Within these transportations between media and systems there are always both gains and losses. As a product the adaptation is a reformatted and intersemiotic transposition, not only from one medium toĪ second one, but also from one sign system, which is for example words, to another, which is made up by images. We can note, that we use the same term for the process and the product itself. an extended intertextual engagement with the adapted work Īs we can see above, adaptation can be defined by three different approaches: a creative and an interpretative act of appropriation/salvaging an acknowledged transposition of a recognizable other work or works In short, adaptation can be described as the following: So what exactly is a film adaptation? It is simply a content from one medium reused in another medium. If we just think of the “Lord Of The Rings”- hype: The books have already existed decades before their film releases, but the great success came with the movies. So film adaptations are for already established fans and even for new consumers, for example those who don't like to read. Adaptation can also be sure of their recognition by audiences, because they are already familiar with the story and would like to see their imaginations come true. That is what filmmakers call “the tried and tested”, which means the results of the adaptation can be trusted. 2 Defining Adaptationįirst of all, adaptations bear a less financial risk, because they have already once before proven their worth as literary successful books.
Nevertheless, Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of the short story won four Academy Awards and a prize for Best Picture ─ “a movie is not good or bad because of its content, but because how it handles its content”. But in general, the task of a filmmaker is not to tell the audience what is proper to do. This might be easy to say, because the storyline is adopted. He as a filmmaker is simply showing things as they are and not judging the decisions and operations of his figures. When the adaptation was criticised especially by disability right activists, Eastwood stated that the film was about the American and that he distances himself from the characters and actions in the film. His expert knowledge and love to the sport can be very well experienced in his stories.
Toole himself worked as a “cut man” in the ring, where he had to patch up the boxer's injuries so he could continue fighting. Toole, which is to be found in his book Rope Burns. The screenplay of the film was written by Paul Haggis and based on the short story with the same name Million $$$ Baby by F.X. The film adaptation Million Dollar Baby was directed and starred by Clint Eastwood in 2004 with Hilary Swank and Morgan Freemann in the other title roles. Further, this approach will try to give an answer to what is it that constitutes the transmuted and transferred content. I am going to investigate if the form of the original changes by adapting, if the content does persist or if the source only serves as a hollow corpse. Furthermore I will survey if referred to Million $$$ Baby adaptation is its own heterocosm, with its individual characters, settings and events or if it is simply an imitation of the original. Why are adaptations so successful? In this term paper I would like to answer this question.
In fact, 85 percent of all Oscar-winning films, 95 percent of all miniseries and 70 percent all TV movies that win Emmy Awards are adaptations.
The literary work of other writers serve “as the main source of input”, often somehow giving the story a new twist. Also short stories, for example like Million $$$ Baby, have inspired movies very often. Most of the time the content of a movie on TV or in cinema is based on the written word, like a novel or an opera or a play. 1 Adaptation Studies in reference to Million Dollar Babyĥ The Problem of Comparing Literature and FilmĦ Million Dollar Baby - Major Similarities between Movie and Short Storyħ Million Dollar Baby - Major Differences between Movie and Short Storyħ.3 Added and omitted Scenes in the Movie Million Dollar Baby 3 Adaptation studies and their theoretical conceptsģ.