“Oh, the Hunger Games was such a bad movie; it’s such a poor representation of the book.” With every adaptation, there are those who agree with it and those who do not. Adapting Possession proved to be a difficult task. The novel has many themes, complex plots and situations. Transcribing these elements to different media and still preserving its message requires creativity and analysis that transcend the words on the pages. There were plenty of creativity in the projects displayed. They were all centered around the story, but were also different from each other. Some would have made a great priming before reading the novel. Other could have made a useful review after the reading. Nevertheless, all of the adaptation I have seen were a good representation of the book.
There were many projects that employed the use of humor. There are some humor in the actual reading, but the humor in the adaptations worked in a different way. For example, the meme adaptation was funny in the sense that the audience, those who have read Possession, understand them. Still, this adaptation holds true to the story because it retells the same plot with pictures instead of words. There is also the stop-motion of the Glass Coffin. The adaptation is whimsical compared to the one told in the novel. The one told my LaMotte had dark mood and tone. Perhaps using different wording would change that, but the story would still be sad and dark. However, in the stop-motion, the character were unintimidating Lego figures with bright colors and quirky movement. Words alone could not reflect the stop-motion.
Other media for the project included online tools and videos. The mapping of the novel using Google Maps adds a whole new dimension that Byatt could have never achieved through just words. With the adaptation, the user decides where to go and explore in the world of Possession. It’s less linear than the to and from telling of the novel. Also, seeing the actual places corrects and even enhances the reader’s experience of the novel. A visual map illustrates relationship among places much better than just descriptions. Another project that also adds the user dimension is the board game similar to Clue. Here, the relationship between places is more random, but in the sense of the game, still has a purpose. The point of the game is to collect the artifacts and match them up to the location. At the end of the game, the players should all obtain something significant from the novel.
After seeing all of the project, I feel that the adaptations lived up to Possession. With every adaptation, my experiences of the novel improved even though we finished the book weeks ago. Because these adaptations provided a kind of substance to the reader beyond the last page of the novel, I feel they were a success. Perhaps adapting Midnight’s Children would remove or maybe even clarify some of its complexity. A Google map of the places Saleem traveled to or a timeline of actual world event next to one of the novel would greatly improve the reader’s understanding of the novel. There’s also much symbolism in the novel that could be translate into physical objects as well. Adaptations, when done correctly, make more out of what’s already given.
Possession: Uncovering Literature's Secrets 
I agree. It is true that with every adaptation, not everyone likes it or approves of its accuracy.
As a whole, we all got to go through the process of adapting Possession and gaining the knowledge of how hard it is to do so. It is not hard in the way academically, rather it is hard in the sense of what parts to use and how to adapt it in such a way that relatable and accurate. For some, accuracy isn’t their main focus, rather it is just the audience attention. For others, like us for example, are adapting Possession so that we could pick up new pieces that we did not catch while reading the book earlier this semester.
My group and I made a board game for our project because research shows that putting events with a visual causes humans to remember things better. Therefore, all of the projects that I saw on Monday contained a visual which helps remember that specific adaptation and Possession as a whole.
Several groups in my class use board games as their adaptation and they are shown to be very effective in conveying the general ideas of the novel. Being competitive in nature, board games accurately reflect the central theme of the book- the race between the main characters to discover the secret of the relationship between the deceased poets. By engaging in the game, players are likely to develop a strong obsession to possess the clues at various stages in order to win the game. From another perspective, board games facilitate players with a good understanding by using various geographical locations as game cells/stations. This may look trivial, but for me geographical representations help me see the logic of the storyline and also achieve a better understanding of how the story develops.
As a whole, though board games look similar, they are different in the way how they are designed and played. And I would agree that “At the end of the game, the players should all obtain something significant from the novel.”
I agree with your idea that when done correctly, adaptations improve on the already existing material. Your post reminded me of the article we read for last week’s class, titled Death of the Author. In this article, its writer focuses on the fact that the role of the author has changed. While it used to be about writing stories no one had ever read, it has now transformed to taking already written stories and changing them, possibly to the point where the original story is no longer identifiable. Adaptations are just another example of a person who, instead of generating all new and 100% original material, rather takes an already written story and elaborates on it. It is interesting to me to see everyone’s interpretation of the story Possession, and in some cases I think the adaptations are a new AND IMPROVED version of the story. I know I wouldn’t get bored playing a board game instead of reading a story, that’s for sure.
I agree with all of your main points! Successful adaptations are a hard thing to create. I think, after looking through everyone’s posts on the class blog, Dr. Bremm’s classes were extremely successful with their adaptations. The versatility and creativity of all of the projects surprised me! I was amazed with all of the unique ways in which my classmates were able to adapt Possession.
Also, you mention that an adaptation should stray a little from the exact words of the novel, and that the purpose of this would be to enhance the viewer’s experience of the book. Once again my peers have impressed me! Whether it was a comic strip, a Lego stop-motion, or a newscast, the students did a great job with putting their own thoughts into the adaptation. Our own ideas are what enhance the novel for others and I think this is great. I’m glad my own ideas are affecting the other students and what they got from the novel.
Yes, it is true that adaptations of the novels can be bad. The best example would be the Harry Potter series. I read all of the series and watched all of the movies. My thought was that it was awful. I think the main problem was that the visual aspects of the movie didn’t exceed my scope of imagination when I was reading the book, However when adaptations are done correctly, straying a little from the exact words of the novel, adaptations may become very interesting. The purpose of creating adaptions to a book is to enhance the viewer’s experience of the book like you said, not to create a whole new thing that will give the readers other experiences.
In case of Possession, I think that’s a novel that needs as much “third-party” adaptations as possible! I remember there were times when I read that novel and even visualizing and putting things together seemed like such a drag, and from what I’ve seen in all the wonderful adaptations that have been made in mine and the other section, it actually makes me believe that there’s a brighter side to Possession underneath it’s gloomy plot and hopeless characters. And I’m glad that’s something that you’ve also pointed out in this post in the section where you talk about the meme adaptations.