“It's not quite what I had in mind”: Adaptation, faithfulness, and interpretation

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes that Gutt's work on translation (2000), situated in a relevance-theoretic framework, provides a productive basis on which to discuss adaptations, especially of graphic novels. Expectations held by audience members that they will see their reading of a work presented on the screen are seriously flawed. In Gutt's terms, audiences who anticipate direct translations of their reading on the screen are disappointed by adaptations that present indirect translations; the disparity between expectation and result is the cause of disaffection. This paper argues that there is a crucial distinction between the interpretation of the text as constructed by the reader, and the filmmaker's interpretation as performed by the adaptation. This paper surveys a range of responses to film adaptations, explores the meaning of “faithfulness” in adaptation within the relevance-theoretic notion of resemblance, and concludes by showing that it is the director's, not the writer's or reader's, non-spontaneous interpretation which is performed by an adaptation.