Adaptation
Nothing is new anymore. Most movies are adaptations of books, video games, or graphic novels. Even seemingly original material relies on the moves and ideas of previous stories subverted in interesting ways. Students consume this media daily and on many screens. Particularly in the language arts classroom, this kind of storytelling should be taught as a skill in the same way the ‘hero’s journey’ is taught as analysis. By understanding the creativity and work that goes into adapting one medium into another students can better grasp the foundation of storytelling, which then leads to a better critical and analytical eye.
Example
The last unit in my ELA curriculum follows the process of adaptation, from book to screenplay to film. It’s based on the fact that, though Slumdog Millionaire is an adaptation of the novel Q & A, it has very little in common with the book that it is “based on”. This unit challenges the typical student reactions to stories, written or filmed—they have to face the fact that there can be good movies that are bad adaptations, and vice versa. Alongside the process, students test their own ability to adapt a property for another medium. These projects turn into short films, game mods, screenplays, and other fairly serious products that Hollywood would be jealous of.