Adaptation February 12, 2014

Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer in  A Thousand Acres, adapted from Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. A Thousand Acres was adapted from Shakespeare's King Lear.

Adaptation

February 12, 2014

            Adaptation is a strange, really strange, movie about how a work of literature can be adapted for the movies, and the work that goes into producing both an original work and an adaptation of that original work. Meryl Streep plays Susan Orlean, writer of The Orchid Thief, whose book is about to be adapted into a movie. Orlean, close to the end of the movie, shouts out to Charlie Kauffman “I wana be a baby again, I wanna be new”. This concept of being new again can be applied to an original work of fiction or non-fiction. Hollywood has turned out many movies that have been adapted from works of literature that have been great such as: The Godfather, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jaws, Psycho, A Thousand Acres. But for every Godfather, there is an Atlas Shrugged, movies that just suck. Orlean’s idea of wanting to be new again is a concept that many writers, whose work has been adapted badly, probably only know so well. When a writer signs their baby away, they can't say what happens to it. A newborn baby is a blank slate that can be molded and made to fit into a certain family and way of life; the whole nurture versus nature argument.  Writers give birth to a baby that they bring into the world hoping goodness can come from it. When the baby is corrupted by pressure and mistreatment, an author can become an ugly creature full of hatred and resentment; like Stephen King with Stanly Kubrick’s version of The Shinning. The screen writer for the Orchid Thief is having a hard time adapting the book and stalks Orlean, to dire consequences. Orlean, with the help of John Laroche, metaphorically kills off Charlie Kauffman’s alter ego that wants to succumb to Hollywood pressure. Orlean does Kauffman the biggest gift she can give him, metaphorical death. Kauffman finishes the script and all is well in the movie world again.  When Orlean gives her grandiose “I wana be new again”,  she is yelling a statement that many writers have often thought. Writers often regret giving their baby up for adoption, but a writer can’t smother there baby or death will occur. A writer gives life and cannot be selfish. Writers should let the work morph. Life springs from life.  If a child turns out to be a huge disappointment at least as a parent you can say you tried.