I.

Introduction

Screen Adaptations, the dramatization of literary works for cinema or television. Film and television development executives favour literary adaptations because the reputation of a highly regarded book guarantees public recognition for the screen version and makes it easier to market. The film adaptation process begins with the producer paying the author or copyright owner an initial fee to “option” the title for a finite period. The producer then has time to raise finance for the film’s production, and has first option to purchase the full exclusive film rights to the story. In exchange for the fee, the author or copyright holder generally relinquishes creative control of the story to the film-maker.

For the author of the original work, the process can be a dispiriting one. Screen dramas are visual, temporal entities that by nature cannot reproduce the subtleties and complexities of literary works. The differences between the two mediums often mean that entire scenes, plot-lines, and characters are cut, and that actors cast may not match the author’s own interpretation of the characters they play. In popular films, the literary qualities of a novel can be grossly simplified to such an extent that the film bears little resemblance to the original. As the English author John Le Carré put it after viewing an adaptation of one of his novels: “It’s like taking a cow and boiling it down to an Oxo cube.”

It could reasonably be argued that the best outcome for the novelist is that the film adaptation should be markedly different from the source, so that it does not detract from the original book. In 1979 the American film director Francis Ford Coppola brought his own, unique interpretation to the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness by transposing its narrative to the Vietnam War. In such a way, as a new and individual interpretation by the director, the film or television drama exists in its own right. On the other hand, some of the finest literary adaptations succeed because their makers have painstakingly endeavoured to remain true to the original work. This is particularly the case with period drama, where the viewer typically expects the adapter to render the atmosphere, nuance, and period detail of a classic novel faithfully. Ultimately, however, whether the film is a success or not, an inferior film can do little to tarnish the reputation of a novel or play of quality. As the English author Graham Swift has said, “For me, the page will always be bigger than the screen…The book was there first and is there now.”