Approaches to Film Adaptation module (EN51018)

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Credits

20

Module code

EN51018

Film is a medium that thrives on adaptation, with films drawing on novels, plays, comics, and other media.

This module aims to introduce students to the issues surrounding the translation of a work into a different medium, and will explore the issue of cinematic representation and aesthetics through issues related to adaptations of novels. It will consider the various stages of adaptation from original text, to screenplay to film, allowing students to develop a keen understanding of the unique ways in which different media construct narratives.

Assessment

Coursework makes up 100% of the assessment, as follows:

  • A presentation (30%)
  • A critical essay: 4,000 words (70%)

Convenor

Dr Brian Hoyle

Teaching

  • Week 1: John Fowles’ The Collector + The Collector (William Wyler, 1965)
  • Week 2: Henry James’ Washington Square + The Heiress (William Wyler, 1965) & Washington Square (Agnieszka Holland, 1997)
  • Week 3: E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India + A Passage to India (David Lean, 1984)
  • Week 4: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations + Great Expectations (David Lean, 1948) & Great Expectations (Mike Newell, 2012)
  • Week 5: Tom Tryon’s Fedora + Sunset Blvd (Billy Wilder, 1950) & Fedora (Billy Wilder, 1978)
  • Week 6: Reading Week: No Seminar
  • Week 7: Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw + The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1962)&Presence of Mind (Antoni Aloy, 1999)
  • Week 8: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby + The Great Gatsby (Jack Clayton, 1974) & The Great Gatsby (Baz Lurhman, 2012)
  • Week 9: Charles Portis’ True Grit + True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969) & True Grit (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2010)
  • Week 10: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth + The House of Mirth (Terence Davies, 2000)
  • Week 11: Virginia Woolf’s Orlando + Orlando (Sally Potter, 1992)
  • Week 12: L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between & Robin Maugham's The Servant + The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1971) and The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963)
  • Week 13: Graham Greene’s The Third Man &The Fallen Idol + The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) & The Fallen Idol (Carol Reed, 1947)