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The Anatomy of a Reverse Adaptation

2022-02-21
image source: The Conversation

Do you recognize this scene? It is one of the highlights of The Dead Poet’s Society, a film that starred Robin Williams as an unorthodox teacher that inspired his students. It is a movie that, spoiler alert, shows how much connections impact us. In the movie, poetry is the medium used to influence and build connections between the teacher and his students as well as between students. As the movie progressed, we saw the connections grow and evolve until it reached this iconic scene that made the movie memorable to all its viewers. Connections matter. That is how movies become blockbusters.

In the entertainment industry today, the highest demand goes to stories that are told across multiple media. With multiple media exposure, stories are better heard, seen, and read which is probably how adaptations began. Books are adapted to movies, TV series, and even comic books as in the case of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. However, what is not so common is for a screenplay or movie to be adapted into a book. Nonetheless, there are authors that have succeeded after taking this route. One such example is that of N. H. Kleinbaum’s Dead Poet’s Society. Before it became the classic it is known as today, its screenplay was passed around, revised, and made into something else until eventually, someone saw its true potential and created the movie magic that it is!

So write that story, don’t despair. Your medium may not have been discovered yet.

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