Case Studies of Film Adaptation
text: Lolita (Nabokov, 1955)
screenplay: Lolita (Nabokov, 1961)
Some films, such as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and The Color Purple, are good case studies for changes in meaning and intent in cooperation with the original authors. Kubrick's adaptation of Lolita, however, offers insight into the sometimes contentious process of reinterpreting a work. While the film and book are both excellent and are worthy of consideration as works of art, the story of the process of the adaptation is as interesting as the texts themselves. This case study touches on issues of authorship, fidelity, and genre.
The credits for the film list Nabokov as the screenwriter, but Kubrick departed so significantly from the author's work that Nabokov published his own version of the Lolita screenplay. The explanation he offers for doing so in the Foreword to the screenplay is "not in pettish refutation of a munificent film but purely as a vivacious variant of an old novel."
However, in another part of the Foreword, Nabokov refers to his frustration with the experience of attempting to adapt the novel. "When adapting Lolita to the speaking screen [Kubrick] saw my novel in one way, I saw it in another-that's all, not can one deny that infinite fidelity may be an author's ideal but can prove a producer's ruin." Nabokov's complaint describes the insurmountable distinction between the two media; no matter how faithful the screenplay is to the source text, the film will not be the book. The author must concede his/her personal control.
Nabokov's most insightful admission about the process of authorial control in adaptation is also found in his Foreword where he describes his detestation of cooperative work such as theater. He explains that he would be tyrannical as a director so as to allow a minimum of control and keep others from altering his vision of the productions. (Interestingly, this is reminiscent of Kubrick's reputation as a director.) Nabokov then parallels his own tendency toward individual control (and that of the novelist) with his writing of the screenplay.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
Internet
Movie Database Site
Christopher MacGowan, "Kubrick's
Lolita" One of 'Those Foreign Films'"
This article synthesizes textual and contextual analysis of
the authorial struggle over Lolita. The piece serves to balance the debate between
Nabokov and Kubrick, and it emphasizes the explicit alterations made between the text and
the film.
Part of Northern Virginia Community College's Dogwood Project.
This page is copyright © 2000, Bridget Robin Pool.
Last Modified Monday, January 29, 2001