Date of Completion

2019

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

English

Thesis Type

Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors

First Advisor

Eric Lindstrom

Second Advisor

Daniel Fogel

Third Advisor

Alec Ewald

Keywords

English, transmedia, adaptation, web-series, internet

Abstract

Adaptation studies has been a part of film studies since the beginning of cinema itself. However, there is a need for a push in a new direction to incorporate and acknowledge internet-based, web-series adaptations. The purpose of this paper was to come to terms with the current status of adaptation studies as a field and to determine how to best incorporate internet-based media into the previously established framework. Combining a study of adaptation studies with a study of transmedia and the specificities of internet-based media, I looked at two web-series adaptations of classic novels: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, an adaptation of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Using these two case studies, I outlined the distinctive characteristics of web-series adaptations - their benefits and their drawbacks - as a means of showing how adaptation studies could benefit from an expansion to incorporate the new media our technology is producing.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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