Subject Librarian
Dartmouth College
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Finding scholarly articles and journal title(s)
Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. Our collection has one journal that looks exclusively at film adaptations, Adaptation. You can use Film & Television Literature Index or the Summon box below to find articles.
Adaptation: the journal of literature on screen studiesCall Number: Electronic journalThis is a unique journal about literature transformed onto the screen.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceCovers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television.
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with the journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.
A definition for 'Adaptation'
A pre-existing work that has been made into a film. Adaptations are often of literary or theatrical works, but musical theatre, best-selling fiction and non-fiction, comic books, computer games, children’s toys, and so on have also been regularly adapted for the cinema. Adaptations of well-known literary and theatrical texts were common in the silent era (see silent cinema; costume drama; epic film; history film) and have been a staple of virtually all national cinemas through the 20th and 21st centuries. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories (1887–1927) have been adapted in a range of national contexts but probably the most adapted author is Shakespeare, whose plays have appeared in film form as a large-budget Hollywood musical (West Side Story (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, US, 1961)), a historical epic set in feudal Japan (Kumonosu-jo/Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957)), a Bollywood musical (Angoor (Gulzar, India, 1982)), and a children’s animation (The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, US, 1994)), to name but a few. Adaptations often sit within cycles associated with a particular time and place, as with the British heritage film in the 1980s (see cycle). It is claimed that adaptations account for up to 50 per cent of all Hollywood films and are consistently rated amongst the highest grossing at the box office, as aptly demonstrated by the commercial success of recent adaptations of the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Other varied US adaptations include: computer games (Resident Evil (Paul W.S. Anderson, 2002)), graphic novels (Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)), comic books (The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012)); see also cinematic universe; superhero film), and children’s toys (Transformers: The Last Knight (Michael Bay, 2017)). A number of films also display a certain level of self-reflexivity regarding the process of adaptation, as can be seen in Adaptation (Spike Jonze, US, 2002) and The LEGO Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 2012). A property ripe for adaptation is referred to as pre-sold; older works in particular are attractive to film producers because they are often out of copyright (see deal, the).
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). "Adaptation." In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 Feb. 2022
In the Library's collections
The following are useful subject headings for searching the online catalog. The books on adapting source materials for films are shelved in the call number range PN 1997.85 on Baker Level 4.
- motion picture authorshipThis is the subject heading used instead of "screenwriting." The books on screenwriting and screenwriters are shelved in the PN 1996 through PN 1997.85 on Baker Level 4.
- shakespeare william 1564 1616 film adaptationsThis is an example subject search for adaptations for a specific author.
Introductory reading(s)
Adaptations: from text to screen, screen to text by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .A32 1999ISBN: 9780415167383Adaptations considers the theoretical and practical difficulties surrounding the translation of a text into film, and the reverse process; the novelisation of films. Through three sets of case studies, the contributors examine the key debates surrounding adaptations: whether screen versions of literary classics can be faithful to the text; if something as capsulated as Jane Austens irony can even be captured on film; whether costume dramas always of their own time and do adaptations remake their parent text to reflect contemporary ideas and concerns. ...
Adaptations as imitations: films from novels by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .G66 1997ISBN: 9780874136333Adaptations as Imitations returns to the issue of adapting novels to the screen to examine previous commentary and to put forth another theoretical framework. As opposed to the deductive frameworks that rule out what is common practice, this new framework would allow for a more inductive approach to the films.
Authorship in film adaptation by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .A92 2008ISBN: 9780292718531Authoring a film adaptation of a literary source not only requires a media conversion but also a transformation as a result of the differing dramatic demands of cinema. The most critical central step in this transformation of a literary source to the screen is the writing of the screenplay.
