Novel to Film Adaptation and the Problematic of Transposition in Adaptation Discourse

In cinema discourse, adaptation serves the purpose of visual translation from any genre
of literature to film adaptation. This research paper looks at process, the problems
affecting this process, and the elements that survive it. In this guise, the paper investigates
the mechanisms put in place by the filmmakers in transmitting the messages which the
novelist sought to transmit. While some of these adaptations have been considered
successful many of them are met with the same pattern of criticism by the audience
members when comparing it with the novel. The question raised here is whether a film’s
fidelity to the book that it is based on has any effect on its success, or if it impacts the
film in other ways. This research therefore seeks to uncover how fidelity and infidelity
can both create a successful film adaptation. In essence, a film is rooted in the
communication and promotion of ideas, and ideas serve as veritable instruments of
enlightenment and education. Based on an intertextual analysis of the novel and the
adaptation, it is revealed that the films transform all subjects and objects into new signs
which communicate to the audience in a better way as compared to the novel.

Keywords: Adaptation, visual narrative, textual narrative, fidelity, film, novel.