Film Adaptation

UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH STUDIES

ENG 582: Film Adaptation: Cross Cultural Transfers and Creative Appropriations Evi Haggipavlu (PhD) E-mail Address: [email protected] ECTS: 7.5 Office Hours: M 2-4 and Th. 2-4 Fall 2017

COURSE DESCRIPTION Our aim in this course is to critically examine the rapidly expanding field of Film Adaptation from an interdisciplinary point of view that draws from the areas of Film Studies, Translation Studies, Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, Philosophy and the Arts. The varied and many connotations of Adaptation—both negative and positive, including but not limited to the notions of modification, doubling, evolution, re-telling, adjustment, transformation, conformation, mutation, accommodation, palimpsest, change, approach, dialogue, nearing, appropriation--will be explored through close readings of a number of case studies. Each of these will be based on a specific set of mutations/transformations that, for the purposes of this course, belong to one or more of the following categories: (a) crossings from various literary genres--short stories, fairy tales, novellas, poems, plays, nonfiction writing--to the screen; (b) transfers from different media and art forms--such as music, photography, mythology, dance, comics, painting--to cinema; and (c) cross cultural and/or ideological transfers of meaning--to Film. Our ultimate aim will be to (a) trace the creative transmutations texts undergo as they cross from one form and/or cultural context to another (or others) while at the same time (b) explore the complex relationship between Origin/Original and Copy that is presumed to underlie such transmutations. Consequently, we shall carefully examine a number of questions and issues pertinent to the study of Film Adaptation such as: the significance of intertextuality in Film Adaptation; the relevance of the question of fidelity in light of the evolutionary dynamics inherent in Adaptation; the ethics of “creative” appropriations but also the significance of playfulness in Film Adaptation; the significance of time, rhythm and movement in Adaptation; the question of authorship; and the politics of cross cultural and ideological transfers of meaning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Selections were made from the following texts):

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories. Trans. Jay Rubin. London: Penguin Classics, 2006.

Aragay, Mireia (ed.). Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005.

Aristophanes. The Complete Plays. Ed. Moses Hadas. New York: Bantam Books, 1988. (REQUIRED)

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations. Trans. Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman. NY: Semiotext, 1983.

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”. In Film Theory and Criticism, ed., Gerald Mast, Marshal Cohen and Leo Braudy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Boozer, Jack (ed.) Authorship in Film Adaptation. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

Brockmann, Stephen. A Critical History of German Film. NY: Camden House, 2010.

Cartmell, Deborah and Imelda Wheelehan (eds.). The Literature Companion to Literature on Screen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Carver, Raymond. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. NY: Vintage Books, 1989.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. Trans. Henry and Olga Carlisle. New York: Nee American Library, 1969.

Eco, Umberto. They Myth of the Superman. Diacritics, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring, 1972), pp. 14-22

Foucault, Michel. “What is an Author”, in P. Rabinow (ed.) The Foucault Reader. Harmondsworth: Penguin, (101-20), 1986, 1969.

Goodwin, James. Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. E.V. Rieu. London: Penguin Books, 1991.

Leitch, Thomas. Film Adaptation & Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Martinez Alvaro, Maria Jesus. “Intertextuality: Origins and Development of the Concept”. Atlantis, Vol. 18, No 1-2 (Junio-Diciembre 1986), p.268-285

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: The Viking Press, 1949. (REQUIRED)

Orlean, Susan. The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession. London: Vintage, 2000.

Prince, Stephen. The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa: The Warrior’s Camera. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991.

Sanders, Julie. Adaptation and Appropriation. New York: Routledge, 2016. (REQUIRED)

Saramago, Jose. Blindness. Trans. Giovanni Pontiero. London: Vintage Books, 2013. (REQUIRED)

Thompson, Kristin and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction, 2nd edition. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2002

Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. London: Vintage Books, 2010.

Welsh, James M. and Peter Lev (eds.). The Literature/Film Reader: Issues of Adaptation. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2007.

