Examining Adaptation in The
Sweet Hereafter: Film Adaptation
Film
adaptation is one branch of film studies that deals with the way
in which a story is translated to film from another narrative
form, such as a novel, short story, poem, play, television show,
or comic strip. Adaptation is quite a common practice in filmmaking,
as it allows a director to take a story he enjoys and make it
his own, telling it in his own way. There are both challenges
and opportunities in adapting a narrative to film as there are
many media-specific aspects that must be considered in order to
successfully communicate the ideas presented in one narrative
form within another. Filmmakers must first determine how faithful
they would like their adaptation to be with respect to the original.
This issue of fidelity is crucial
to both the form and content of the film and determines how the
filmmaker will approach the challenges
associated with film adaptation. Specificities of both textual
and filmic media present a number of constraints for adapting
a narrative, but also allow opportunities for expansion of the
story and its concepts through changes
in discourse.
| Challenges and Constraints |
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