Adaptation Studies and Learning

Book excerpt: Adaptation Studies is a fast-emerging discipline which has expanded into other areas of media scholarship. With its roots in literature and film, this discipline can be applied to much broader uses, even as a process that governs every aspect of our lives. Indeed, by expanding the scope of “adaptation” to encompass a larger perspective, this discipline can promote lifelong learning that emphasizes communication, social interaction, and aesthetic engagement. In Adaptation Studies and Learning: New Frontiers, Laurence Raw and Tony Gurr seek to redefine the ways in which adaptation is taught and learned. Comprised of essays, reflections, and “learning conversations” about the ways in which this approach to adaptation might be implemented, this book focuses on issues of curriculum construction, the role of technology, and the importance of collaboration. Including a series of case-studies and classroom experiences, the authors explore the relationship between adaptation and related disciplines such as history, media, and translation. The book also includes a series of case studies from the world of cinema, showing how collaboration and social interaction lies at the heart of successful film adaptations. By looking beyond the classroom, Raw and Gurr demonstrate how adaptation studies involves real-world issues of prime importance—not only to film and theater professionals, but to all learners. Covering a wide range of material, including film history, educational theory, and literary criticism, Adaptation Studies and Learning offers a radical repositioning of the ways in which we think about adaptation both inside and outside the classroom.