Adaptation and Transgression

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2014:

Total expected time commitment is 102-hours across the semester, including class time.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject explores how stories are passed through time, place, genre and meaning through processes of adaptation. Adaptation is concerned with nostalgia, memory and the interpretation of history. In the present day, it has become a source of artistic and cultural transgression while also feeding global media’s need for a constant flow of product distributed across multiple platforms. We will study a variety of adaptation genres drawn from and adapted for literary and popular fiction, theatre, screen and graphic novels. Students will study texts from the literary canon alongside historical and contemporary adaptations. We will examine techniques of adaptation and ask how these texts generate new meanings and reach new audiences.

Students who complete this subject will have

• a detailed understanding of key aspects of literary and performance theory in the field of adaptation studies;
• an understanding of the processes and techniques associated with adaptation across different media platforms;
• an understanding of how stories are adapted in different cultural and generic contexts;
• the capacity to evaluate theories, to research texts and ideas, and to express an understanding of knowledge through discussion, writing and presentations.

An essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due in the examination period). This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 75% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

• William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Camridge UP
• Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, OUP
• Peter Carey, Jack Maggs, Faber and Faber
• Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, From Hell, Knockabout Comics
• John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In, Text
• Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber
• Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

On completion of the subject students should have:

• acquired a transportable set of interpretative skills;
• developed their capacity for independent research;
• developed their capacity for critical thinking and analysis;
• developed their ability to communicate in writing.