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Adaptation introduces complications in audience perception and aesthetics. The most obvious and common form of film adaptation is the use of a Novel as the basis of a film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction (including Journalism ), Autobiography , Comic Book , Scripture , Play s, and even other films. From the earliest days of cinema, adaptation has been nearly as common as the development of original Screenplay s. NOVEL ADAPTATIONS Novels are frequently adapted for films. For the most part, these adaptations attempt either to appeal to an existing commercial audience (the adaptation of best sellers) or to tap into the innovation and novelty of a less well known author. Inevitably, the question of "faithfulness" arises, and the more high profile the source novel, the more insistent are the questions of fidelity. "Faithful" adaptation Sergei Eisenstein noted that the novels of Charles Dickens were filmed more often than any material except the Bible , and he explained this by Dickens's style. According to Eisenstein, a good source novel contains a great deal of Action and extensive physical description. Novels that feature internal struggles and intellectual debate are difficult to film, but novels that offer descriptions of scenery and which posit their debates in plotting are easy to film. Since Eisenstein's time, film theorists have pointed out that film's tools and fiction's tools are radically different. While film ''can'' achieve Metaphor , it is difficult and time consuming to do so (with Symbolism being more common). Additionally, Stream Of Consciousness and internal monologues can only be filmed by means of intrusive and illusion-breaking techniques (such as Voice Over s). Therefore, novelists such as Stephen King and Michael Crichton , who concentrate on action and externals, are readier for film than Graham Swift or James Joyce would be. At the same time, film has the ability to employ Slow Motion , Time-lapse , and, most essentially, Montage -- techniques that have no fictional equivalent. Finally, theorists have pointed out that cinema is an ''event'' rather than a ''document.'' Cinema takes place in time, and time is the ultimate Syntax of film. Readers can slow down and ponder, can flip back and forth, and always have the speeches and adjectives to build up the novels they read, while film must roll forward at a particular rate. (Indeed, as Abstract Expressionism distinguished painting from photography, the pressures of films may have aided in the rise of novels of interiority and time shifting in contemporary artistic fiction or limited the use of such devices in commercial fiction.) Elision and interpolation Erich Von Stroheim attempted a literal adaptation of Frank Norris 's novel ''McTeague'' in 1924 with his film, ''Greed''. The resulting film was over sixteen hours long. A cut of the film only eight hours long, then one running to four hours, appeared. Finally, the studio itself cut the film to around two hours, resulting in a finished product that was entirely incoherent. Since that time, few directors have been foolish enough to attempt to put everything in a novel into a film. Therefore, elision is nearly mandatory. In some cases, however, film adaptations will also interpolate scenes or invent characters. This is especially true when a novel is part of a literary Saga . Incidents or quotes from later or earlier novels will be inserted into a single film. Additionally, and far more controversially, film makers will invent new characters or create stories that were not present in the source material at all. Given the anticipated audience for a film, the screenwriter, director, or Movie Studio may wish to increase character time or invent new characters. For example, William Kennedy 's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, '' Ironweed ,'' had a very small section with a prostitute named Helen. Because the movie studio anticipated a female audience for the film and had Meryl Streep for the role, Helen became a significant part of the film. However, characters are also sometimes invented to provide the narrative voice. When source novels have exposition or digressions from the author's own voice, a film adaptation may create a commenting, Chorus -like character to provide what could not be filmed otherwise. (In the adaptation of John Fowles 's '' The French Lieutenant's Woman ,'' the director created a contemporary Englishman in a romance with a woman to offer up the ironic and scholarly voice that Fowles provided in the novel.) There have been several nominees for ''non plus ultra'' of inventive adaptation, including the Roland Jaffe adaptation of '' The Scarlet Letter '' with explicit sex between Hester Prynn and the minister and Native American attacks on Salem (changes introduced, according to Jaffe, to increase the market and to make an entirely new morality tale out of the novel). At nearly the same time, Daniel Defoe 's '' Moll Flanders '' was creatively adapted to make it a romance. A television mini-series of '' Gulliver's Travels '' changed the sexes of characters, made some vanish, and changed the character of Master Bates from a single 3 sentence obscene pun into a villain. The Charlie Kaufman and "Donald Kaufman" penned '' Adaptation. '' was an intentional satire and commentary on the process of film adaptation itself. Change in adaptation is essential, but how much is always a balance. Some film theorists have argued that a director should be entirely unconcerned with the source, as a novel is a novel, while a film is a film, and the two works of art must be seen as separate entities. Since a transcription of a novel into film is impossible, even holding up a goal of "accuracy" is absurd. Others argue that what a film adaptation does is change to fit (literally, adapt), and the film must be accurate to either