Fruitless Search for Coherence: A Transcultural Perspective on Netflix’s Adaptation of Empresses in the Palace

Abstract

ABSTRACT Structuralist narratology, which has played an instrumental part in the historical development of adaptation studies, now faces increasing criticism from culturally oriented scholars for its disregard of contextual factors. My essay argues that postclassical developments of narratology, which recognize culture as a powerful shaping force of narrative form, can effectively address the enduring bifurcation between formal and cultural approaches in adaptation studies. It uses the transpacific adaptation of a Chinese TV drama, renamed Empresses in the Palace by its Netflix adapters, as a case study to show how some of the important narrative transmutations are both motivated by and symptomatic of clashes between specific aspects of the Chinese and the American cultures. My discussion demonstrates that transcultural comparisons can not only foster understanding of adaptations as cultural encounters with inevitable narrative consequences, but also open up new space for the appreciation of other cultures, and provide fresh perspectives on one’s own cultural and narrative traditions.