Back and Forth: There’s More than One Way to Make an Adaptation, or There’re More than One-Way Adaptations
Lesson Preparation
| Author: | Nathan Phillips |
|---|---|
| Lesson Title: | Back and Forth: There’s More than One Way to Make an Adaptation, or There’re More than One-Way Adaptations |
| Subject: | English (Language Arts) |
| Age Group: | High School |
| Unit: | Media and Adaptation: Moving From Medium to Medium without Getting Hurt |
| Objective: | Students will be able to recognize the complex way that adaptations relate to their source texts and vice versa. Students will also create their own adaptations. |
| Concepts: | _ |
| Strategies/Modes: | _ |
| Curricular Goals: | In this concluding lesson, students will recognize the complex nature of adaptations as expressed by James Naremore: “We now live in a media-saturated environment dense with cross-references and filled with borrowings from movies, books, and every other form of representation. Books can become movies, but movies themselves can also become novels, published screenplays, Broadway musicals, television shows, remakes, and so on” (13). Also, by completing the unit final project, a student-created adaptation, students will “realize the possibilities and limitations of different media, and the ways in which meanings can change when they are presented in different forms or transposed from one medium to another. This provides a very practical way of addressing questions about the ‘codes and conventions’ of different forms of media language” (Buckingham 78). |
| Lesson Overview: | By looking at Walter Dean Myers’s novel Monster and considering other various source texts and adaptations, students will become familiar with the complex way that adaptations relate to their source texts. Students will create a map from a source text to its various adaptations. Finally, the final project, a student-created adaptation is included in this lesson. |
| Materials Needed: | Classroom set of Monster by Walter Dean Myers; some or all of the following: American McGee’s Alice (video game), copy of Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD, Disney World or Disneyland pamphlet with information about Pirates of the Caribbean ride, Lara Croft Tomb Raider video game and film, a Dr. Seuss book, Seussical CD, Wizard of Oz, Wicked CD, Frankenstein film(s) and novel, etc. |
Films Needed
| Title | Director | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Frankenstein | James Whale | 1931 |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Gore Virbinski | 2003 |
| Wizard of Oz, The | Victor Fleming | 1939 |
Lesson Directions
Warm-up/Anticipatory Set:
Pass out a copy of Walter Dean Myers’s Monster to each student. Point out to students the key features of this text (handwritten journal entries, film script, pictures, etc.). Explain that this is an original novel; it is not based on a film or other medium. Give students about 10-15 minutes to read the book and become familiar with the way it works (alternately, this could be read together as a class or for homework, with students having finished it when they come to class today). Briefly explain the plot summary, so that students are familiar with the story.
After students have had a chance to become familiar with Monster, ask students in what ways this novel represents a complex relationship among media (journal, film, film script, novel, visual images, etc.). Have them list the ways that the book represents a complex give and take of many media. List these on the board.
After students have had a chance to become familiar with Monster, ask students in what ways this novel represents a complex relationship among media (journal, film, film script, novel, visual images, etc.). Have them list the ways that the book represents a complex give and take of many media. List these on the board.
Instruction/Main Activity:
Divide students into groups and give each group a source text and some subsequent adaptation material (for a list of possibilities, see the “Materials Needed” list on this lesson plan).
Each group should draw a “map” of the source text and adaptations. They will want to include adaptations that aren’t included with the materials. This can be done by giving students access to the internet or simply asking them to think of the many products and media productions that come out of a given source text. The “map” will start with the source text at the center and will be a visual representation of the source text and its derivative products.
Each group should draw a “map” of the source text and adaptations. They will want to include adaptations that aren’t included with the materials. This can be done by giving students access to the internet or simply asking them to think of the many products and media productions that come out of a given source text. The “map” will start with the source text at the center and will be a visual representation of the source text and its derivative products.
Practice/Reinforcement:
Finally, before completing the final project, students should consider the economic and moral implications of pervasive media adaptations. To facilitate this, have students complete the following: On a half sheet of paper, students should respond to the following from Daniel Hade’s “Storyselling: Are Publishers Changing the Way Children Read?”:
Perhaps the most troubling effect of licensing, synergy, and vertical integration on children’s books is that the book and each spinoff piece of merchandise and each retelling across another medium becomes a promotion for every other product based upon that story. Children reading, say, Clifford, the Big Red Dog are also reading a promotion for the Clifford television show, Clifford backpacks, and Clifford dolls, and vice versa. This ubiquitous cross-promoting blurs, if not erases, the line between advertisement and entertainment. The corporate owners of children’s book publishing have successfully turned recreational reading into a commodity. (514-515)
Students could respond to the following questions (or include thoughts of their own):
1. What does Hade mean by “synergy” and “vertical integration”?
2. What does this “branding” of young American readers have to do with adaptations?
3. If Hade is right that recreational reading is a commodity now, is that bad for children? Why/why not?
4. Do many adaptations from a given source text (including products and not just media productions) change the source text in any way? What way (be specific)?
Perhaps the most troubling effect of licensing, synergy, and vertical integration on children’s books is that the book and each spinoff piece of merchandise and each retelling across another medium becomes a promotion for every other product based upon that story. Children reading, say, Clifford, the Big Red Dog are also reading a promotion for the Clifford television show, Clifford backpacks, and Clifford dolls, and vice versa. This ubiquitous cross-promoting blurs, if not erases, the line between advertisement and entertainment. The corporate owners of children’s book publishing have successfully turned recreational reading into a commodity. (514-515)
Students could respond to the following questions (or include thoughts of their own):
1. What does Hade mean by “synergy” and “vertical integration”?
2. What does this “branding” of young American readers have to do with adaptations?
3. If Hade is right that recreational reading is a commodity now, is that bad for children? Why/why not?
4. Do many adaptations from a given source text (including products and not just media productions) change the source text in any way? What way (be specific)?
Assignment:
FINAL PROJECT
Students have been preparing for a final project throughout the unit. The final project is to create an adaptation of a give source text. The source text will be common for all students. Students may work in small groups (2-3) for this, but each student must participate and be evaluated based on their participation. Any source text will do, though I suggest something very simple, like a comic strip. Of course, in order for the comic strip to work well, it needs to tell a story (include a brief narrative). Students will create the adaptation utilizing the medium they chose at the beginning of the unit (radio, television, film, etc.). These adaptations will be shared in class. Also, students should turn in a brief reflective piece explaining the choices they had to make while creating the adaptation and how they decided to make these choices. Finally, students must consider the context of their creation of the adaptation. They should briefly analyze the text and context of their project and include a short self-analysis paper on the subject. Student-created adaptations should be no longer than 3 minutes.
Students have been preparing for a final project throughout the unit. The final project is to create an adaptation of a give source text. The source text will be common for all students. Students may work in small groups (2-3) for this, but each student must participate and be evaluated based on their participation. Any source text will do, though I suggest something very simple, like a comic strip. Of course, in order for the comic strip to work well, it needs to tell a story (include a brief narrative). Students will create the adaptation utilizing the medium they chose at the beginning of the unit (radio, television, film, etc.). These adaptations will be shared in class. Also, students should turn in a brief reflective piece explaining the choices they had to make while creating the adaptation and how they decided to make these choices. Finally, students must consider the context of their creation of the adaptation. They should briefly analyze the text and context of their project and include a short self-analysis paper on the subject. Student-created adaptations should be no longer than 3 minutes.
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