the past few years (Page 179).  According to my research book there are many different ways adaptation can be defined, so there is no “correct” way of adapting. 

With talking about social media, different ways of adaptation, there is no clear “opinion” of a viewer’s view of adaptation.  There is a point in the epilogue where they speak of a group of fans of different novels’ franchises either don’t like how the films have portrayed their “beloved” novels or they have actually liked how the films have portrayed the novels.  But again not a clear way of how the viewers’ view adaption which again is my focus of this paper.

Methods

            For my research, I have decided to do an interview with a woman who has read novels that have been adapted into film and has experience of opinions whether adaptation between novels and films work or not.  We held this interview in a quiet room of my house which was planned to do the interview for 40 minutes but my participant gave much information that I could use for this paper, in about 20 minutes.  I was planning to have a few more interviews with other people but have decided that one would be enough because I thought each person would have similar answers to the questions that I have come up with.

            Another method that I have used for this research paper is reflection on my own opinions towards this subject.  I have my own experiences and opinions with reading novels and those novels adapting to film.  With using this method, it gives me more data that I can use towards my original research question of how viewers view the way novels are adapted to film and whether on it works or not.  I can compare and contrast my reflection/thoughts to my participant’s interview which can gives me more options to use towards my research question of how viewers view adaptation between novels and films.

Data and Analysis

            Through my interview with my participant and some reflective thoughts of my own, I have come up with three different categories that help figure out how viewers view adaptation. Those categories would be knowledge, enthusiasm, and advice/opinion.  Each category are related to adaptation because according my interview and reflection, you need to know some things about adaptation, have some type of interest in adaptation, and also to help other people about adaptation – you could give a different type of advice that others don’t necessarily give others which involve giving an opinion.

            Knowledge: What is knowledge?  There are different definitions of knowledge but the one that everyone considers to be the main definition would be familiarity with information, facts, and the truths of a specific subject. So to speak of this research paper, knowledge is important for viewers to know different types of adaptation and exactly what adaptation should/could be because there is no exactly “right” adaptation.  There are adaptations that don’t change much from the original novel (stays true to the novel).  There are other adaptations that change not too much from the original novel and then there are adaptations that are not true to the original adaptation at all and viewers are wondering “what happened?”  It takes knowledge from a viewer to know there are different kinds of adaptation and that not each film will be exactly like the novel and that there will be times that there will be similarities and/or exactly the same as the novel. 

            Enthusiasm: Throughout my interview, it seems that my participant G was enthusiastic about the subject of my research paper. Enthusiasm is when a person shows interest to a particular subject that they are asked of or of what they are doing.  Ways you can tell a person is enthusiastic is of how they speak – their voice could raise a little higher when they speak which is one way my participant showed me that she was enthusiastic.  Another way of knowing when my participant was enthusiastic was of how much information she gives me of how she felt when telling me about the novels she has read and even about the films, they have been adapted to.

C: Can you tell me a story of a time where you did see a film of a novel that you read? Like for example – what were your thoughts throughout the film? And Did you keep comparing it to the novel?
G: (nods her head) Yes you can’t help but not compare because you’re watching the movie and you’re waiting for something that you saw in your head while reading the book, and if something got left out, you were wondering what the heck happened (laughs) because they changed, no that they changed the story but they change to consolidate a lot of the story line in the book but some books because they are so long they make more of a movie and so they put everything in the movie and so you’re just like wow that’s exactly how I picture it.
G: So it was either one or the other?
C: Yeah it’s either one that you’re waiting to see something that you know they should’ve left in there (pause) or they include everything and so you get even more of the movies, that’s why they had to make The Lord of the Rings, four hours and Harry Potter, they had to make very single movie.
C: Did you like the novel or film better?
G: In (pause) that’s hard to say, I a lot of times like the novel better because the characters that you see in your head when you’re reading the book are not the same as you see on the screen. But then you get to like with the Godfather you have a different picture but then you have another novel with the characters on the screen are exactly as you picture them in the book so it depends on the book that you’ve read.

            When I asked G, my participant, to tell me a story of when she has seen a film of a novel that she has read, she goes right into saying “you can’t help but not compare” and goes on saying that after reading the book, of course you are going to because you want what you saw in your head while reading the book to happen but most of the time, it doesn’t happen.  But then she says that sometimes the film does turn out the way she has imagined in her mind.

