7/14 Seminar Notes

Notes for 7/14 blog

Thursday, 14 July: Adaptations and Legacies

Texts survive and remain relevant through adaptation, similar to Darwin’s idea of survival of the fittest. We should consider why particular stories have new found appeal. What is it about the times that remind readers of novels written over a century ago?  What is it about 2016 that reminds us of Victorian society?

In addition to social commentary, there are also economic motives behind film adaptations of Dickens and Shakespeare. Most Academy Award winning films are adaptations. Adaptations are visual quotations, they provide the visual element that is missing from the text.

We can avoid the “fidelity monster” by considering adaptations as works of art themselves, reflecting the film director’s intentions, rather than judging the work by its likeness to the originary. We don’t need to continue the quality of work by evaluating its likeness to the originary. After all, even originary texts have gone through several adaptations, considering input from editors, financial motives, word count and time restraints.

Cultural influences determine which works are considered originaries, and which are considered adaptations. This is similar to the imperfection of the historical narrative when we are looking only for facts. Works that are canonized (and more popular for adaptation) are works that are thought to reflect social realities. Carlyle, Ruskin and Dickens all question human nature, and how it is impacted by the rapid changes of industrial society. These writers harken to a paternalistic, feudal society in which masters take care of the laborers. The historical novel, similar to historical fiction, blends fact and fancy. Similarly, we can question the blend of fact and fancy when comparing originary texts and their adaptations.

To evaluate adaptations we can consider:

·      What is changed? Why?

·      What is eliminated? Why?

·      What is brought in? Why?

“Under the Earth the Sons Toil” is a dramatized adaptation of Hard Times. This play doesn’t include the character of Sissy. Without Sissy as the moral compass, there must be another driving force for change. In this adaptation, Louisa represents morality. They play also refers to A Christmas Carol because Bounderby is akin to Scrooge. Rather than contrast Bounderby and Gradgrind to our views of education as challenged by the originary’s school scenes, or Sleary and the circus, this play compares Hard Times to other works by Dickens.

Just as Hard Times has been adapted from the originary, we can do “Remediation” activities with our students. For example, our students can take a text, and turn it into a different medium, such as when they illustrate a chunk of text. For reflection, students should consider the strengths and the lacks of the medium.