2. Content
• Book – Film Adaptation
• The Quiet American
• 1958 vs. 2002 Adaptations
• Film Criticism
• Discussion
3. What is Film Adaptation?
• Book: original work
• Film: derivative work
• novel + short stories + comic >> 65%
films
• All works classic literature
–Romeo and Juliet 50 film adaptations
–British Literature >> American Films
4. Why Film Adaptation?
• Entertainment : contemporary viewers
• Business – box office (HBO)
• Direct visual stimulation >> Imagination
& Interaction
5. What to Adapt?
• Time frame
• Narrator
• Characters & characterization
• Plot & Subplot
• Music, theme song
6. Film Adaptations - examples
• Wuthering Heights 2011
• Schindler’s List 1993
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban 2004
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011
• Sherlock Holmes 2010
7. Faithfulness?
• Should the derivative work be faithful to
the original work?
• How much faithful it should be?
–Once Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest
1975
–The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2009
–Gone with the Wind 1986
8. The Quiet American
• Graham Green – war correspondent
• Setting: Saigon, 1952
• Protagonist: Fowler, British journalist
• Antagonist: Pyle, CIA agent
• Anti-war novel
–Reading of the excerpt
9. The Film Adaptations
• 1958 – Hollywood Rambo movie
–anti-war message excised
• 2002 – Phillip Noyce’s movie
–Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi
Hai Yen
10. Film Criticism
• Theme, tone, attitude
• Music
• Dialogue
• Performance
• Symbolism
• Cinematography
11. Discussion
• How successful is the film adaptation?
– Music, theme song
– Dialogue adaptation
– Inner thoughts / narrator adaptation
– Narrator Tone, director attitude adaptation
