Adaptation: From Novel to Film

In Reading the Movies, William Costanzo notes that it has been estimated
that a third of all films ever made were adapted from novels. If you count
other literary forms, such as drama or short stories, that estimate might well
be 65 percent or more. Nearly all of the classic works students study in high
school have been adapted for film, some several times in several different
eras. But turning a novel into a screenplay is not just a matter of pulling
dialogue from the pages of a book. In novels, we often come to know
characters best not through what they say, but through what they are
thinking or what is said about them in the narration. A narrator mediates the
meaning of what we read through his or her point of view: a coming-of-age
story reads much differently if we hear about what happens from the point
of view of the person growing up than if we learn about it from that person's
mother, sister, or teacher. But in film, the narrator largely disappears.
Sometimes a narrator's perspective is kept through the use of a voice-over,
but generally the director, cast, and crew must rely on the other tools of film
to reproduce what was felt, thought, and described on the page.
The major difference between books and film is that visual images stimulate
our perceptions directly, while written words can do this indirectly. Reading
the word chair requires a kind of mental "translation" that viewing a picture
of a chair does not. Film is a more sensory experience than reading -besides verbal language, there is also color, movement, and sound. Yet film
is also limited: for one thing, there are no time constraints on a novel, while
a film must generally compress events into two hours or so. For another, the
meaning of a novel is controlled by only one person -- the author -- while the
meaning we get from a film is the result of a collaborative effort by a large
number of people. Film also does not allow us the same freedom a novel
does -- to interact with the plot or characters by imagining them in our
minds. For some viewers, this is often the most frustrating aspect of turning
a
novel
into
a
film.
How faithful to the original written work should a film version strive to be? In
Reading the Movies, Costanzo quotes George Bluestone, one of the first to
study film adaptations of literature. Bluestone believes the filmmaker is an
independent artist, "not a translator for an established author, but a new
author in his own right." Thinkers like Bluestone agree that a literal
translation of a book is often foolish -- even, some have said, a "betrayal" of
the original work. Instead, the filmmaker has to refashion the spirit of the
story
with
his
or
her
own
vision
and
tools.

There are three main reasons a filmmaker or screenwriter might make major
changes in adapting a literary work to film. One is simply the change
demanded by a new medium. For instance, film and literature each have
their own tools for manipulating narrative structure. In a novel, a new
chapter might take us back to a different time and place in the narrative; in

a film, we might go back to that same time and place through the use of a
flashback, a crosscut, or a dissolve.
Sometimes filmmakers make changes to highlight new themes, emphasize
different traits in a character, or even try to solve problems they perceive in
the original work. Finally, some changes are inspired by a desire to make
the original story interesting and applicable to a contemporary audience.

Snap Out Of It

by Arctic Monkeys

What's been happening in your (1) ________?

What have you been up to?
I heard that you fell in (2)______
Or near enough
I gotta tell you the (3)________...
I wanna grab both your shoulders and (4)________ baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
I get the (5)____________ I left it too late, but baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
If that watch don't continue to (6)_______ or the fat lady fancies having
a sing
I'll be here (7)____________ ever so patiently for you to
Snap out of it
Forever isn't for everyone
Is forever for you?
It sounds like settling (8)______ or giving (9)____
But it don't sound much like you girl
I wanna grab both your shoulders and (4)________ baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
I get the (5)____________ I left it too late, but baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
If that watch don't continue to (6)_______ or the fat lady fancies having
a sing
I'll be here (7)____________ ever so patiently for you to
Snap out of it
Under a spell you're hypnotized
Darling how could you be so (10)________?
(Snap out of it)
Under a spell you're hypnotized
Darling how could you be so (10)________?
I wanna grab both your shoulders and (4)________ baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
I get the (5)____________ I left it too late, but baby
Snap out of it (Snap out of it)
If that watch don't continue to (6)_______ or the fat lady fancies having

a sing
I'll be here (7)____________ ever so patiently for you to
Snap out of it