Adaptation Assignment
1000 words + annotation, 20% of your mark
Goals:
This assignment has several goals. First, it helps you think about how the form of a work of art (book, movie, etc.) shapes how audiences understand its content. Second, it asks you to grapple with problems of historical distance, considering how contemporary audiences approach “older” fiction. Finally, it asks you to take on the many ethical responsibilities of adaptation—of translating one form of art into another—including issues of representation, authorial intention, and textual fidelity.

Your TAs will give you feedback on this assignment using a Feedback Form, which you can find at the end of this assignment sheet.

Instructions:
There are two parts to this assignment.

1. Imagine you have been tasked with adapting Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness to either a film or a TV series. In 1000 words, describe what you would consider the major questions you would need to consider in this adaptation, and then offer your answers to those questions. To put it more simply: describe how you’d adapt the book and what decisions you have to make to do so well. This is trickier than it first seems! Adaptation is a huge task, so you won’t be able to talk about every decision you’d have to make (and I won’t be asking you to). Instead, you’ll have to decide what elements of the book are most important to you, and then describe how you’d bring those elements to the screen. See further instructions below.
2. Once you are finished part 1, return to your work. Write five annotations on the side of parts 1, referencing particular moments in your work. In total, these annotations should comprise no less than 250 words. The annotations should describe how completing this assignment helped you think through one of the four guiding questions for Section 2 of the course (ie: 1. What does “realism” mean in fiction, especially “genre” fiction? 2. What does it mean for fiction to be escapist? 3. To what extent do an author’s intentions for a book matter? 4. How do we approach books form different historical times that don’t necessarily reflect our current values?). You can annotate using your word processor’s “comments” function, or simply highlight/note particular moments in parts 1 and/or 2 and provide a key below them.

Further instructions:

In part 1, you have to address at least one element from EACH of the following four major categories of consideration:

1. Length and inclusion: Depending on whether you go the TV or movie route, you’ll need to think about how to “fit” Left Hand into the space of 2 hours (film) or 10+ hours (TV). If you go the TV route, you’ll additionally need to think about how you’d divide the novel’s events into discrete episodes. As a general principle, movies based on novels have to cut incidents from the novel to make everything fit, which means you’ll need to decide which moments are most essential—which means, in turn, you’ll need to have a clear creative vision about what the novel means, and what you most want to communicate about it to your audiences. The same goes for TV, only in reverse: you’ll probably need to pad out the novel’s incidents with new material that feels like it would fit in the original book. (This can be done well, or it can be done terribly: see Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy for an example of terrible).
2. Updating the work for contemporary audiences: Left Hand was written in 1969, and in many ways it’s a book of its time. For example, on a planet where everyone is technically the same gender, Le Guin has Genly Ai use “he” pronouns—something a contemporary author might (or might not!) handle differently. Would you change this feature for a film? Or retain it because this is how Genly thinks? (or some combination of both?). There are several features of Left Hand that you’ll need to consider whether to update in this way.
3. Translating a formally complex, dual-narrator book to a visual medium: Left Hand has two narrators and includes a number of cultural “asides” that give readers more information about the planet Gethen. How will these features translate to film? Will you have a focal character (Genly, Estraven, someone else)? How will you incorporate all of the rich worldbuilding information Le Guin puts in the cultural “asides”?
4. Casting considerations: representation and textual fidelity: Previous adaptations of Le Guin’s work have been notoriously whitewashed, despite the fact that many of her worlds (including the world of Left Hand) are populated almost entirely by people of color. Additionally, the Gethenians in the book are all shorter and heavier than most typical Western Hollywood stars. Given these facts, how would you go about casting this movie? (Would you go for any “stars” as headliners? If so, who and why?).

You won’t be able to talk fully about every element of your production! That’s ok: I’m not expecting you to. Instead, choose those elements that are the most important to you in each of the four categories above, and focus on them. For example, in the “Translating a formally complex, dual-narrator book” category, you might spend most of your time talking about how you’ll handle a film told jointly from Genly and Estraven’s point-of-view, rather than talking much about the cultural “asides.”

What am I looking for?
For this assignment, I’m looking for depth and thoughtfulness in your decisions. I’m looking to see that you have 1) a solid grasp of the novel and 2) a clear, coherent creative vision for your movie/film. I want to see that you are able to justify your creative choices in ways that are well-thought-out and make sense for your vision. Your language does not need to be formal, and I’m not worried about “proper” English (which is a dubious construction, anyway). So long as I can understand you, you’re good to go.