the effect (aesthetics) of a novel or the theme of the novel or the message of the novel and that the film maker must introduce changes where necessary to fit the demands of time and to maximize faithfulness along one of these axes. THEATRICAL ADAPTATION In addition to adaptation from novels, films frequently use plays as their sources. '' was a film that was adapted into a Broadway musical and then adapted again into a film. TELEVISION AND OTHER THEATRICAL ADAPTATION Feature films are occasionally created as a full and (usually) uncensored version of a Television series or television segment. In these cases, the film will either offer a longer storyline than the usual television program's format or will offer a greater set of production values. In the adaptation of '' The X Files '' to film, for example, greater effects and a longer plotline were involved. Additionally, adaptations of television shows will offer the viewer the opportunity to see the television show's characters without broadcast restrictions. These additions (nudity, profanity, explicit drug use, explicit violence) are rarely a featured adaptive addition. Instead, films will try to offer a "real" story, as if commercial television were inherently censored for complexity. Some adaptations of television shows are nostalgic and usually ironic. Films about television shows of the audience's childhood (e.g. '' Scooby-Doo '') play up television conventions and will sometimes exploit the distinction between movie and television possibilities for comedic effect. Even segments of television shows have been adapted into feature films. The '' and '' Johnny English ''. Radio narratives have also provided the basis of film adaptation. '' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy ,'' for example, began as a radio series for the BBC and then became a novel which was adapted to film. '' Mr. Magoo '' existed as a radio character skit before it became a Cartoon short series for theatrical release. In the heyday of radio, radio segments, like television segments today, translated to film on several occasions, usually as shorts. COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION Comic book characters, particularly (1978) and Batman (1989) are two later succesful movie adaptations of famous comic book characters. In the early 2000s, blockbusters such as 2000’s X-Men , 2002’s Spider-Man and 2005's Batman Begins have led to dozens of superhero films. The success of these films has also led to other comic books not necessarily about superheroes being adapted for the big screen, such as Sin City (2005), Ghost World (2001) and American Splendor (2003). The adaptation process for comics is different from that of novels. Fans of such as scenes or characters being left out or speeches shortened, but for most classic comic book superheroes, their backstory has become so clogged up over the years that it would be impossible to deliver a completely "faithful" adaptation. Once the film remains true to the spirit of the original character, most fans are satisfied. On the other hand, a work such as Sin City lends itself to the film format, and director Robert Rodriguez worked closely with the comics creator Frank Miller to create what Rodriguez regards as a "translation" rather than an adaptation. ADAPTATIONS FROM OTHER SOURCES Documentary Film s have been made from reportage, as have dramatic films (e.g. ''All the President's Men''). Some films have been made based on photographs (e.g. ''Pretty Baby'', directed by Louis Malle ), and movies have adapted movies (e.g. ''Twelve Monkeys'' deriving from La Jetée ). Many films have been made from Epic Poetry . Homer 's works have been adapted multiple times in several nations. Finally, both Greek Mythology and the Bible have been adapted frequently. In these cases, the audience already knows the story well, and so the adaptation will de-emphasize elements of suspense and concentrate instead on detail and phrasing. The specifics of the Acting take precedence over cinematic techniques. REVERSE ADAPTATION Popular films have been adapted into both novels and plays. Many movie studios commission '', and Graham Greene , with '' The Third Man '', have worked from their own film ideas to a novel form (although it is worth noting that the novel version of ''The Third Man'' was written more to aid in the development of the screenplay than for the purposes of being released as a novel, and that ''2001'''s novelization was written in parallel with the screenplay). Both John Sayles and Ingmar Bergman write their film ideas as novels before they begin producing them as films, although neither director has allowed these prose treatments to be published. Finally, films have inspired and been adapted into plays. John Waters 's films have been successfully mounted as plays; both ''Hairspray'' and ''Cry Baby'' have been adapted, and other films have spurred subsequent theatrical adaptations. The most recent incidence of this is ''Spamalot,'' which is a Broadway play based on Monty Python films. In a rare case of a film being adapted from a stage musical adaptation of a film, in 2005 the film adaptation of the stage musical based on Mel Brook's classic comedy film '' The Producers '' was released. OTHER ADAPTATIVE PROCESSES Although not truly a case of artistic adaptation, there have been rare examples of films inspiring or creating religions, such as the new emphasis on Jedi Religion coming from the '' Star Wars '' films, which themselves adapted other films (notably '' Hidden Fortress ''). Also, films have inspired and been adapted into journalism (e.g. '' The Thin Blue Line '' inspired journalistic investigations resulting in the freeing of a death row inmate, and '' Harlan County USA '' inspired investigative reports that aided in labor conflict resolution in the US). REFERENCES
EXAMPLES OF ADAPTATIONS
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