Media and film studies

Adaptation: Filming Fiction

Module code: P5049
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

This module examines film adaptations of various forms of print fiction. It focuses on film adaptations of short stories, literary and popular novels, and children’s illustrated fiction, including picture books.

You'll study a diverse range of literary and film texts, and critical and theoretical perspectives on adaptation. You'll look at adaptations across various film modes, from mainstream cinema to experimental and avant-garde film.

Topics you'll consider include:

• adaptation as an industrial mode of commercial production
• adaptation as a creative mode of critical interpretation
• the significance of the idea of fidelity for the reception and theorization of film adaptation.

You'll analyse cinematic strategies used to reproduce literary devices, as well as the word-image relations of illustrated texts, to think about adaptation’s value for theories of medium specificity.

Module learning outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge of critical debates associated with screen adaptations
• Demonstrate understanding of screen adaptations in their industrial and cultural contexts
• Demonstrate skills in the critical analysis of screen adaptations
• Critically engage with relevant scholarship in the critical analysis of screen adaptations