What happens when Jane Austen's "Emma" becomes the big screen's "Clueless"? How does "Batman" the comic book translate into a cartoon, television show, and film? With contributions from some of the finest film scholars in the world, "Adaptations" looks at what happens to popular texts when they are transformed into an entirely different medium, including novel and comic book to screen and an innovative look at screen to novel. Wide-ranging and innovative in its approach, "Adaptations" is a trenchant look at how a story changes--successfully or not--in all its mediums: novel, film, comic book, cartoon, and television.
Contributors: Julian North, Esther Sonnet, Roger Bromley, Pat Kirkham, Sally Warren, Nicholas Zurbrugg, Mark Rawlinson, Derek Paget, Sharon Ouditt, Ken Gelder, Ina Rae Hark, Will Brooker, Paul Wells.

Adaptations considers the theoretical and practical difficulties surrounding the translation of a text into film, and the reverse process; the novelisation of films. Through three sets of case studies, the contributors examine the key debates surrounding adaptations: whether screen versions of literary classics can be faithful to the text; if something as capsulated as Jane Austens irony can even be captured on film; whether costume dramas always of their own time and do adaptations remake their parent text to reflect contemporary ideas and concerns.
Tracing the complex alterations which texts experience between different media, Adaptations is a unique exploration of the relationship between text and film.

This is a lively and stimulating look at representations, mutations and adaptations of 'the alien' in literature, film and television. Using notions of the alien and alienation in a broadly defined sense, the contributors cover early science fiction, from the gothic aliens of Dracula and H.G. Wells, to the classic fifties Cold War sci-fi movies, such as War of the Worlds, twentieth-century reworkings of various 'alien' metaphors, such as The Fly movies and the Alien series, and comic variations on the theme such as Mars Attacks. Moving beyond the conventional genre boundaries of the alien, particular essays look, too, at 'race' as an alien condition, and at the use of illness and disease as a metaphor for alienation in modern film and fiction.

This is a comprehensive collection of original essays that explore the aesthetics, economics, and mechanics of movie adaptation, from the days of silent cinema to contemporary franchise phenomena. Featuring a range of theoretical approaches, and chapters on the historical, ideological and economic aspects of adaptation, the volume reflects today s acceptance of intertextuality as a vital and progressive cultural force. * Incorporates new research in adaptation studies * Features a chapter on the Harry Potter franchise, as well as other contemporary perspectives * Showcases work by leading Shakespeare adaptation scholars * Explores fascinating topics such as unfilmable texts * Includes detailed considerations of Ian McEwan s Atonement and Conrad s Heart of Darkness

This volume offers an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this major Shakespearean comedy, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations. It also provides a detailed and up-to-date history of the play's rich stage and screen performance, looking closely at major contemporary performances, including Josie Rourke's film starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones at the Old Vic, and the RSC's recent rebranding of it as a sequel. Moving through to four new critical essays, the guide opens up fresh perspectives, including contemporary directors' deployment of older actors within the lead roles, the play's relationship to Love's Labour's Lost, its presence on Youtube and the ways in which tales and ruses in the play belong to a wider concern with varieties of crime. The volume finishes with a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated bibliography provide a basis for further research.

The contributors to this volume negotiate the notion of a "classic" in film and fiction, exploring the growing interface and the blurring of boundaries between literature and film. Taking the problematic term "classic" as its focus, the contributors consider both canonical literary and film texts, questioning whether classic status in one domain transfer it to another. The book looks at a wide range of texts and their adaptations. Authors discussed are Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, Henry James, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Virginia Woolf, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Miller, Truman Capote, and Lewis Carroll. Book to film adaptations, analysed including a comparison of Joyce's "Ulysses" with Hitchcock's "Rear Window",. Throughout, the contributors challenge the dichotomy between high culture and pop culture.

With topics ranging from the limitations of the novel to adapting stage to screen, over 80 articles from a wide range of international scholars, film critics and novelists combine to make Adaptations: Critical and Primary Sources an original overview of critical debates today. The three-volume set begins with an historical overview of the field of adaptations studies, beginning with works from the early twentieth century through to seminal pieces of the 1990s. The volumes then divulge how the scholarly legacies laid out in those formative years has impacted the discipline today, and how it can be studied alongside literature and film studies.

