Flying: an exploration of fidelity

Abstract

Using my draft novel, Flying, as a source work, the writing of the adaptive screenplay explores adaptation of the modern novel as both process and product from the perspective of a single creator of both works. Flying employs the literary tropes that make the modern novel challenging to adapt for the screen, including shifting internal realities, dreams, fluid frames of reference, stream of consciousness, multiple points of view, and subjective and objective time. This research project involves reflecting on the process and engaging with the dissonance that exists between the scholarly discussion of adaptation and professional practice. This is nowhere more contentious than in regard to the concept of fidelity – the “faithfulness” of the adaptive work to the source work. While the concept of fidelity has been widely critiqued in the academic world, in my experience the issue of fidelity is central to professional practice and therefore should be interrogated rather than dismissed.