Woolf, Virginia. Orlando: A Biography, London: Penguin Classics, (1993). (REQUIRED)

FILMOGRAPHY

Please check the schedule for films to watch each week arranged thematically. An additional list of films and T.V series to choose from for your final papers will be given to you later on in the semester. https://archive.org/index.php http://www.openculture.com/

Journals and Magazines/Film Criticism  Major newspapers in all languages have excellent film sections  http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine  http://brightlightsfilm.com/  http://sensesofcinema.com/  http://www.cineaste.com/  http://www.cineaste.com/recommended_links  http://www.filmcomment.com/  http://www.newyorker.com/  http://www.thenation.com/  http://www.cahiersducinema.com/

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

Class Preparation and Participation I expect everyone to come to class fully prepared to discuss the material. Preparation includes reading the material, taking detailed notes, and noting down questions. As you are reading each of the assignments try to think what the main argument of the reading is and how the author arrives at such a conclusion. Engage with the author in such a way that as you read, try, to also respond in your mind, or by taking notes, to what she or he says. Excellent participation involves regular, thoughtful contributions to discussions: expressing your understanding of the material, and developing and thinking critically about your own positions. Some of the material that we will read makes for a lively class discussion; while disagreement is expected disrespect will not be tolerated.

Attendance Missing any class, coming in late to class, or leaving early will all detract from the final grade; if you do miss a class, you are still completely responsible for knowing what was covered in class that day and for finding out if there were any assignments given. Please call another student in the class to find out what you missed.

Films/optional activity Unless otherwise specified, please consider the films required for this course as your homework and watch them at your own time. You should study them as you would study any other text you are assigned. Copies of the films will be available on reserve. In addition at a time agreed upon by all (or at least by most) I will hold film screenings to which you are all welcome.

Assignments Specific instructions for this semester’s assignments will be given separately.

Academic Integrity Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. It involves stealing other people’s ideas and presenting them as your own. Some examples of plagiarism are: copying another’s work, word for word, and presenting it as your own; “borrowing,” without properly acknowledging the source, paragraphs, sentences, ideas, or even key concepts; and paraphrasing another’s work and claiming it as your own. Additional information about plagiarism and citation rules will be provided during the semester.

Grading Participation/Attendance/Preparation 10% Presentations 10% Semester-Long Response Papers 30% Final Paper 50%

SCHEDULE

WEEK 1: Sept. 5-8: Some Introductory Thoughts on Adaptation. View:  Stellan Rye. Der Student von Prag (Germany, 1913)

Optional Reading  Excerpt from Brockmann’s A Critical History of German Film

WEEK 2: Sept. 12-15: Some Introductory Thoughts on Adaptation. View:  Jonze, Spike. Adaptation (USA, 2002)

Reading:  Julie Sanders, ch.1 “What is Adaptation?” and ch.2 “What is Appropriation?” in Adaptation and Appropriation, 21-53

 Frank P. Tomasulo “Adaptation as Adaptation: From Susan Orleans The Orchid Thief to Charlie (and “Donald”) Kaufman’s Screenplay to Spike Jonze’s Film” in Boozer, Jack (ed.) Authorship in Film Adaptation, 161-178  Karen Diehl “Once Upon a Time an Adaptation: Traces of the Authorial on Film” in Mireia Aragay (ed.). Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship, 89-106  James M. Welsh “Issues of Screen Adaptation: What is Truth?” in Welsh, James M. and Peter Lev (eds.). The Literature/Film Reader: Issues of Adaptation

Optional Reading:  Mireia Aragay “Reflection to Refraction: Adaptation Studies Then and Now” in Mireia Aragay (ed.). Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship  Susan Orleans, The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession.

WEEK 3: Sept. 19-22: Intertextuality-Palimpsests-Echoes and the Death of a Salesman View:  Charlie Kaufman. Synecdoche NY (USA, 2008).  Asghar Farhadi. The Salesman (Iran, 2016).

Reading:  Arthur Miller, The Death of a Salesman *****  Maria Jesus Martinez Alvaro, “Intertextuality: Origins and Development of the Concept”. Atlantis, Vol. 18, No 1-2 (Junio-Diciembre 1986), p.268-285

Optional Reading:  Jean Baudrillard, Simulations  Michel Foucault, “What is an Author”  Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

WEEK 4: Sept. 26-29: Fairy Tales/Mythology View: On Fairy Tales  Pablo Berger. Blancanieves (Spain, 2012)  Rob Marshall. Into the Woods (USA, 2014)  Selection of short films by Lotte Reiniger On The Orphic Myth  Marcel, Camus. Black Orpheus (Brazil, 1959)  Baz Luhrmann. Moulin Rouge (USA, 2001).  Jean Cocteau. Orpheus (France, 1950)

