| Perhaps the most neglected and impoverished area in contemporary film studies is the study of literary adaptation. One reason for this disregard is that most theories of adaptation are based on essentialist or idealized notions of textuality, cinematic "language," and spectatorship. Such theories encourage the practice of what E. H. Gombrich called "matching" the cinematic text with its linguistic antecedent. They also tend to vulgarize the Hollywood industry, treating it as inferior to literature.; This dissertation claims that adaptation of literature into film is an intertextual, dialectical encounter among the author, director, and text on a particular cultural and historical horizon. The project attempts to show how literature is redeployed into film culture--that is, how literature is used in another context for its economic, cultural and political value. This strategy sees adaptation as a powerful struggle waged in an historical arena over ideology, aesthetics and politics. By closely examining four Hollywood adaptations from the classic studio period, it is possible to explore American attitudes in the 1930's and 1940's towards the canon of English and American literature. This thesis demonstrates how the film industry interpreted the classics for its own ends, often coming into conflict with individual filmmakers over the meaning of texts.; My four chapters are devoted to the production history of the following films: David Copperfield (Cukor, 1935), Heart of Darkness (Welles, 1939), The Long Voyage Home (Ford, 1940), The Red Badge of Courage (Huston, 1951). |
