2.
In his introduction, Stam argues the
limits of the term “fidelity” and how
judgmental viewers can be when
comparing film to literature. Stam
argues that absolute fidelity is
impossible because, film and
literature are two different
mediums.
While a novel is made up of the
written word, giving the reader more
Stam’s View on “fidelity”
3.
“As Adaptation demonstrates, one might
easily imagine any number of positive tropes
for adaptation, yet the standard rhetoric has
often deployed an elegiac discourse of loss,
lamenting what has been “lost” in the
transition from novel to film, while ignoring
what has been “gained”” (Stam 3).
One of the „roots‟ that Stam tells us about is
called dichotomous thinking.
Roots of a Prejudice
4.
Stam explains “Dichotomous thinking as “a bitter rivalry
between film and literature.The writer and the filmmaker,
according to an old anecdote, are traveling in the same boat but
they both harbor a secret desire to throw the other overboard”
(Stam 4).
Stam also argues that film is seen as “the upstart enemy storming
the ramparts of literature” (Stam 4).
A bit overdramatic, but is true when you hear someone say that
the film is not as good as the book.
Dichotomous Thinking
5.
Resident Evil actually started out as video game and Resident Evil:
Extinction is an adaptation of that game. But after the movie came out,
a novelization written by Keith R. A. DeCandido, to the movie was
released.
In the novel there are a lot of aspects that are not shown in the movie,
for example the time between Alice’s escapes from the Umbrella’s
Detroit headquarters to the time she is shown in the desert is not
shown.
Angela Ashford’s death is not shown in the movie leaving the viewer to
wonder what happened to her.
Also whereas the film is solely from Alice’s point of view, the novel
show the point of view from various characters, even minor ones.
How does Resident Evil: Extinction Relate?
6.
The film Resident Evil: Extinction has different aspects
that people would say is ‘unfaithful’ to the novel and
others that are not and that Stam would disagree, but it is
these conflicting aspects that makes the novel and the
film an enjoyable experience.
The film is completely different from the video game,
events, additional characters, the leaving out of other
characters, made fans of the game upset, but for those
who never played the game enjoyed it more. I believe this
is because non players did not have an already biased
opinion, nor did they have expectations of the film.
“Unfaithful”
7.
It would be hard to put a 600 page novel into a movie
because either it would be too long or too short. Without
straying too far from the main plot, directors may cut
some scenes and lengthen others.
New characters and events may also be added, as Alice
was in the Resident Evil movie franchise to give the
readers and movie goers something new and refreshing.
8.
S t a m t e l l s t h e
r e a d e r /v i e w e r w h e n
w a t c h i n g a n a d a p t a t i o n o f
a p i e c e o f l i t e r a t u r e , o n e
s h o u l d k n o w w h a t t h e y a r e
l o o k i n g f o r . I n s t e a d o f
s a y i n g t h e b o o k i s b e t t e r
b e c a u s e i t h a d m o r e o f t h e
p l o t , o n e s h o u l d l o o k f o r
t h e i n t e r t e x t u a l i t y o f
b o t h f i l m a n d n o v e l .
“B y a d o p t i n g a n
i n t e r t e x t u a l a s o p p o s e d
Wrapping it Up
