How Do Adaptations Change the Meaning of the Story: Essay

Nowadays, the amount of adaptations such as films, TV programs, or TV series is increasing dramatically. To a certain degree, many classic movies or interactive works are based on nice novels or real events. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is adapted from Stephen King’s classic novel (Different Seasons) and it can be seen how successful it is in being adapted into a meaningful movie. However, adaptations are neither simply adding a new ending to the story nor altering the name of the protagonist or the place where the stories happened. Adaptations sometimes are more likely an X-RAY which could help us know clearly about the character relationship, story structure, and plot development in some cases and comprehend a story on an even pro-founder level. Recent phenomenon demonstrates that “the definition and practice of adaptation are changing with the evolution of new forms.”( [1] Philip Pullman, (The Golden Compass), film, radio and stage plays, board and computer games for the Wii, Play Station 3, and NintendoDS) Different directions of the adaptations, for instance, how the story is presented, the process of one story as well as the reproduction of the ending could change the meaning of the story.

A dilapidated boat, the vast, endless sea with beating spindrift, storms accompanied by the thunders…that’s what first heaved in my sight when I open the web of an adaptation of a short novel called “Boat” (Nam Le, 2008）which is adapted by Matt Huynh. In “Boat”, the writer, Nam Le, described a 13-day tragedy of a Vietnamese refugee ship in a detailed, news-reported language. To avoid political scams, Juan took her only son, the illegitimate child, to the refugee ship. Unexpectedly, the ship lost its way because of the storm. Her son did not suffer in the country. On the other hand, in the journey of fleeing and searching for hope, he died of a lack of water and medicine. In the end, the people on the boat saw the other side, but Juan had no soul.

Differing from Nam Le, Matt Huynh didn’t merely change the process or the ending of that story, what he has done is altering the presented form of that short novel an interactive graphic novel. Adding moving text, sound, graphics, and hyperlinks, makes the original novel more interactive. The engagement between the producer Matt Huynh and the participants is getting stronger and closer. Firstly, when you see these moving texts, it feels like you are in that shaking boat, swinging in that rough sea, with that vivid sound, what you feel is ethereal and helpless. Nothing is left on the sea, only yourself and the boat, which better embodies the hard background of this novel. Then, when you scroll the mouse according to the prompts on the web, you could see this novel is divided into several chapters which makes the linear story more layered. Adding to those graphic paintings, what impressed me most was her skinny father who was lying on the bed. The “black and white” images of ink paintings reflect the hardship of the environment at that time. From my perspective, it can be hardly illustrated just by words. It is these things: the moving texts, sound graphics, and hyperlinks that give our participants deeper feelings as well as change the meaning of the story. If we say that the original novel just shows the readers a sad story and feel guilty about the author’s life experience, however, this brand new presentation by Matt Huynh leads his follower: us, to feel the helplessness of the author. In this way, we realize that it is not easy to survive in a generation bombarded with wars. Surprisingly, he did not portray much about the war or something like that, but through the despair of people living at the bottom of society under the turbulent situation. Furthermore, what we have seen, is not only the suffering itself but also the endless sorrow, like a sorrowful pause. Therefore, this neoteric adaptation of the novel the interactive graphic novel endows the novel ”Boat” with a brand new soul, makes the novel less boring, gives readers interest, and changes the meaning of the story.

If we say that the interactive graphic novel is a new form adaptation in the information explosion era, then the adaptation of the film is the form we are most familiar with. The movie ‘To Kill A Mockingbird', directed by Robert Mulligan, was adapted based on Harper Lee’s book of the same name. Another movie is called but how do these classic adaptation movies being so successful and so impressive until nowadays? How do these adaptions change the meaning of the story? The former makes some subtraction based on the novel:(1)In time, the movie adjust the timeline into a few days before and after the trial; (2)In the plot handling, to highlight the theme of the novel, the director change the main line into Tom Robinson’s trial.in some cases, this film maintains a much higher degree of drama which make some aspects more powerful and also changes the meaning of the story: “To punish evil and promote good should be one of the moral functions of the film. To oppose racial discrimination is an idea of social progress.” [2]'Horton Furt Film Drama Collection'United States Grove Publishing House, 1989.）It also reminds me of one most persuasive Korean movies SILENCE.

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This Korean adaptation film (SILENCED) really changes the meaning of the story even the law of Korea. SILENCED was adapted from a novel based on a real event in Korea： an incident that happened in a school in Gwangju, a deaf-mute obstacle school, depicting a tragedy caused by sexual violence. According to the real event, more than a dozen people from the principal to the teacher participated in the sexual violence. Since 2000, they have sexually invaded more than 30 deaf children, who are only 7 to 20 years old. A lawyer accidentally learned about this from his friend who is a teacher at this deaf school. His friend was assassinated by the school during the process of collecting evidence. For the next seven years, the lawyer suffered from cancer but he took 3 deaf children and appealed countless times. In the end, although they found evidence, the principal was too powerful and did not receive the punishment they deserved. The true event was definitely a cothurnus because of the useless progress.

What’s more, the adaptation film changed the ending of the story based on the real event, bringing a ray of light and hope to the audiences, and changing the meaning of the original story. In the adaptation, the children who were sexually assaulted were two girls(which is totally different from the real event of 30 children), and a brother, and the younger brother finally committed suicide. The atrocities of these deaf and dumb children are the principal and the vice principal, and another teacher. At the end of this adaptation, it added a brand new ending: the lawyer who deteriorated cancer was finally shot by a high-pressure water gun because of the protest, and the body and mind had reached the limit and fell to the ground. The perverted male teacher was pressed by the little boy on the track of his brother’s death, then died together. Compared with the real event, the ending of the adaptation gives the audience some spiritual comfort.

After this adaptation was shown to the public, this movie and the event behind have got the attention of the Korean people and leaders.“ SILENCED” has set off a “melting furnace heat” in South Korea, and then fermented into a” melting furnace effect”.After that, the case was re-examined and the people involved were re-sue. Additionally, the South Korean parliament has specifically passed the Furnace Law to strengthen the punishment for cases of sexual assault and minor sexual assault. I still remember that there was one touching line in the movie: “We fight all the way, not to change the world, but to prevent the world from changing us.”

This adaptation to a large extent changed the meaning of the story. From doing nothing because of the strong power of the principle, to revising and passing a series of bills, among which the 'Special Law on Sexual Violence Crime Punishment Partially Amends the Law'That is one of the shallow aspects the movie would like to tell us. The reform of the judiciary, driven by the enthusiasm of a movie, sounds like a fantasy, but it has become a reality in South Korea. It can be seen how successful the adaptation is to change the meaning of the story even the world.

Above all, both new forms of adaptation and expansion of adaptation are acceptable, many adaptations have changed the meaning of the story through different means, sublimating the content and the theme of the original story. The former adaptation “Boat” helped the author create a new form of the interactive graphic novel from a first-person perspective making participants more immersive; The latter adaptation altered the data and ending based on a real event which brought several comforts to the public and promoted the codex of South Korea. These adaptations have changed the meaning of the story in two totally different ways.“A novel thus conceals an original core, a kernel of meaning or nucleus of events that can be delivered by an adaptation” [3]Nassim Winnie Balestrini, Adaptation, and American Studies: Designing for The Interactant: How Interactivity Impacts On Adaptation, Heidelberg, DE: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2011 Furthermore, adaptation should base on its intrinsic work, by expanding, adjusting， creating or breaking into a completely new expression type, that’s what the adaptation really wants to convey!