Although it started as a British television show with a small but
devoted fan base, Doctor Who has grown in popularity and now appeals
to audiences around the world. In the fifty-year history of the
program, Doctor Who’s producers and scriptwriters have drawn on a
dizzying array of literary sources and inspirations. Elements from
Homer, classic literature, gothic horror, swashbucklers, Jacobean
revenge tragedies, Orwellian dystopias, Westerns, and the novels of
Agatha Christie and Evelyn Waugh have all been woven into the fabric
of the series. One famous storyline from the mid-1970s was rooted in
the Victoriana of authors like H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan
Doyle, and another was a virtual remake of Anthony Hope’s The
Prisoner of Zenda—with robots!
In Doctor Who and the Art of Adaptation: Fifty Years of Storytelling,
Marcus Harmes looks at the show’s frequent exploration of other
sources to create memorable episodes. Harmes observes that adaptation
in Doctor Who is not just a matter of transferring literary works to
the screen, but of bringing a diversity of texts into dialogue with
the established mythology of the series as well as with longstanding
science fiction tropes. In this process, original stories are not just
resituated, but transformed into new works. Harmes considers what this
approach reveals about adaptation, television production, the art of
storytelling, and the long-term success and cultural resonance enjoyed
by Doctor Who.
Doctor Who and the Art of Adaptation will be of interest to students
of literature and television alike, and to scholars interested in
adaptation studies. It will also appeal to fans of the series
interested in tracing the deep cultural roots of television’s
longest-running and most literate science-fiction adventure.
Read more
Fifty Years of Storytelling
Product details
ISBN
9781442232853
Published
2015
Edition
1. edition
Publisher
Bloomsbury USA
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Author