Investigating adaptation shifts: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland vs. Alice: Madness Returns

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the changes that occurred between Lewis Carroll’s canonical novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its adapted video game version, Alice: Madness Returns by treating adaptation as a form of intersemiotic and functional translation (Gottlieb,2005). In order to conduct the analysis, the interdisciplinary model of adaptation shifts proposed by Perdikaki(2017a) is used. This model is chosen because it is the first one to offer a systematic analysis of changes that occur in adaptations. Although the model was developed for film adaptations, Perdikaki(2017a) proposes the application of this model to different genres and adaptation types. In line with her suggestion, this study applies the model of adaptation shifts to the above-mentioned video game, by treating it as an audiovisual product and a multimedium text. The analysis is conducted with a special emphasis on the descriptive component of this model where shifts can be observed since this category investigates the factors that are independent of the text type. As a result, it is concluded that adaptation shifts are observable on the descriptive level such as the plot structure, narrative techniques, characterization, and setting and that these shifts are observable through modifications and modulations; molding the adapted videogame version of the original work. This study also sets out to be one of the initial studies that show the applicability of this model to a different genre and adapted text type.