The comic book film adaptation: exploring modern Hollywood's leading genre by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781628462036In the summer of 2000 X-Men surpassed all box office expectations and ushered in an era of unprecedented production of comic book film adaptations. This trend, now in its second decade, has blossomed into Hollywood’s leading genre. From superheroes to Spartan warriors, The Comic Book Film Adaptation offers the first dedicated study to examine how comic books moved from the fringes of popular culture to the center of mainstream film production. ...
The Oxford handbook of adaptation studies by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780199331000This collection of forty new essays is the most comprehensive volume on adaptation ever published. Written to appeal alike to specialists in adaptation, scholars in allied fields, and general readers, it hearkens back to the foundations of adaptation studies a century and more ago, surveys its ferment of activity over the past twenty years, and looks forward to the future. It considers the very different problems in adapting the classics, from the Bible to Frankenstein to Philip Roth, and the commons, from online mashups and remixes to adult movies. ...
The pedagogy of adaptation by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .P33 2010ISBN: 9780810872974From All Quiet on the Western Front and Gone with the Wind to No Country for Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire, many of the most memorable films have been adapted from other sources. And while courses on film studies are taught throughout the world, The Pedagogy of Adaptation makes a strong case for treating adaptation studies as a separate discipline. What makes this book unique is its claim that adaptation is above all a creative process and not simply a slavish imitation or reproduction of an 'original.' ...
The Routledge companion to adaptation by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781315690254The Routledge Companion to Adaptation offers a broad range of scholarship from this growing, interdisciplinary field. With a basis in source-oriented studies, such as novel-to-stage and stage-to-film adaptations, this volume also seeks to highlight the new and innovative aspects of adaptation studies, ranging from theatre and dance to radio, television and new media. ...
Selected book title(s)
Adapting Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale and beyond by Call Number: Baker-Berry PR 9199.3 .A8 Z525 2021ISBN: 9783030736859This book engages with Margaret Atwood's work and its adaptations. Atwood has long been appreciated for her ardent defence of Canadian authors and her genre-bending fiction, essays, and poetry. However, a lesser-studied aspect of her work is Atwood's role both as adaptor and as source for adaptation in media as varied as opera, television, film, or comic books. Recent critically acclaimed television adaptations of the novels The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu) and Alias Grace (Amazon) have rightfully focused attention on these works, but Atwood's fiction has long been a source of inspiration for artists of various media, a seeming corollary to Atwood's own tendency to explore the possibilities of previously undervalued media (graphic novels), genres (science-fiction), and narratives (testimonial and historical modes). ...
The Bloomsbury introduction to adaptation studies: adapting the canon in film, TV, novels and popular culture by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781441138484From David Lean's big screen Great Expectations to Alejandro Amenábar's reinvention of The Turn of the Screw as The Others, adaptations of literary classics are a constant feature of popular culture today. The Bloomsbury Introduction to Adaptation Studies helps students master the history, theory and practice of analysing literary adaptations. ...
But have you read the book? by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .L67 2023ISBN: 9780762480975Within these pages, Turner Classic Movies offers an endlessly fascinating look at 52 beloved screen adaptations and the great reads that inspired them. Some films, like Clueless--Amy Heckerling's interpretation of Jane Austen's Emma--diverge wildly from the original source material, while others, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, shift the point of view to craft a different experience within the same story. ...
A companion to literature and film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.3 .C65 2004ISBN: 9780631230533A Companion to Literature in Film provides state-of-the-art research on world literature, film, and the complex theoretical relationship between them. 25 essays by international experts cover the most important topics in the study of literature and film adaptations. Covers a wide variety of topics, including cultural, thematic, theoretical, and genre issues. ...
Mystery classics on film: the adaptation of 65 novels and stories by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .M55 2017ISBN: 9781476666853Watching the screen version of a classic mystery novel can be disappointing. By necessity or artistic license (or possibly just ego) changes are often made by the filmmakers-many of them ineffective or even detrimental. This book focuses on the screen adaptations of 65 famous mysteries and examines how the filmmakers either succeeded or failed in the telling of the story.
