Film Adaptation between the Pride of Literature and the Prejudice of Inferiority

Abstract:

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Literature and cinema are two narrative arts that have many aspects in common and differ in many others. The connectedness of both story-telling media converges in a cinematic genre that has been subject to burgeoning debates and criticism since its conception, notably film adaptation. This latter is as old as cinema itself, and the existence of the cinematic adaptations of literary works is as long as that of the notorious friction between literature and film. Accordingly, the present paper, based on a review of the current researches related to film adaptation studies, aims at casting light on the relationship between literature and adaptation that had been seen for a long time through the prestige and supremacy of the former over the popularity and juvenescence of the latter. Besides, this article touches upon adaptation criticism and its evolution with a focus on the longstanding aporia of fidelity, and the different biases that monopolised the film adaptation parlance such as historical seniority, Logophilia and class prejudice.
Keywords: adaptation, cinema, fidelity, historical seniority, literature, pride, prejudice of inferiority