Crossing Borders in Film Theory and Adaptation Studies

The history of film theory is full of what we might call migrating concepts. From the Russian Formalists which, in their Poetica Kino (Poetics of cinema) adapt concepts initially created as part of literary theory (fabula vs. syuzhet, film as language, cine-stylistics) to David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson and their formalist inspired approach to film studies, from André Bazin and his theory of realism, inspired by phenomenological concepts, the history of film theory can be thought of as a genealogy of crossing borders. The circulation of concepts from literary theory to film theory is also quite astonishing in the theory of adaptation. In the study of the adaptation of literary works for cinema, the travel of concepts (the crossing of borders) can be observed and analysed especially in narrative theory and adaption theory.

Face Adaptation—Investigating Nonconfigural Saturation Alterations

Recognizing familiar faces requires a comparison of the incoming perceptual information with mental face representations stored in memory. Mounting evidence indicates that these representations adapt quickly to recently perceived facial changes. This becomes apparent in face adaptation studies where exposure to a strongly manipulated face alters the perception of subsequent face stimuli: original, non-manipulated face images then appear to be manipulated, while images similar to the adaptor are perceived as “normal.” The face adaptation paradigm serves as a good tool for investigating the information stored in facial memory. So far, most of the face adaptation studies focused on configural (second-order relationship) face information, mainly neglecting non-configural face information (i.e., that does not affect spatial face relations), such as color, although several (non-adaptation) studies were able to demonstrate the importance of color information in face perception and identification. The present study therefore focuses on adaptation effects on saturation color information and compares the results with previous findings on brightness. The study reveals differences in the effect pattern and robustness, indicating that adaptation effects vary considerably even within the same class of non-configural face information.

Remediating The Tempest As A Playable TTRPG Module

<b>Introduction </b><div>More than 400 years after it was written, Shakespeare’s The Tempest continues to be republished, restaged and remediated into different forms, prompting new ways of seeing and analyzing the play. This research paper examines the process of transmedia adaptation through the case study of Shakespeare’s The Tempest adapted into a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) module. The Tempest is remediated as an interactive game based on Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition ruleset, designed to be facilitated by a Dungeon Master and played by a group of three to five players. The process of remediating The Tempest takes the play’s setting, characters, narrative conflict, and dialogue and translates them into the formal structure of the TTRPG, prompting questions that have long been asked in adaptation studies: how important is fidelity to the source text? What is lost, gained, and changed in transmedia translation? What role does the translator play in the creation of the adaptation?</div>

Remediating The Tempest As A Playable TTRPG Module

<b>Introduction </b><div>More than 400 years after it was written, Shakespeare’s The Tempest continues to be republished, restaged and remediated into different forms, prompting new ways of seeing and analyzing the play. This research paper examines the process of transmedia adaptation through the case study of Shakespeare’s The Tempest adapted into a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) module. The Tempest is remediated as an interactive game based on Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition ruleset, designed to be facilitated by a Dungeon Master and played by a group of three to five players. The process of remediating The Tempest takes the play’s setting, characters, narrative conflict, and dialogue and translates them into the formal structure of the TTRPG, prompting questions that have long been asked in adaptation studies: how important is fidelity to the source text? What is lost, gained, and changed in transmedia translation? What role does the translator play in the creation of the adaptation?</div>

Direct and indirect cues can enable dual-adaptation, but through different learning processes

Switching between motor tasks requires accurate adjustments for changes in dynamics (grasping a cup) or sensorimotor transformations (moving a computer mouse). Dual-adaptation studies have investigated how learning of context-dependent dynamics or transformations is enabled by sensory cues. However, certain cues, such as color, have shown mixed results. We propose that these mixed results may arise from two major classes of cues: "direct" cues, which are part of the dynamic state and "indirect" cues, which are not. We hypothesized that explicit strategies would primarily account for adaptation for an indirect color cue but would be limited to simple tasks while a direct visual separation cue would allow implicit adaptation regardless of task complexity. To test this idea, we investigated the relative contribution of implicit and explicit learning in relation to contextual cue type (colored or visually shifted workspace) and task complexity (one or eight targets) in a dual-adaptation task. We found that the visual workspace location cue enabled adaptation across conditions primarily through implicit adaptation. In contrast, we found that the color cue was largely ineffective for dual adaptation, except in a small subset of participants who appeared to use explicit strategies. Our study suggests that the previously inconclusive role of color cues in dual-adaptation may be explained by differential contribution of explicit strategies across conditions.