Screen adaptation: impure cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997.85 .C37 2010ISBN: 9781403985507Adaptation studies has historically been neglected in both the English and Film Studies curricula. Reflecting on this, Screen Adaptation celebrates its emergence in the late 20th and 21st centuries and explores the varieties of methodologies and debates within the field. Drawing on approaches from genre studies to transtexuality to cultural materialism, the book examines adaptations of both popular and canonical writers, including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and J.K.Rowling.
Watchmen as literature: a critical study of the graphic novel by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 6728 .W386 V36 2010ISBN: 9780786444755Watchmen has been hailed as the quintessential graphic novel and has spawned a body of literary criticism since its 1986 initial appearance in installments. This work explores the graphic novel's reception in both popular and scholarly arenas and how the conceptual relationship between images and words affects the reading experience.
Other library resource(s)
Most of these are resources for actual scripts.
Film scripts online by Call Number: Electronic resourceFilm Scripts Online is an ongoing collection of feature films, when completed, will hold 1,000 scripts and over 100,000 scenes. Many of the scripts have never been published. The database is full-text searchable and includes detailed indexing on scenes, characters, and people. Supplemental information includes short biographies on the writers and awards given to individual films have been noted.
Art of screenwriting: adaption by Call Number: Streaming videoWith Phil Alden Robinson & Robert Nelson Jacobs & Eric Roth, this program teaches highlighting the good parts and trouble spots, research, visualizing and dramatization, non-fiction vs. fiction, the echo effect, online research vs. physical, changing directions, genre material, staying fresh and externalizing characters' thoughts.
Adaptation from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Studies of cinematic adaptations—films based, as the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences puts it, on material originally presented in another medium—are scarcely a century old. Even so, particular studies of adaptation, the process by which texts in a wide range of media are transformed into films (and more recently into other texts that are not necessarily films), cannot be properly understood without reference to the specific period they were produced in. ...- Dialogue: learning from the masters byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #various numbers, check the online catalogAn interview series that looks at some of the more notable screenwriters of our time. The writers interviewed include Jose Rivera and Scott Rosenberg who adapted other source materials for film.
- Newmarket shooting script series byCall Number: Baker-Berry PN 1997 [Check the online catalog for specific titles and call numbers]Newmarket specialized in publishing shooting scripts of movies.
A short selection of adapted films
Here is a very short list of adapted films located in the Jones Media Center or available through streaming. Find more film adaptations in the library's online catalog.
Adaptation by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #1270ISBN: 9780767879804Blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche, New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean, Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald. As Charlie struggles to adapt a best-selling book, he writes himself into the movie plot.
The big short by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #19633The financial meltdown from the perspective of a number of players: Michael Burry, a bizarre autistic-like stock-picking genius, and the first to realize that the market's housing boom is based on a "house of cards" sham; Mark Baum, self-loathing fictional character whose firm picks up insider trading information from a wrong number phone call; Jared Vennet, a smart-aleck broker who confirms the ominous suspicion; and Charlie Gellar and Jamie Shipley, small-time players who hit it big.
Il capitale umano = Human capital by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #19883ISBN: 9781490679969With a lavish home and beautiful wife, hedge-fund manager Giovanni Bernaschi seemingly has it all. Meanwhile, real-estate agent Dino Ossola struggles to maintain his family's middle-class existence and faces even worse financial straits when his wife announces that she is pregnant with twins. ...
Love & friendship by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #20008The beautiful widow Susan Vernon has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and her rather reluctant débutante daughter, Frederica.
Richard Adams's Watership down by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #4038ISBN: 9781604659566A faithful big-screen adaptation of Richard Adams's classic British dystopian novel about a community of rabbits seeking safety and happiness after their warren comes under terrible threat.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #5794When his spaceship crash-lands on the barren wastelands of Mars, U.S. astronaut Commander 'Kit' Draper must fight for survival, with a pet monkey his only companion until he meets "Friday," an alien.
