In chapter six of Hayes book My Mother Was A Computer, the idea of original work is questioned again. This is something that has been intensely discussed among SHU English majors.
“The author creates his literary property through exercise of his original genius, yet it is clear that writing is always a matter of appropriation and transformation…A literary tradition must proceed an author’s inscriptions for literature to be possible as such, yet this same appropriation and reworking of an existing tradition is said to produce an ‘original’ work.”
Some of the biggest works come from reworking of old ideas like vampires in Twilight, witches in Harry Potter, and Battle Royale for Hunger Games. (Obviously, some of these were better done than others.) These works, as we were discussing in the last class, are original because of their phrasing and how they put the words together, not so much the idea.
Cliche-phrases get started as great and innovative ways of comparing something. So not even the way words are put together is original because we have definitions for how things are described (metaphor, simile) and how words are put together (alliteration).
Something I’ve been thinking about is how books that turn into movies seem to lose their author credit. It becomes about how the actors portray the characters, how the director chose to shoot certain scenes. The creation becomes someone else’s. Other people are famous for your work. As writers, would you feel comfortable with that?
I don’t necessarily consider myself a writer, but as a consumer I can see the author being taken out of the equation. There are just so many elements to be accounted for in a movie, whereas in a book there is only language. But while I do think movie and book versions can be compared and contrast, I personally consider them to be two completely different art forms that also need to be examined separately.
I definitely find that disconcerting. I think that directors deserve a lot of credit and as Beth Anne says, it is a separate art for. On the other hand, I guess I still feel like the author has ownership over the idea (which we discussed isn’t necessarily the case). So I guess if the author has expressed the idea, I still like to attribute that idea to her/him. For instance, when I’m watching Bridget Jones’ Dairy, I’m still throwing props to Jane Austen, even though the interpretation is very different.
Great topic Aja I do believe other sources deserve recognition when things are remade, considering literature and movies. I actually decided to go on a different approach in my blog and talk about music and how it is remade a lot. Music can be considered poetry depending on the songs. So since I have a love for music I thought it would be pretty interesting to touch upon this topic.
Music is a great notion. Nowadays, artists may write their own lyrics but they rarely play the instruments. Sometimes these lyrics are even written and sold to the top payer or performer like Katy Perry, but she gets all the credit.
My writing group (I found a YA one in MD) was actually talking about selling movie rights and one lady said she couldn’t imagine just handing over the control of her creation like that. But we did talk about how many other people are involved in creating a separate sort of art from just an idea. It’s not even the same script. Eh