What Movies Show and Don’t Show: Film Adaptations in Asian Contexts

Adaptation studies from literature to cinema have many apparent changes in the context of postmodernism. Based on the complexity of the theories such as intertextuality, translation studies, cultural studies, deconstruction, and reception theory, adaptation studies allow audiences to consider the film adaptations as independent films with respective creativities of filmmakers by their cinematic language. Because adaptation studies are interdisciplinary, this course will not only instruct students on how to read books and movies but also move beyond comparisons of sources and film adaptations. Adaptation studies can be considered as a methodology and a field. Therefore, the class will concentrate on communicating film adaptations with the texts they are adapting. During the term, students will practice analyzing several Asian film adaptations to illuminate adaptation studies and learn about the Asian cultural contexts surrounding the sources and their adaptations. The outstanding feature of the course is that students will understand what film adaptations show and do not show in comparison with their sources to break the notion of fidelity that limit the filmmakers’ creativities in their adaptation process. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to meet some guest speakers who are Vietnamese filmmakers, such as Viet Linh, Phan Gia Nhat Linh, Vinh Son, Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh to listen to their own experiences about adaptation.
Disciplinary areas: *Vietnam studies *Art and Media Studies *literature.