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THE ADAPTATION PROCESS

Everyone has come in contact with textual adaptation at some point, usually from a very young age. We all remember reading the Harry Potter series and then (usually) being disappointed by the movie that correlates to each book. This is a perfect example of a textual adaptation.

 

Usually, textual adaptation is perceived in a literary sense, where a novel or book is adapted into a film or series. However, media textual adaptations range from literary adaptation, to other mediums such as performance and sound.
The adaptation process is performed in a tasteful way – usually adaptors of a media text will choose other texts that have already gained a following as it is usually easier to obtain funding for the adaptation. (Wikipedia 2015)

 

The adaptation process is a multifaceted mechanism where the adaptor must take into account no only the legal side of the process, but also the ethical side of the process. The legal side of the adaptation process involves copyright law and the idea of plagiarism whereas the ethical process involves the preservation of an original idea (Newell 2006).

 

It is during these processes that the argument of adaptation VS plagiarism comes into play. So what separates adaptation from plagiarising?

Adaptation of a text is taking a pivotal idea from another text such as certain themes and producing them in a new and original way, but not changed enough that the traditional roots/influences of the text are lost. Plagiarism is taking someone’s work and trying to claim it as your own without modifying it all. For example, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was adapted from written text into many films and was also adapted into a musical called West Side Story. In West Side Story the theme of ‘star cross’d’ lovers is explored within a different social context and in the medium of physical performance. An example of Plagiarism would be if someone took Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and attempted to claim that they had written it (Talab 2000).

 

Textual adaptation is extremely important when referring to media texts in particular. Textual adaptation allows for the transitivity of social and cultural views and values across different social contexts. Textual adaptations allow media practitioners to create a timeline of how society’s ethics, beliefs and ideas have evolved over time (Zelizer 1997). For example, when comparing Zeferelli’s film Romeo and Juliet to Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet we can instantly recognize a different social context. We can also recognize certain ideas present in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation that simply would not represent the society that Zeferelli’s adaptation was enveloped by e.g. Mercutio is an African American male who cross dresses in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation.

 

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