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What is Adaptation?
What is Adaptation?
In storytelling, adaptation is the process of moving a story from an existing form into a new or different form or medium. It has long been a part of theatrical and artistic culture. Myths and fairy tales have influenced plays, artwork, novels, and movies. Part of this is because using a known story is a great way to explore new mediums and art. Myths in ancient Greece lept from an oral tradition to the stage as they built the basis of Western theatre. Writing and the printing press brought stories to a physical, re-visitable form that made stories even more a part of daily life. Oral stories were again collected in the 16th and 17th centuries and became more similar to the structure of fairy tales that we know today. When film was invented, some of the first stories told were fairy tales as suddenly there was a new medium with which to showcase magic and wonder to a wider audience. This brings the discussion to one of the most prolific adaptors of the 20th century: Walt Disney. By animating Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, he began the modern process of adapting traditional fairy tales for modern-day children and families. Gone were the gorier details from the original stories, replaced instead with beautiful maidens and fanciful backgrounds, placing fairy tales solidly in the realm of childhood. Now, the Disney company is continuing to adapt- including re-adapting their own work for their current audience.
Why Adapt?
Why Adapt?
Adaptation is more than a repacking of the same thing over and over again. In an honest, heartfelt adaptation, there is an examination of both what the original story meant to the adaptors and what it can say to a new audience. Adaptation can change the context of a story to say something about the current situation. Adaptation is a path to reclaim stories that we loved and bring them into a world with different values and needs. It is also a way to bring new storytellers and characters into a conversation that they had been excluded from. Adaptation is a cycle, just like the water cycle. Water changes into new states, from liquid, to vapor and back again, over and over again as needed. Stories can do the same with dedication, enthusiasm, and honesty.
Adapt for the love of storytelling.
Adapt for the love of stories.
Adapt!
What a Different Translation/Adaptation Changes
What a Different Translation/Adaptation Changes
Below is a comparison of two different versions of The Little Mermaid: one a printed version from 2007 and the other the 1989 Disney version.
2007 Printed
2007 Printed
Mermaids are magical creatures that live for three hundred years, then turn into sea foam when they die, while humans are creatures with immortal souls that live on after their deaths
Main character is the little mermaid, the youngest of 6 sisters
All the mermaids get to go above the sea on their fifteenth birthday
The little mermaid’s grandmother indulges her curiosity of the human world, but reminds her of her responsibilities as a princess
The little mermaid sees a shipwreck and saves a prince, taking him to land where a young girl gets him help
The little mermaid gets help from her sisters to find the prince’s castle and visits the sea outside the walls to admire the life within
The little mermaid hears good things about the prince and, in her time watching the palace, begins to desire becoming human
The little mermaid realizes that she loves the prince and goes to the sea witch to become human. The sea witch agrees and for payment takes the mermaid’s tongue so she cannot speak
The goal is to get the prince to marry her so that she can gain an immortal soul, but her human legs will hurt like she is stepping on knives with every foot fall and, if the prince marries another person, the mermaid will turn into seafoam the next morning
The little mermaid swims to the shore and drinks the potion, becoming human. The prince discovers her and brings her back to his palace where she becomes a court dancer
The little mermaid lives and travels with the prince, continuing to dance for him and entertain him, in spite of the pain in her legs.
The little mermaid and the prince travel across the sea so that he can meet the woman he is betrothed to. On the way, the mermaid’s family see her and they acknowledge each other, though she does not have the ability to say that she is happy with the prince
The prince meets his betrothed and she is the girl who got him help on the beach. He happily marries her and the little mermaid dances at their wedding, knowing the next morning would be her doom
The little mermaid’s sisters approach her during the night and tell her that they cut off their beautiful hair to trade the sea witch for a knife.
The sisters tell the mermaid that if she kills the prince with the knife, she will be able to turn back into a mermaid and live out her three hundred years with her family
The little mermaid looks at the prince with the knife in her hand, but decides not to kill him as she still loves him
The little mermaid jumps into the sea, but is chosen by the daughters of the air to join them. With them, she will wander the earth doing good deeds (such as bringing cool air to hot places and sending peaceful thoughts) for three hundred years and thus earn an immortal soul. There are extra rules: if they come upon a child that is behaving well, they get a year knocked off of their service time. If they come upon a child behaving badly, they receive an extra day of service for every tear they shed.
The moral of the story: an immortal soul is something to work and strive for
1989 Movie
1989 Movie
Mermaids are people with fish tails and humans are humans that are unaware of mermaids outside of folklore
Main character is Ariel, the youngest of 7 sisters
None of the mermaids are allowed to go above the sea
Ariel’s father, King Triton, tells her that her interest in land is dangerous and forbids it
Ariel rescues Prince Eric from a shipwreck and brings him to land where he is found by his servant
Ariel is lost in her own world within her fascination with Prince Eric, leaving her family to wonder what is going on
King Triton learns of Ariel’s infatuation with Prince Eric and destroys her collection of human things in retaliation, again forbidding her to approach humans
Ariel goes to the sea witch Ursula who offers her a potion to become human in exchange for her voice
The goal is to get Prince Eric to kiss Ariel so that she can remain human, but, if Ariel cannot get Eric to kiss her within 3 days, she will turn back into a mermaid and Ursula will own her soul
Ariel is turned into a human immediately and barely makes it to shore where she is found by Eric and brought to the palace. At the palace, she is dressed and treated like a lady of the court
Ariel is taken on a tour of the village by Eric and they almost kiss, but are interrupted by Ursula’s meddling
King Triton and Ariel’s sisters have no idea where she is and search frantically while Eric ponders if he can really love the mute girl in his palace while he can still hear the voice of the girl that saved him echoing in his mind
Ursula disguises herself and tricks Eric with Ariel’s voice so that he will marry her.
Ariel comes to crash the wedding after being warned by her friends of Ursula’s trick
The sun sets and returns Ariel’s voice, reveals Ursula’s disguise, and turns Ariel back into a mermaid, beginning the final fight with Ursula
Ursula takes King Triton’s power in exchange for Ariel’s life, leaving Ariel and Eric to fight the extremely powerful Ursula to bring peace back to the sea
Ariel and Eric defeat Ursula and Ariel is rewarded by King Triton with becoming human. Ariel and Eric wed and sail off into adventure
The moral of the story: love conquers all
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