The Madness of Adaptation: Analysis of Film Adaptations of Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III and The History Boys
| Thesis title in Czech: | Pošetilost adaptace: rozbor filmových verzí divadelních her Alana Benneta: "The Madness of George III a The History Boys" |
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| Thesis title in English: | The Madness of Adaptation: Analysis of Film Adaptations of Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III and The History Boys |
| Key words: | adaptace|Alan Bennett|divadelní hra|film|adaptační process|The Madness of George III|The History Boys |
| English key words: | adaptation|Alan Bennett|stage|film|adaptation process|The Madness of George III|The History Boys |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2018/2019 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | prof. Mgr. Ondřej Pilný, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 26.11.2018 |
| Date of assignment: | 26.11.2018 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 26.11.2018 |
| Date and time of defence: | 29.01.2020 00:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 07.01.2020 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 29.01.2020 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | doc. Clare Wallace, M.A., Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| Abstract of “The Madness of Adaptation: Analysis of Film Adaptations of Alan Bennett’s The Madness of George III and The History Boys” Since the rise of film, many popular works of literature, including plays, have become subject to film adaptations. This does make the adapted works more easily accessible to a wider audience, but certain changes are always made when adapting a literary work for another medium. The following bachelor thesis is examining the changes made while adapting Alan Bennett’s plays The Madness of George III and The History Boys. Both plays and both of their respective adaptations have the same creative team behind them, Bennett as the author of plays and screenplays and Nicholas Hytner as the director of the stage productions and the films, which should limit excessive and gratuitous changes. Yet the choice of plays should lead to a conclusion regarding how to adapt Bennett’s plays, since the adaptation of The History Boys, the more acclaimed of both plays, has been said to have lost some of its identity during the process of adaptation and therefore is viewed less favourably than the adaptation of The Madness of George III, which on the other hand is seen as the weaker play. Both adaptations will be analysed in accordance with Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Adaptation, in the process dividing the changes made into three categories, Components altered, components omitted and components added, before their impact is assessed. It is also going to be assessed which changes were necessary to be made for the screen and therefore what impact does the change of medium itself have on the original text. Other than Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Adaptation, The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies and Linda Seger’s The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fact and Fiction into Film are also used as aid with the assessment of the changes made. |
| References |
| Primary sources Bennett, Alan. The History Boys. London: Faber & Faber Ltd, 2017. Bennett, Alan. The Madness of George III. London: Faber & Faber Ltd, 1995. The History Boys. Dir. Nicholas Hytner. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006. The Madness of King George. Dir. Nicholas Hytner. The Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1994. Secondary sources Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. Abingdon: Routledge, 2013. Leitch, Thomas. The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Seger, Linda. The Art of Adaptation: Turning Fat and Fiction into Film. New York City: Henry Holt and Company, 1992. Alleva, Richard. “The Madness of King George.” Commonweal 122.5 (1995): 15. EBSCOhttps://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=shib&custid=s1240919&direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.16646035&site=eds-live&scope=site&lang=cs. 21 Nov 2018. Bennett, Alan. “The History Boys film gets me all wrong.” Spectator (2006). Literature Resource Centerhttp://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A152506012/LitRC?u=karlova&sid=LitRC&xid=daee7939. 21 Nov 2018 Brantley, Ben. “Rivals for Young Hearts and Minds in Alan Bennett’s ‘History Boys.’” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 24th Apr. 2006.https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/theater/reviews/rivals-for-young-hearts-and-minds-in-alan-bennetts-history.html. 21 Nov 2018. Ebert, Roger. “The Madness of King George.” Rogerebert.com. 27th Jan. 1995.https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-madness-of-king-george-1995. 21 Nov 2018 |