GÖZDE UĞURGÖZDE ÖZBUDAK CRITICAL RECEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL FILM ADAPTATIONS CRITICAL RECEPTIONCRITICAL OF CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL FILM ADAPTATIONS A Master’s Thesis by GÖZDE UĞUR ÖZBUDAK Department of Communication and Design İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara Bilkent University 2020 University Bilkent December 2020 To those who dream CRITICAL RECEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL FILM ADAPTATIONS The Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by GÖZDE UĞUR ÖZBUDAK In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN MEDIA AND VISUAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND DESIGN İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY Ankara December 2020 ABSTRACT CRITICAL RECEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL FILM ADAPTATIONS Özbudak, Gözde Uğur M.A. Department of Communication and Design Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat December 2020 In this thesis, the reception of biblical adaptations is analyzed. By using reception studies, critical discourse analysis and close reading methods; The Passion of the Christ (2004), Mary Magdalene (2018), Noah (2014), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), A Serious Man (2009) and mother! (2017) are analyzed with how the biblical stories are adapted into cinema and what kind of reception they have received from the reviewers. These reviews gathered from American Christian websites and professional film reviews published on popular media, most of which are American, are analyzed and found whether the fidelity criticism is still existing among the film viewers. In this regard, this thesis argues that the Christian members of the audience members expect to see textual fidelity in the biblical adaptations and the lack of it causes films to receive harsh criticism whereas the professional critics are more invested in analyzing the films for their cinematic qualities. Keywords: Christianity, Film Adaptation, Fidelity Criticism, Religious Films vii ÖZET ÇAĞDAŞ İNCİL UYARLAMASI FİLMLERİN ELEŞTİREL ALIMLANMASI Özbudak, Gözde Uğur M.A. İletişim ve Tasarım Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Colleen Kennedy-Karpat Aralık 2020 Bu tezde, çağdaş İncil uyarlaması filmlerin izleyiciler tarafından aldığı tepki analiz edilmiştir. Alımlama çalışmaları, eleştirel söylem analizi ve yakın okuma yöntemlerini kullanarak The Passion of the Christ (2004), Mary Magdalene (2018), Noah (2014), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), A Serious Man (2009) ve mother! (2017) üzerinden İncil'deki öykülerin sinemaya nasıl uyarlandığı ve eleştirmenlerden ne tür tepkiler aldıkları analiz edilmektedir. Bu tezde Amerikan Hristiyan internet sitelerinden toplanan bu incelemeler ve çoğu Amerikalı olan popüler medyada yayınlanan profesyonel film incelemeleri karşılaştırılarak analiz edildi ve film izleyicileri arasında metne sadakat eleştirisinin hala var olup olmadığı bulundu. Bu bağlamda, bu tez, Hıristiyan izleyicilerin İncil uyarlamalarında metinsel sadakat görmeyi beklediklerini ve yokluğunun filmlerin sert eleştirilere maruz kalmasına neden olduğunu, profesyonel eleştirmenlerin ise filmleri sinematik niteliklerine göre analiz etmeye daha fazla yatkın olduğunu savunmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Dini Filmler, Film Uyarlaması, Hristiyanlık, Sadakat Eleştirisi viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, this study could not be done without the tremendous support and mentorship of my supervisor Asst. Prof. Dr. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat. Apart from her helpful approach to me and to this study that I have been very passionate about, as my supervisor and instructor Asst. Prof. Dr. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat have been an incredible guide for helping me navigate my ideas, giving valuable criticism and providing immeasurable patience. She has been a source of inspiration both academically and intellectually long before I started to the master’s program and our enlightening conversations will be dearly missed. I would also like to thank my committee members Asst. Prof. Dr. Kara McCormack who has given me much appreciated preliminary feedback and Asst. Prof. Dr. Ceylan Özcan, who has fully supported me since I was an undergraduate student. As well as accepting to be in my M.A. thesis committee, their constructive criticism and comments have helped me a lot. I would like to thank my family, especially my parents whose continuous support and belief I felt at every stage of my life. I cannot thank them enough for their unconditional love and this thesis would not be done without their encouragement. I would also like to thank my chosen family, my dearest friends, whom have been there for me through thick and thin. Finally, I would like to thank my four-pawed baby Badem, for choosing me as her human companion and providing me hugs when I need them the most. