Abstract:

Adaptation has long been used as a way of making literature more accessible and easier to study at different school levels. Film adaptations of novels in particular are shown by teachers, often as a way into the medium of literature, to which young people are less and less exposed in this era of digital media.

However, the use of adaptations in teaching situations is not based on any theoretical model, and thus not systematic. Film adaptations are usually used in improvised and instinctive manners, without clear objectives. Even as such, they offer obvious possibilities, such as an easier way to visualizing literary aspects, and sometimes a more convenient way to approach a literary work, since seeing a film takes less time than reading a book and since young people are much more used to the medium of film. There are however also downfalls. The most obvious one is overlooking the specificity of the medium of literature, which is completely built on written language, and consequently an exaggerated focus on aspects of literature that are less connected to language, such as plot, setting or characters. Comparing rather superficial differences between the source medium and the target medium is rarely enlightening, and leads often to judging the fidelity value of the film adaptation, something that has been more or less discarded in adaptation theory already from George Bluestone’s pioneering book from 1957 Novels into Films (see also Stam 2000, Hutcheon 2006, etc.).

But most importantly, what is usually overlooked is the possibility of highlighting specific literary devices by comparing them to their use in adaptations. The most interesting such devices are narrative techniques, since narration is a common feature for both literature and films.

In this paper, I take a closer look at how adaptations can be used in teaching situations exactly in order to highlight literary specificity. On the basis of my own teaching situations at university level, I show how devices such as narrative voice or description can be studied using film adaptations, or rather using an intermedial approach, according to the definition of the concept by Swedish scholar Lars Elleström. Indeed, adaptation has to do with much more than only the two media of literature and film, and being conscious about that improves both the student’s understanding and his or her joy of reading. Thus, in the case of description, even cases where paintings have been discussed in the teaching situations, or rather “ekphrases”, are analyzed.

References:
[1] Alamuri, S. (2023). “Literature Through the Cinematic Lens: Film Adaptations as a Teaching Strategy”, in Fortell, no 46, pp. 79-89.
[2] Bluestone, G. (2003/1957) Novels into Films. Johns Hopkins University Press.
[3] Elleström, L. (2014). Media Transformation. The Transfer of Media Characteristics among Media, Palgrave Pivot, London.
[4] Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. New York, Routledge.
[5] Stam, R. (2000). “Beyond Fidelity: The Dialogics of Adaptation,” in James Naremore, ed., Film Adaptation, New Brunswick: Rutgers, pp. 54-76.

Keywords:

Adaptation, Literature, Films in teaching.