Film Adaptation Paper
Film and Novel Analysis Assignment and Grading
Standards
The mid-1990’s flux of Jane Austen film adaptations
illustrates just how much we can learn about society and culture by considering
the types of novels adapted to film, how they are adapted, and how their
message and issues compare to those of the original. For this project, you will
compare the film version of a novel to the original, which you will have
carefully read, then write a 10 page (2500 word) essay utilizing critical
analysis as well as comparison/contrast methods. Be certain to describe
and quote from both enough to make
clear how print and cinema interpret events, characters and ideology. A
key component of your essay could be a discussion of the resultant strengths
(and possibly weaknesses) in each work due to narrative techniques employed and
artistic choices made. Almost any other comparison/contrast analysis of
part or all of the two works is possible. Your evaluative judgment of the
overall merits of the literary work and the film could be a natural outgrowth
of your examination although that should not be the sole focus. . You will consider the movie differs from the
novel, if at all; how the director and actors chose to represent its characters
and key issues; and what the movie adaptation suggests about its audience and the
culture at the time and place it was adapted. You will cite at least eight
sources in this paper. These can be movie reviews, scholarly articles, and/or
newspaper and magazine articles; web sources will be considered on an
individual basis.
Aside from the last requirement, you will note this is a fairly open-ended
assignment. This is because the issues will differ depending on the novels each
of you select. Some tweaking of this assignment is expected. You may, for
instance, choose to engage in a critical exploration of the issues represented
in your novel and its adaptation; to look at the problems of updating an
eighteenth-century novel to late twentieth and early twenty-first century film;
or you may survey what reviewers said about your film’s adaptation and use
their assessments to build your own critical analysis. Be creative – just
remember that critical thinking and careful analysis are the keys. As always,
quality is more important that quantity but you should shoot for ten pages
(2,500 words).
Remember
to ask yourself, was the screen play written by the author of the original
text? Is the screen-play faithful to the
original text? Do the filmmakers
complicate or complement the story line through the use of special effects,
flashbacks, recurring image motifs, or other visual schema? Also, if you pick some work that has been
made into a musical or an animated film or an updated or transposed version,
you should make sure you make the change in format part of your focus. Be wary
of films that have the same name as famous literary works but actually have
nothing to do with them. (For example, some items in a series, like the Tarzan
sequels, or some works that take one or two characters from a book and create
totally new circumstances for them, as some Dracula and Frankenstein and Dr.
Jekyll films do.)
A Word About the Title: Say you are working on a
comparison of certain elements of the novel The Perfect Storm and the
film of the same name. The title of your major paper (or anything else
that you might write about those two works, either together or apart) should not be "The Perfect
Storm." You'll need to be a bit more resourceful than that.
Unless you want a grade no higher than a "C," then come up with a
real title that in some way captures the specific focus of your essay--which
I'll assume cannot be everything there is to know or say about the text and the
film that you are examining
Before writing your paper, you will write a summary and analysis of your novel.
You will also write a proposal outlining what you intend to argue in your
paper. At the same time, you will write an annotated bibliography of potential
sources.
The assignments and requirements for each segment are below.
Novel
Summary and Analysis Requirements (two pages or 500 words) Summary: You
survey the plot, characters, and issues of your novel in your own words.
Analysis (reaction): You include your reaction to the novel – are there parts
you had problems with? Why? Did you feel the novel related to you? Why do you
think the author wrote the novel as they did? You do not need to address all
(or any) of these questions explicitly. The important thing is that this short
paper has an argument and a point.
Organization: You have an argument and a thesis statement; you support and
explain all of your observations with specific examples from the text.
Proposal
and Annotated Bibliography* Requirements (1 page/250 words for Proposal;
500-750 words for bibliography):
Purpose: You indicate what you will explore in your final paper and how you
intend to do so. You also indicate why your topic is important – why it
matters.
Sources: You demonstrate that you have done some research and that you are
familiar with sources that will help you on your project.
Annotated Bibliography: You cite and summarize FIVE of your eight sources. Your
summary should include the author’s key point and a consideration of why your
source will be helpful.
Organization, Clarity, and Grammatical Considerations.
* Writing
an Annotated Bibliography
What is an annotated
bibliography?
This is an organized list of sources (references cited),
such as books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Web Pages, etc., each of which
is followed by an annotation or description of each item.
Annotations may
consist of all or part of the following items, depending on the assignment:
describe the content (focus) of the item, describe the
usefulness of the item, discuss any limitations that the item may have, e.g.
grade level, timeliness etc, describe what audience the item is intended for,
evaluate the methods (research) used in the item, evaluate reliability of the
item, discuss the author’s background, discuss any conclusions the author(s)
may have made, describe your reaction to the item
What does the annotated
bibliography look like?
You write and arrange the bibliographic entries (citations)
just as you would any other bibliography. This is usually arranged
alphabetically by the first word, which is typically the author’s last name.
Your instructor may have their own style that they prefer that you use and
there are a number of crib sheets (both on the Internet and in print form) with
the popular styles, such as APA, MLA, Chicago, CBE, etc. The annotation may
then immediately follow the bibliographic information or may skip one or two
lines depending on the style manual that is used. Remember to be brief and
include only directly significant information and write in an efficient manner.
by Owen Williams,
Film
Adaptation Paper (10 pages/2,500 words)
Organization: Your thesis statement makes an original claim and gives your
paper direction; you fully support your ideas through quotes and examples; you
fully explain ideas; you use transitions skillfully; each paragraph clearly
relates to the surrounding paragraphs and your thesis statement.
Critical Analysis: You carefully consider how the novel and film function
individually and together. You support all of your statements through examples
(including quotes), explanations, and secondary sources; your own voice and
perspective are clear.
Secondary Sources: You skillfully use eight secondary sources to build your
argument and support your statements. Remember you can use sources you disagree
with to build your argument (“While Smith believes ____, I think it is more
likely that…”)
Works Cited: You have properly cited your in-text citations using MLA format;
you have used correct MLA format in your works cited page.
The Little But Important Things: Your paper is in MLA
format; there are few or no spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors; you
have an original and pertinent title.