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….....VII ÖZET…………………………………………………………………..………….VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………..….IX CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………..9 1.1 Film Adaptation…………………………………………………………...9 1.1.1 Intertextuality……………………………………………….…11 1.1.2 Fidelity Criticism………………………………………………13 1.1.3 Religious Film Adaptations……………………………………18 1.2 Methodology…………………………………………………………….23 1.2.1 Reception Studies……………………………………………...23 1.2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis……………………………………27 1.2.3 Close Reading………………………………………………….30 CHAPTER III: BASED ON THE OLD TESTAMENT……………………………..34 3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………...34 3.2 Noah (2014)……………………………………………………………...36 3.2.1 The Christian Reviews on Noah (2014)………………………..42 x 3.2.2 The Professional Reviews on Noah (2014)…………………….48 3.3 Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)…………………………………………55 3.3.1 The Christian Reviews on Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)..…60 3.3.2 The Professional Reviews on Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)...69 CHAPTER IV: BASED ON THE NEW TESTAMENT……………………………79 4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………...............…79 4.2 The Passion of the Christ (2004)…………………………………………83 4.2.1 The Christian Reviews on the Passion of the Christ (2004) …...87 4.2.2 The Professional Reviews on the Passion of the Christ (2004) ...96 4.3 Mary Magdalene (2018)………………………………………………..105 4.3.1 The Christian Reviews on Mary Magdalene (2018)….………111 4.3.2 The Professional Reviews on Mary Magdalene (2018)………116 CHAPTER V: BASED ON THE BIBLICAL ALLEGORIES……………………..122 5.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….122 5.2 A Serious Man (2009)…………………………………………………..124 5.2.1 The Christian Reviews on A Serious Man (2009)……………..128 5.2.2 The Professional Reviews on A Serious Man (2009)…………132 5.3 mother! (2017)…………………………………………………………140 5.3.1 The Christian Reviews on mother! (2017)…………………..145 5.3.2 The Professional Reviews on mother! (2017)……………….149 xi CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………...159 FILMOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………..165 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………..…...169 xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Adaptation holds an important place in film that cannot be disregarded. Since the beginning of cinema, cinematic adaptations of literary texts and plays have been frequently made. Nowadays adaptation is not just limited to novels and plays, but cinematic adaptations of video games, comic books, have also become very common. Cinematic adaptations have drawn attention since 1895, when filmmakers decided to make adaptations of well-known books to appeal to audiences (Corrigan, 2017). With its popularity in the Hollywood film industry, adaptation has become an academic discipline since the 1950s with George Bluestone’s influential book Novels into Film (1957). In the book, Bluestone argues that instead of corrupting texts, some adaptations transform their originals into a new medium with different narratological opportunities and says that “Because novel and film are both organic — in the sense that aesthetic judgements are based on total ensembles which include both formal and thematic conventions — we may expect to find that differences in form and theme are inseparable from differences in media” (Bluestone, 1957, p.2). Bluestone’s 1 book laid the foundations for the theorization of adaptation and started defining its borders and expanding the study of it by finding other elements related to adaptation. The study of adaptation as an academic field helped to create a theoretical background for itself but because it was first studied by academics with a literary background, the main argument in the field became fidelity. Insistence of faithfulness to the source text by some academics created the fidelity discourse, which has a lasting place in adaptation studies. Important scholars such as Robert Stam, Dudley Andrew, Linda Hutcheon and James Naremore resisted the idea that fidelity should be a judgement for value with no hierarchy between an adaptation and its source text (Andrew, 1984; Hutcheon, 2006; Naremore, 2000; Stam, 2000). Robert Stam asserts that the notion of fidelity achieves its compelling force from the idea that some adaptations are better than others because they protect the essentials of the source text, which was what the readers liked in the first place (Stam, 2000). Stam maintains that the word infidelity is the translation of our feelings when we cannot find what we want from the adapted product because it is different from the version that we have created in our minds whilst reading the original. For those who insist on the notion of fidelity, the right question to ask is whether strict fidelity is possible. Stam (2000) argues that the words in a novel have symbolic meanings and