Reading:  Julie Sanders, ch. 4 “’It’s a very old story’: Myth and Metamorphosis” and ch.5 “’Other Versions’ of fairy tale and folklore,” in Adaptation and Appropriation, 80-119

WEEK 5: Oct. 3-6: The Greek Classics Adapted (Creatively)

View: On Lysistrata  Spike Lee. Chi-Raq (USA, 2015)  Radu Mihaileanu. The Source (France, 2011) On The Odyssey  Jean-Luc Godard. Le Mepris (France, 1963)  Joel and Ethan Coen. O Brother Where Art Thou (USA, 2000)

Reading:  Aristophanes’ Lysistrata *****

Optional Reading  Homer’s The Odyssey

WEEK 6: Oct. 10-13: Based on a True Story; and Memoirs, Biographies and Letters View:  Sally Potter. Orlando (UK, 1992)

Reading:  Virginia Woolf’s, Orlando: A Biography. *****

Optional Reading  Selections from Virginia Woolf’s Diaries.  William Mooney “Memoir and the Limits of Adaptation” in Welsh, James M. and Peter Lev (eds.). The Literature/Film Reader: Issues of Adaptation, 285-297  Martin Halliwell, “Modernism and Adaptation”; and Peter Brooker “Postmodern adaptation: pastiche, intertextulity and refunctioning” in Cartmell, Deborah and Imelda Wheelehan (eds.). The Literature Companion to Literature on Screen, 90-120  “Based on a True Story” in Thomas Leitch, Film Adaptation & Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ, 280-303

WEEK 7: Oct. 17-20: The Ten Commandments View: Cecil B. DeMille. The Ten Commandments (USA, 1956)

Reading:  “The Word Made Film” in Thomas Leitch Film Adaptation & Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ, 47-67

WEEK 8: Oct.24-27: The Ten Commandments View:  Krzysztof Kieslowski. The Decalogue (Poland, 1989)  Eileen Anipare and Jason Wood. A Short Film About Decalogue: An Interview with Krzysztof Kieslowski (UK, 1996).

WEEK 9: Oct. 31-Nov. 3: Akira Kurosawa’s Cinema View:  Akira Kurosawa. Ikiru (Japan, 1952).  Akira, Kurosawa. Hakuchi (Japan, 1951)  Akira Kurosawa. Rashomon (Japan, 1950)

Reading:  Prince, Stephen. “Experiments and Adaptations” in The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa: The Warrior’s Camera, 114-155  Excerpts from James Goodwin’s Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema

Optional Reading:  Leo Tostoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich  Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot  Ryunosuke Akutagawa, In a Grove

WEEK 10: Nov. 7-10: Music-Ballet-Cinema View:  Stephen Dauldry. Billy Elliot (UK, 2000)  Ross MacGibbon. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (UK, 2012)  Darren Aronofsky. Black Swan (USA, 2010)  Roberto Bolle and Svetlana Zakharova—Swan Lake Ballet Performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbM58HMXZ4 Listen:  Rozhdestvensky - Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Op 20 (Complete)-Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqZfoK25lnY

WEEK 11: Nov. 14-17: Superheroes-Comics-Graphic Novels View:  Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (USA, 2014)

Reading:  Umberto Eco, They Myth of the Superman.  Raymond Carver, What we talk about when we talk about Love *****

WEEK 12: Nov. 21-24: Sense-less Worlds on Film View:  Fernando Meirelles. Blindness (USA, 2008)  David Mackenzie. Perfect Sense (UK, 2011)

Reading:

 Jose Saramago Blindness. *****

WEEK 13: Nov. 28-Dec.1: From Films to Novels, Musicals and so much more….and final thoughts. View:  Stanley Kubrick. 2001 A Space Odyssey (UK, 1968)  Billy Wilder. Sunset Boulevard (USA, 1950)

Optional Reading:  Jan Baetans, “From Screen to Text Novelization, the Hidden Continent” in Cartmell, Deborah and Imelda Wheelehan (eds.). The Literature Companion to Literature on Screen, 226-239  Julie Sanders, ch. 9 “Customized narratives: Copyright and the work of art in the age of mechanical reproducibility,” in Adaptation and Appropriation, 190-203