Draft of Uncanny Assignment 4

Transcoding the Uncanny:

The Psycho-Narrative Results of Adapting the Horror Story to Film

Introduction:

Horror stories and tales of the supernatural or the uncanny are simple yet complex narratives; their initial power tends to come not from their intellectual or critical implications so much as their emotional, even psycho-somatic, resonances.  That is, we tend to regard such narratives first emotionally and then critically.  And this is why, as we have discussed, the horror story has long been considered a marginal literary form akin to pulp or melodrama.  Nevertheless, as Freud makes clear, the emotional impact of the uncanny narrative marks its centrality as a mode of describing human experience and far from pushing it to the margins, makes it deserving of our attention.  Our concern this time around will be to use our critical faculties to chart the shifts in emotional resonances resulting from the filmmaker's (and screenwriter's) choices in translating the printed word to the visual medium of film.

Reading:

Barker, Clive, "Midnight Meat Train" (blackboard)

Stam, Robert, "Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation," pp.1-8; 14-31 (blackboard)

Matheson, Richard, "Prey"; Collier, John, "Evening Primrose"; Fitzgerald, F. Scott, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (anthology)

To View:

"Midnight Meat Train," and/or "Prey," "Evening Primrose," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (on reserve in Leavy)

Above, I have given you four choices of adapted short stories to write about.  These range from the strictly true-to-the-original version of Matheson's "Prey," to the wildly reinterpreted Stephen Sondheim musical version of Collier's story, "Evening Primrose."  But please feel free to use any other adapted story from our books, including the 2008 David Fincher version of "Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt.  Other options might be to find one of the many film versions of Ambrose Bierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" or even Richard Matheson's "Terror at 20,000 Feet" which has been adapted twice, first as a 1963 "Twilight Zone" episode and then as part of the 1983 "Twilight Zone: The Movie".  Just keep me posted on your choices.

Once you have decided on a short story and film, answer the following question in a 5-6 page, thesis driven essay:

What is the greatest shift in psychological effect resulting from the filmmaker's (and/or screenwriter's) stylistic and narrative choices in adapting the printed text to the screen.

As always, seek a focused, synthesizing main claim that will be specific enough for a 5-6 page paper yet complex enough to account for a variety of supportive observations.