There is no disputing that the coming of sound heralded a new era for adaptations. We take it for granted today that a film is enhanced by sound but it was not a view unanimously held in the early period of sound cinema. While there was a substantial degree of skepticism in the late 1920s and early 30s about the advantages of sound, what we would call technophobia today, the inclusion of speech in screen versions of literary and theatrical works, undeniably revised what it was to be an adaptation: words. Focusing on the promotional materials for "Adaptations in the Sound Era" Deborah Cartmell tracks early attempts to promote sound and the elevation of words in adaptations in the early sound period. The popular appeal of these films clearly stands in opposition to academic regard for them and the book accurately reflects on the presence and marketing of 'words' in a variety of adaptations from the introduction of sound to the mid 1930s. This book contextualizes a range of adaptations in relation to debates about 'picturizations' of books in the early sound era, including the reactions to the talking adaptation by writers such as F.R. Leavis, Irwin Panofsky, Aldous Huxley and Graham Greene. Film adaptations of Shakespeare, Dickens, gothic fiction and biopics are also discussed in relation to their use and promotion of sound or, more precisely, words.

There is no disputing that the coming of sound heralded a new era for adaptations. We take it for granted today that a film is enhanced by sound but it was not a view unanimously held in the early period of sound cinema. While there was a substantial degree of skepticism in the late 1920s and early 30s about the advantages of sound, what we would call technophobia today, the inclusion of speech in screen versions of literary and theatrical works, undeniably revised what it was to be an adaptation: words. Focusing on the promotional materials for "Adaptations in the Sound Era" Deborah Cartmell tracks early attempts to promote sound and the elevation of words in adaptations in the early sound period. The popular appeal of these films clearly stands in opposition to academic regard for them and the book accurately reflects on the presence and marketing of 'words' in a variety of adaptations from the introduction of sound to the mid 1930s. This book contextualizes a range of adaptations in relation to debates about 'picturizations' of books in the early sound era, including the reactions to the talking adaptation by writers such as F.R. Leavis, Irwin Panofsky, Aldous Huxley and Graham Greene. Film adaptations of Shakespeare, Dickens, gothic fiction and biopics are also discussed in relation to their use and promotion of sound or, more precisely, words.

The study of literature adapted for the screen is a growing area of study in schools and universities. Many students have to produce critical essays comparing the novel and film versions of a particular text. The Screen Adaptations series offers a wealth of study material, from the literary context of the original work to thought-provoking comparisons of the screen versions to critical commentary and the afterlife of the films.
"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic piece of literature, and any new adaptation is a major event. With several well-known TV and film versions available (featuring stars such as Keira Knightley) as well as a Bollywood version, discussions around how these films interpret the story, themes, and characters are a popular classroom choice for students and teachers alike.

This new title in the Screen Adaptations series provides a rich source of material to help students understand and write about the reciprocal relationship between film and literature. In addition to in-depth analysis of the various screen versions and alternative readings, the book contains an interview with writer Andrew Davies, best known for his 1995 adaptation. Following from Shakespeare, Jane Austen on screen is now an established part of literary studies, and the volume will conclude with a survey of the growing body of literature in the field.

This volume offers an accessible and thought-provoking guide to this major Shakespearean comedy, surveying its key themes and evolving critical preoccupations. It also provides a detailed and up-to-date history of the play's rich stage and screen performance, looking closely at major contemporary performances, including Josie Rourke's film starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones at the Old Vic, and the RSC's recent rebranding of it as a sequel. Moving through to four new critical essays, the guide opens up fresh perspectives, including contemporary directors' deployment of older actors within the lead roles, the play's relationship to Love's Labour's Lost, its presence on Youtube and the ways in which tales and ruses in the play belong to a wider concern with varieties of crime. The volume finishes with a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated bibliography provide a basis for further research.

This Companion offers a multi-disciplinary approach to literature on film and television. Writers are drawn from different backgrounds to consider broad topics, such as the issue of adaptation from novels and plays to the screen, canonical and popular literature, fantasy, genre and adaptations for children. There are also case studies, such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the nineteenth-century novel and modernism, which allow the reader to place adaptations of the work of writers within a wider context. An interview with Andrew Davies, whose work includes Pride and Prejudice (1995) and Bleak House (2005), reveals the practical choices and challenges that face the professional writer and adaptor. The Companion as a whole provides an extensive survey of an increasingly popular field of study.

This Companion offers a multi-disciplinary approach to literature on film and television. Writers are drawn from different backgrounds to consider broad topics, such as the issue of adaptation from novels and plays to the screen, canonical and popular literature, fantasy, genre and adaptations for children. There are also case studies, such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the nineteenth-century novel and modernism, which allow the reader to place adaptations of the work of writers within a wider context. An interview with Andrew Davies, whose work includes Pride and Prejudice (1995) and Bleak House (2005), reveals the practical choices and challenges that face the professional writer and adaptor. The Companion as a whole provides an extensive survey of an increasingly popular field of study.