Theoretical Approaches to Film Adaptation

Neo-Aristotelian Theory

Neo-Aristotelian framework provides an alternative paradigm to the translation, pluralist, and transformation models. This critical approach to film adaptation claims to present a method offering a wider range of variables for examining adaptation, as compared to a sent of definitive rules (Griffith 1997). From this perspective, differences are seen as inherent to film and literature, but are not considered to be "essential qualities of aesthetics" (Griffith, 38). This method attempts to overcome the simplistic form-content dichotomy, eliminating the "examination of works for adherence to the premise of paradigm" (Griffith, 39). Instead, the Neo-Aristotelian method endeavors to inductively discover the factual causes shaping the elements of the text relative to the artist formal intention. This approach considers artistic choices as purposefully made and intentional, and allows evaluation to be based on the comparison of these choices in relation to the shaping of the "concrete whole" as intended by the artist (Griffith, 181). A brief look at narrative theory will be helpful in understanding the Neo-Aristotelian approach to evaluating film adaptations.

Lawrence Grossberg argues that narratives "explain the structure of the world and the relations between different events within it" (161). Narratives, or stories are "the main way we make sense of things" (Culler, 82). Aristotle observes mythos (or the plot) as the basic principle of a narrative. A story cannot be understood by a sequence of events alone, instead these events are shaped, structured, and organized by the reader/viewer into a meaningful arrangement. The plot, or story "is the actual progression of events though time that makes up the substance and the content of the narrative" and these "events are linked by some causal connections" (Grossberg, 163). Connections between events can show the reader/viewer how something may have come about (Culler, 82).

According to Aristotle, a plot requires unity with a beginning, middle, and end. Jonathan Culler argues a narrative has an initial situation, a change, a resolution that marks the change as significant and an end that relates back to the beginning (84). It is the plot that can be adapted from one medium to another; the story is the constant and the discourse is "the varied presentation of it" (Culler, 84). The text becomes one interpretation of a particular story. Understanding narrative components allows us to "see how the telling of the story constructs the story itself" and allows the reader/viewer "to identify the perspective that is taken on the story" (Grossberg, 168)

In his evaluation of films, Robert Konop provides an understanding of the Neo-Aristotelian principles:
"By definition, most films are just average. I don't look for anything in particular in a film. But I always find that I like films with a good story and good character development."

In considering the movie A Thousand Acres, Alex Fung acknowledges:
"…the film's narrative flow suffers, lurching back and forth and resulting in inconsistent characterization and erratic behaviour in service of the plot."