Source as Paratext: Videogame Adaptations and the Question of Fidelity

Abstract

Adaptation studies have long focused on the relationship of the source text to the adaptation, and overwhelmingly on the relationship between fiction or plays and the films derived from them, frequently with a focus on the fidelity of the adaptation to the source. But there is a substantial difference between film adaptation and videogame adaptations, where the relationship between adaptation and source is vastly different. Games always insist on their positioning within a videogame genre rather than their status as adaptation, as shown by the example of The Lord of the Rings. As a result, the important source is the game genre’s history. This genre-driven focus renders the relationship between a game adaptation and its literary or filmic source text a paratextual one.