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.
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.
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.
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.