            Advice/Opinion: To me, advice and opinion fall under one category because normally when you are giving someone else advice, you are using your opinion. With this research paper, both advice and opinion will help answer the research question of how viewers do indeed view adaptation.  The way viewers view, they of course use their feelings so feelings = opinion.

C: If you could have made changes to the film, would? And what would those changes be?
G: No well other than having the movie go forever and put everything in and no.
C: Can you explain to me why you think why that is?
G: Well the movies that were made from books were best-selling books written by best-selling authors and they were made and they turned out to be well made movies and by well made named directors and they did justice to the movies they made, they did exactly what they set out to do so I see no additions that could be made because they would take too long.
C: Have you ever read a novel, only because there was an adapted film of that novel coming out?
G: (pause) No but I read, seen a movie that turned into a book which I read and when I saw the movie after I read the book.  I didn’t understand it because usually it’s the other way around that things are included in the book and not in the movie.
C: And what book was that?
G: That was Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song.
C: What was missing?
G: There were a couple characters, there was a minister in the book that wasn’t in the movie and just little things that I picked up on.
C: Do you believe that you should read the novel first before watching the film?
G: Well most of the time the books that I have read I’ve read years before they were turned into a movie and a lot of times I thought twice about going to see it because I didn’t want to change what was in my head. I wanted my head to remember what I read from the book so, no I wouldn’t recommend it because you’re going in with too many expectations of what it’s going to be.

            These questions and answers help me identify whether or not she feels adaptation works and if she as a viewer likes the way adaptation works.  My participant says that she would not make any changes to the films that she has watched and that the directors who have made those films made sure that they did the novels “justice.”  She brings up a point about when she read a novel that has been made after a film has been done but read the novel first and G was confused throughout the film, because it wasn’t done the way it usually is.  Film is normally done after the novel, instead The Last Song written by Nicholas Sparks was written after Sparks wrote the screenplay for the film and there were differences between the two, like missing characters in the film.

            One of the questions that I have asked G was if she believed that people should read the novel first before watching the film and normally people would advise you to read the novel before you watch the film because you get two different points of views of the story line.  Also, you can compare/contrast the novel to the film and pick which one you like best.  My participant, G spoke of a different kind of advice towards of what she thought about if people read the novel first or not, and she says that she doesn’t recommend reading a novel before watching the film “because you’re going in with too many expectations of what it’s going to be.”

C: Do you think the actors play a role in how the movie portrays the novel?
G: Absolutely, I think that the directors take great care in selecting who they want to play and hope that they can have the person because sometimes you picture exactly who that character is and if you can’t get it, another character can totally change the whole theme of the movie.
C: Would you like adapters stop adapting novels to movies or keep it happening?
G: No, because I want them to keep it happening because a lot of people don’t read those novels and the only way that you can get because to see classics, stories from classics, is to make it into a movie and for those people who have trouble reading classic books like Shakespeare make them into a movie and then adapt it so that people can understand it so that they’ll at least know that they see something is written even hundreds of years ago.

            The first question that I asked above was an important question to ask because actors who portray the roles can make a difference on how a viewer views adaptation and my participant agrees that they do have a role in how the movie portrays the novel.  G also talks about how the movie can change if a different person portrayed a character instead of the original.  Even if the actor is the first choice actor to play the role, fans/viewers may not agree with the choice of the cast and it would automatically change their view before they even watch the film.

            The second question of “Would you like adapters stop adapting novels to movies or keep it happening?” was made for participant to come up with an opinion if she would adapters to stop adapting or have them keep doing it.  G answers with that she would want them to keep going because to her, it helps people see the classics if they don’t feel like reading the actual novel because of how long classics tend to be.  G helps prove that to her, even though not all the time, adaptation does indeed work.

Conclusion

            Throughout my research, by using one participant, I have gotten different reactions to adaptations but overall in the end adaptation from novels to films work.  Also, adaptation should continue but also the directors/producers/actors should picture themselves in their future viewers’ point of views and see how they can gain more positive thoughts towards adaptation.  Through my data, I planned to use my reflective thoughts as well but in the end, I believed that I have gained enough data by just doing the interview with my participant.  My research question again was to find connection of adaptation between novels and films focusing on how viewers view adaptation.  Through my research, I believe that I have hit a small mark of what can bring more research towards figuring out more of adaptations.

Works Cited

Hutcheon, Linda and Siobhan O’Flynn. A Theory of Adaptation. New York: NY, 2013. Print.