Adaptation as translation : examining film adaptation as a recontextualised act of communication.

Narratives are increasingly intermedial nowadays and adaptation is prominent in the performing arts (e.g. theatre, opera) and in various forms of media (e.g. film, television, radio, video games). The process of adaptation has been paralleled to that of translation, as both deal with the transfer of meaning from one sociocultural context to another. In a similar vein, translation has been viewed as a process of adaptation when the communicated message needs to be tailored to the values of the target culture. Nevertheless, a framework building on the affinities of translation and adaptation remains relatively under-researched. A model for a systematic adaptation analysis seems to be currently missing in Adaptation Studies. Translation Studies can also benefit from a closer look into the workings of cultural production. An analysis of adaptation as intersemiotic and intermedial translation can give rise to the factors that condition the flow of narratives across media and cultures. Such an analysis can also shed light on the relationship between cultural products and the socio-temporal context that accommodates them. To this end, the present project aims at examining the film adaptation process from a hermeneutic point of view, looking into both textual and contextual parameters that monitor the adaptation process. A model towards the systematic analysis and interpretation of the changes occurring in the adaptation process (i.e. adaptation shifts) is also developed to fulfil this aim. The model draws upon insights from Translation Studies, Film Studies and Narratology and has a descriptive/comparative and an interpretive component. The former is used to examine adaptation as an audiovisual text in relation to its source material and the latter deconstructs the adaptation process in relation to the agents and contexts involved. The model can thus contribute to a systematic study of adaptations and to a better understanding of the adaptation/translation process