IDENTIFYING KEY FACTORS BEHIND A FILM

ADAPTATIONS
SUCCESS AND FAILURE THROUGH A COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS OF TWO NARRATIVES AND THEIR
ADAPTATIONS
AREA AND TOPIC
OF STUDY
The following paper is based on the concept of film adaptations, written on the understanding of the key factors
based behind a film adaptations success and failure with the help of a comparative analysis between two
narratives and their adaptations.

A film adaptation is the transfer of a story to a feature film in whole or in part. Even though the recent academic
innovations of researchers such as Rouge Stam are often regarded as a kind of derivative work, a film adaptation is a
dialogical procedure. The use of a book as the basis of a feature film is a common form of film adaptation. The non-
fiction works (including journalism), autobiography, comic books, screenplays, plays, historical sources, and more. The
adaptation of so many diverse resources in Europe was ubiquitous in filmmaking since the earliest days of cinema in
the nineteenth century. And this practice is still being enjoyed and richly enjoyed in the world of cinema.

The success and lack of film adaptation in the film industry are often dependent on the book or inspiration of the
film and the representation used as adaptation. Great novels, books, and stories written by great and talented authors
are adapted into films by the industry. Over time, the two different fields have been making significant and successful
deals with each other, generating a separate area of study in the land of academics. However, any novel or story that
is being adopted or adapted to the movies will succeed, just as the book did, is no guarantee. Millions of film
adaptations in the film, and more than half of them were like the novels, but some adaptations were not very
successful as the book did. Different reasons and factors play a significant role behind the success and failure of the
film adaptations that are also very firmly based on the actions of the filmmakers and, most notably, on the
perspectives of the audience and the readers.
THESIS STATEMENT
This paper seeks to understand and identify the important factors behind a successful and failing
film adaptation through a comparative analysis of a narrative and it's adaptation. The paper's main
idea is to explore and describe the concepts of film adaptation and all the important parts of an
adaptation that affects them well and badly. It aims to highlight the theoretically and practically
hidden factors related to this idea, such as the differences between the narrative and its
adaptations, changes to the storyline, similitudes, people's expectations, imagination of the author
and director with their perspectives in a far wider sense, which are critical to the successes and
failures of adaptations.
OBJECTIVES
AND
QUESTIONS
The general objectives of this paper are:

To understand and to know if an adaptation of a film is better than the book.

To explain that why some changes in the plotline of the adaptations sometimes are necessary to be
made. To understand why the expectations set by the novel are not met in the adaptations.
To make a clear argument, to what extent a film adaptation should be based on its
source. To recognize and know all the reasons behind a film adaptation’s success and
failure.

The questions that this paper begs to ask are:

How the adaptation of the film differs from the book through various dimensions and components other than
the storyline like the characters, their appearance, dialogues and etc.
Why the two film adjustments from the two book series of the same author were quite different, even when
made by the same director, from each other.
How important is it that the director, like the writer and readers, should have the same understanding of the
books imaginative world?
Why are some films failing as adaptations, although the book has been a
hit? What are the main factors in the success and failure of a film
adaptation?
METHODOLOGIES
The researcher will do a comparative analysis of the two narratives and their film adaptations.
We shall be looking at comparative analysis as a research method which was developed by
Charles C. Ragin. Here we focus on the differences between two narratives and their
adaptations by bringing out multiple comparisons.

In this paper textual analysis will be used as a methodology with multiple approaches in more
traditional methods involving archival research measures in the field of film studies. Film
studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical
approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media
studies and is often compared to television studies.

This paper will examine the two great narratives written by J. R. R. Tolkien, i.e. 'The Lord of
The Rings' and 'The Hobbit', by performing a comparative analysis between these two
narratives and their film adaptation adapted by Peter Jackson.
ARGUMENTS
1 .When to say that a film adaptation is better than it's book.

Plot holes:
M aking the movie a visual treat:
Converting a good story into an even more interesting storylin.

2 .Why changes in the plotline of the adaptations are sometimes necessary to be

made.

3. Why the novel's adaptation does not meet the expectations of people.
IMPLICATIONS
This paper has pointed out the differences and variations between the two narratives by J. R. R.
Tolkien and it's film adaptations by Peter Jackson.

This paper has pointed out the reasons that why the film adaptation of 'The Lord of The Rings' was
more successful than the adaption of 'The Hobbit'.

It has also pointed out that how different dimensions and components like the nature and role of
characters, visualisations of events, structure and patterns, dresses and props, appearances of the
characters, dialogues and language can play a major role in bringing out the differences between the
book and it's movie.

In what ways the differences between the author's imagination and of the director's can change the
path of the adaption in meeting the expectations and similarities with its original narrative by creating
major variations.

It also points out the challenges and problems that are faced by the producers, directors and their
team to particularly choose out the important required plot from a long and vast book for the
storyline of the adaption.

It points out the major factors behind the successes and failures of a film as a film adaptation.
RELEVANCE
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often
considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars
such as Robert Stam as a dialogic process. Adapted films are more popular and successful than original
screenplays because the book or author already have a following that equals a guaranteed audience which
ensures that it will not “flop” at the box-office. In the same way people keep and carry more expectations
from adapted films rather than the original screenplays because they want to relive it again and try to match
their imagination. Whenever a person reads a book, he or she creates a imaginative world of the book inside
the head and lives in it while reading the book. Every reader has it's own imagination and they try to match
this imagination from the book and of authors. But when a adaptation of a book is released, all of its
audience expects the adaption to be the exact copy of the book or it's source. But people don't really realise
or know the difficulty or the sets of challenges and problems that the team face while producing or creating
an adaptation of a narrative. Hence, they start criticising it and starts pressing judgements on the choice and
nature of the events or plot in the movie. Thus it is important to us as researchers to identify these important
areas of research by bringing out the challenges and difficulties that are usually been faced while making the
adaptation and understand the major factors behind a film adaptations success and failure.
WORKS
CITED
THANK
YOU