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COLT 212 - Comparative World Cinema

CRN: 11725

Instructor: Michelle Crowson

Term: Fall 2018

Adapt!

Film adaptations often face two main criticisms. On one hand, skeptics eager for new material dismiss adaptations as the result of lazy creators cashing in on pre-existing material. On the other hand, some criticize film adaptations out of the perceived inherent superiority of certain forms (i.e. books are better than movies), or out of a devotion to the spirit of a specific original source-text, whose true nature has been deformed through clumsy, unethical, or uninspiring adaptation. What constitutes a film’s overall “identity” as a cultural work, and what relation does the film’s identity bear to its narrative predecessors? What cultural-linguistic stakes are implied in debates about the ethics and aesthetics of East-West adaptations across time and space? Under what conditions is an adaptation deemed an authentic intersemiotic translation of another work? This class explores fundamental questions about the nature of film adaptations across East-West lines, analyzing what we mean when we call a work “Eastern,” “Western” “original,” and “adaptation.” We will explore a range of narrative iterations across time and space, from Shakespearean England and Early Modern Japan, to 20th century immigrant Brazilian experiences and science fictional manga worlds.

Satisfies General Education Requirements:

  • Group-Satisfying: Arts and Letters
  • Multicultural Courses: International Cultures (IC)