Time and Description in Sátántangó and The Melancholy of Resistance (Novel into Film)

The collaboration between László Krasznahorkai and Béla Tarr has resulted in one of the most celebrated recent works of world cinema. The adaptation aspect of films like Sátántangó (1994) and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) is sometimes overlooked by adaptation studies. I will argue that the concept of fidelity criticism, disregarded by recent studies of adaptation, is still valuable for analysing the way in which literariness can travel through the transmedial modality of time and duration. These case studies suggest that a transmedial approach to the relation between world literature and world cinema is possible by putting forward a different understanding of the concept of fidelity as circulation, a concept that is common to both world cinema and world literature studies.

Adaptations, Refractions, and Obstructions

This chapter looks at a particular shape of adaptation today in what may be called a “refractive environment,” a look that may seem slightly less peculiar if we keep in mind that the chapter poaches its fundamental terms and ideas and what they suggest from essays by André Bazin. Alongside abiding respect for traditional pathways into adaptation studies, the direction here has little to do with cinematic adaptation in most of the usual senses. Instead it wants to follow Bazin’s terms as dynamic metaphors for some ways of thinking about adaptation studies today and, as a somewhat more provocative move, of raising some questions about the advancement of adaptation studies into today’s environment as an evolutionary shift that might be best served by looking backward. Here is where the chapter locates the intersection of adaptation and metacinema.

A Review of Robin Hood Scholarship Published in 2017-2018

This article provides an overview of the Robin Hood scholarship published in 2017 and 2018. The material covered a wide range of topics and demonstrates the depth inherent in medieval studies, medievalism studies, and adaptation studies, as well as in examinations of publishing, reading, and performance practices from the medieval period to the twentieth century. While most of the scholarship considered the interaction between the Robin Hood legend and politics, the approaches to analysis and texts explored are quite diverse. As demonstrated by many scholars, revisiting and reexamining generally accepted claims often leads to a productive and enlightening discussion of the ever-engaging Robin Hood legend and materials.

Intercultural adapturgy : twenty-first century women adapting Spanish golden age plays

Transferring work from one culture to another through translation or adaptation is a delicate process which requires careful consideration of both the positionality of the adapter and the intertextual reaction of the adapted work's target audience. In addition to traditional adaptation theories like intertextuality, the theatrical field of dramaturgy offers helpful insight into the adaptation process, especially as it relates to plays. This dissertation examines the ways that the combination of adaptation studies and dramaturgy, which Jane Barnette calls adapturgy, can inform intercultural adaptaitons of dramatic literature to create performable and effective theatre experiences for twenty-first century audiences. I achieve this goal by first examining two adapted plays: A Little Betrayal Among Friends by Caridad Svich, adapted from La traicion en la amistad by Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor, and Fever/Dream by Sheila Callaghan, adapted from La vida es sueno by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. I look at how dramaturgical and adapation theories can be applied to these plays via script analysis and contextual questioning. Then, using the skills gleaned from those two examples, I create my own translation and adaptation of Los empenos de una casa by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and I reflect on my adapturgical process of doing so. In creating both a translation, titled How to Build a Noble House, and an adaptation, titled With the Temptation, a Way of Escape, I both preserve the unique traits of the Spanish Golden Age for performance in the twenty-first century and amplify Sor Juana's comedic and social intentions for a contemporary society. I believe that both of these considerations, alongside a reflection on the adapter's positionality and the intentions of the producing organization and production team for a live production, are invaluable to both the field of adaptaiton studies and of dramaturgy.