Naslov
Adaptation as Emancipation: Semantic Decoding of the Female Protagonist in Kenneth Branagh’s Film Adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Novel Frankenstein

Autori
Matek, Ljubica ; Pataki, Jelena

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Adaptation: Theory, Criticism and Pedagogy

Urednik/ci
Matek, Ljubica ; Uvanović, Željko

Izdavač
Shaker

Grad
Aachen

Godina
2018

Raspon stranica
79-98

ISBN
978-3-8440-5062-2

Ključne riječi
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Kenneth Branagh, emancipation, adaptation

Sažetak
Based on the case study of Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the article represents an intervention in discourses of adaptation as literary criticism, highlighting different ways in which adaptations can critique literary texts, emancipating themselves from the suggested authority of the novel(s) by broadening the interpretative possibilities through the critical appraisal of historical and contextual circumstances of the source text. Namely, Mary Shelley’s novel is abundant with women who embody the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries female social position in that they are devoid of the right to speak and decide for themselves on any matter besides the “trivial, ” emotional ones. However, Shelley’s representation is far from condoning the state that her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, calls the “state of perpetual childhood ; ” rather, it is to be read as a severe criticism thereof. Consequently, although Branagh’s adaptation, more specifically his emancipation of Elizabeth’s character, is often viewed as a significant departure from Shelley’s text, the aim is to show that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein closely follows the undercurrents of the novel and in fact emphasizes – due to the improved social status of women in the twentieth century – Elizabeth’s independence that was present ever so subtly in the literary text.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija, Književnost

POVEZANOST RADA