Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ

by Thomas Leitch

Overview

Most books on film adaptation—the relation between films and their literary sources—focus on a series of close one-to-one comparisons between specific films and canonical novels. This volume identifies and investigates a far wider array of problems posed by the process of adaptation.

Beginning with an examination of why adaptation study has so often supported the institution of literature rather than fostering the practice of literacy, Thomas Leitch considers how the creators of short silent films attempted to give them the weight of literature, what sorts of fidelity are possible in an adaptation of sacred scripture, what it means for an adaptation to pose as an introduction to, rather than a transcription of, a literary classic, and why and how some films have sought impossibly close fidelity to their sources.

After examining the surprisingly divergent fidelity claims made by three different kinds of canonical adaptations, Leitch's analysis moves beyond literary sources to consider why a small number of adapters have risen to the status of auteurs and how illustrated books, comic strips, video games, and true stories have been adapted to the screen. The range of films studied, from silent Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes to The Lord of the Rings, is as broad as the problems that come under review.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801892714
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/31/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas Leitch is a professor of English at the University of Delaware.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Literature versus Literacy
2. One-Reel Epics
3. The Word Made Film
4. Entry-Level Dickens
5. Between Adaptation and Allusion
6. Exceptional Fidelity
7. Traditions of Quality
8. Streaming Pictures
9. The Hero with a Hundred Faces
10. The Adapter as Auteur
11. Postliterary Adaptation
12. Based on a True Story
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

One of the best books ever written on the topic of motion-picture adaptations. It provides not only a full-scale theoretical and cultural map of the field but also a convincing argument for teaching students how to write and think critically. It was a joy to read.
—James Naremore, Indiana University

James Naremore

One of the best books ever written on the topic of motion-picture adaptations. It provides not only a full-scale theoretical and cultural map of the field but also a convincing argument for teaching students how to write and think critically. It was a joy to read.

— James Naremore, Indiana University

Editorial Reviews

I would highly recommend Leitch's study, in particular for its diversity and complexity. The author demonstrates that he is familiar with a large and heterogeneous corpus, including canonical as well as popular or marginal films and texts, which adaptation studies can only benefit from.
—Thomas Van Parys, Image & Narrative

As a cogent summary and critique of film adaptation, this would be a good first book for newcomers to the subject . . . Highly recommended.
—Choice

This convincingly argued and eloquently presented volume is replete with an array of accessible examples that provide an illustrative stylistic lightness of touch . . . whilst resisting any potential dilution of the underlying radical and important thesis—a thesis which incontrovertibly advances and enhances our approach to adaptation studies on a number of highly original and insightful levels.
—Dr. Alison Forsyth, Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance

Film Adaptation and Its Discontents is a worthy and distinctive entrant into an already crowded field. Its strengths lie in the detailed and persuasively argued collective case histories . . . as well as its often penetrating and always illuminating discussions of specific problems.
—R. Barton Palmer, Film Quarterly

For those interested in the cinematic works their favorite books inspire,Thomas Leitch's Film Adaptation and Its Discontents should provide food for thought.
—Rebecca Oppenheimer, The Jeffersonian

I highly recommend the book both to those new or well versed in adaptation studies as a thought-provoking look at the questions to be asked – and perhaps answered – in this domain of ever-increasing importance.
—Shannon Wells-Lassagne, Cercles

From the Publisher

I would highly recommend Leitch's study, in particular for its diversity and complexity. The author demonstrates that he is familiar with a large and heterogeneous corpus, including canonical as well as popular or marginal films and texts, which adaptation studies can only benefit from.

Image & Narrative - Thomas Van Parys

As a cogent summary and critique of film adaptation, this would be a good first book for newcomers to the subject . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

I highly recommend the book both to those new or well versed in adaptation studies as a thought-provoking look at the questions to be asked – and perhaps answered – in this domain of ever-increasing importance.

Cercles - Shannon Wells-Lassagne

"For those interested in the cinematic works their favorite books inspire,Thomas Leitch's Film Adaptation and Its Discontents should provide food for thought."

The Jeffersonian - Rebecca Oppenheimer

"Film Adaptation and Its Discontents is a worthy and distinctive entrant into an already crowded field. Its strengths lie in the detailed and persuasively argued collective case histories... as well as its often penetrating and always illuminating discussions of specific problems."

Film Quarterly - R. Barton Palmer

"This convincingly argued and eloquently presented volume is replete with an array of accessible examples that provide an illustrative stylistic lightness of touch... whilst resisting any potential dilution of the underlying radical and important thesis—a thesis which incontrovertibly advances and enhances our approach to adaptation studies on a number of highly original and insightful levels."

Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance - Dr. Alison Forsyth

I highly recommend the book both to those new or well versed in adaptation studies as a thought-provoking look at the questions to be asked – and perhaps answered – in this domain of ever-increasing importance.

— Shannon Wells-Lassagne

Cercles

For those interested in the cinematic works their favorite books inspire,Thomas Leitch's Film Adaptation and Its Discontents should provide food for thought.

— Rebecca Oppenheimer

The Jeffersonian

Film Adaptation and Its Discontents is a worthy and distinctive entrant into an already crowded field. Its strengths lie in the detailed and persuasively argued collective case histories... as well as its often penetrating and always illuminating discussions of specific problems.

— R. Barton Palmer

Film Quarterly

This convincingly argued and eloquently presented volume is replete with an array of accessible examples that provide an illustrative stylistic lightness of touch... whilst resisting any potential dilution of the underlying radical and important thesis—a thesis which incontrovertibly advances and enhances our approach to adaptation studies on a number of highly original and insightful levels.

— Dr. Alison Forsyth

Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance

I would highly recommend Leitch's study, in particular for its diversity and complexity. The author demonstrates that he is familiar with a large and heterogeneous corpus, including canonical as well as popular or marginal films and texts, which adaptation studies can only benefit from.

— Thomas Van Parys

Image & Narrative