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An adaptation is, in the simplest of terms, the taking of a story’s central storyline, theme,
characters or structure and either moving them to a new medium or, in the case of characters,
moving them to completely new story. (Stam 3-9) An example would be adapting a film from a
book, novella or comic book. An adaptation could also go the other way, a book adapted from a
film. In the case of characters, or sometimes even just the universe of the original work, the best
way to look adaptation is through fanfiction.
Fanfiction is exactly what it looks like, fiction made by fans. Fan is an abbreviated word
for fanatic, and has developed negative connotations over time. (Jenkins, "Get a life!": Fans,
Poachers, Nomads 12) Fans of a particular television show, movie, book, etc. will take it upon
themselves to write their own stories about the characters and sometimes creating new characters
and only using the universe of the original source material. Fan writing builds upon the
interpretive practices of the fan community. (Jenkins 156) These works are, in their own way,
adaptations of the original work. However, there are some differences between fanfiction and
the more rigid classical forms of adaptation. These classical forms generally try to stay very
close to the original sources storyline and plot developments, and, as I said before, fan works do
not necessarily do this.
To give some greater detail in the world of adaptation through fanfiction, I’ll use one
specific source material and discuss it, and a few various fan works based from the original. For
the original work let’s look at the Spider-Man film trilogy. Spider-Man is an interesting case to
look at, because the films themselves are adaptations from a comic book series. So, any
fanfiction based off the films is a second generation adaptation.
The Spider-Man film trilogy was kicked off in 2002 with the film Spider-Man, and was
followed by two sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. The films follow the main
protagonist, Peter Parker, and his life after being bitten by a genetically engineered spider, which
gives him the powers of a spider. Peter becomes the super hero, Spider-Man, of course this only
after his uncle Ben dies at the hands of a mugger that Peter could have stopped.(insert clip)
(Maguire, Robertson and Cliff, Spider-Man)
Peter then learns the harsh lesson, “with great power, comes great responsibility”. This is
perhaps the largest recurring theme in all of the films. In Spider-Man 2, Peter passes on this
lesson to the villain, Doctor Octopus, and convinces him to stop his evil scheme. This happens
again in the third film when Peter conveys the message to his friend, Harry Osborn, so Harry will
give up his lust for vengeance.
An interesting fact is that even though Peter believes deeply in this lesson, he still
struggles with his being Spider-Man. In Spider-Man 2 he decides to stop being Spider-Man,
blatantly ignoring his “great power”. (insert clip) (Maguire and Robertson, Spider-Man 2)
Of course, as with a lot of movies there is a love story that is pervasive in the films. Peter
is in-love with his neighbor, Mary Jane Watson, and all the films explore the love story between
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the two of them. The first two films deal with the two of them becoming a couple, and
confessing their love for one another. In the third film, Peter decides to ask Mary Jane to marry
him, however due to different plot elements, this never happens. They end their relationship at
one point, but seemingly reconcile at the end. (insert clip) (Maguire and Dunst, Spider-Man 3)
The Spider-Man film series is very popular and not just among fans of the comic book
but of general movie goers. Each film has been a box office hit and claimed the title of number
one movie for at least its debuting weekend. While they differ greatly from the original comic
books, they keep the same elements and themes. An example of this would be that in comic
book it’s an irradiated spider that bites Peter, not a genetically altered spider.
Fans have been very pleased and supportive of the films. Being a Spider-Man comic
nerd myself, I have been nothing but pleased by all three of the movies. Even Spider-Man 3,
which is considered by many to be the weakest of the trilogy, still received mainly positive
reviews (cite wiki). This love of the movies has spawned a large number of fanfiction,
specifically a large number of fanvids. I’ll be using two Spider-Man fanvids to illustrate how fan
works relate to the original sources.
In this first video the creator uses a specific song, BitterSweet Symphony, and clips from
the first Spider-Man movie. By using this particular song the creator can convey Peter Parker’s
overall feeling about his gaining of super powers. The powers are a great thing for him to have,
he was a nerd who now has these amazing abilities. But his uncle has also died because Peter
has these powers, at least from Peter’s perspective. And not only has his uncle died but Peter
believes that because of these powers and the dangers that arise from having them, that is various
super villains that want to kill him, he cannot be with the woman he love, Mary Jane. So, the
powers are bitter sweet.
The video changes the order of most of the scenes, creating an almost flashback
experience at the very beginning. While the stories in this video and the original film are very
much the same, they tell the story in very different ways. This video focuses more on Peter’s
inner conflict, whereas the film reaches out to many different areas. Another difference is in this
video the creator parallels Peter with Norman Osborn, the main villain. Through some rather
creative use of matching scenes with song lyrics it appears as though Norman also sees his
powers in a bitter sweet light, and in the movie, well, he’s just insane. This borders on being
what Jenkins called “Moral Realignment”. This is where a villain is made into a protagonist and
he or she is seen in a different light. (Jenkins 168) Norman doesn’t come off as a hero, nor does
he become the protagonist, but he does come off as a more sympathetic villain.(insert clip)
(EccentricFeline)
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This next fanvid is a fan made trailer for Spider-Man 3. This video focuses on the
storyline between Harry Osborn and Peter. It also plays up the focus that the film had on seeking
revenge and asking for forgiveness. The character of Gwen Stacy is completely absent and the
very important character, Eddie Brock who becomes venom, is seen only briefly. The film’s
original score is not used; instead the creator chose their own music to use in the background.
This fanvid does not fall into any of the main categories outlined by Jenkins, at least not in any
solid way. The closest that it comes to is refocalization. This is when a story is shifted away
from the central figures and focused on periphery characters. (Jenkins 165) This fan video
doesn’t do that, but it does refocus the story on the plot between Harry and Peter. In the film the
main storyline is that of the relationship of Peter and Mary Jane. The other plots are secondary
to this, and support it in some way. Whereas this video makes it seem like it is the secondary
plot line. (insert vid) (Regdod89)
Both of these videos are prime examples of fandom. Their respective creators took the
time to edit and create their own individual works. They both draw on a source material and
then shape it to form their own original work. Just like the creators of the movies did, the comic
book version of Spider-Man is very different from the films. The film creators drew off of a
source material, the comics, and changed storylines and sequences of events to tell an original
story. The creators of these two videos did the same thing; therefore, they are adaptations, just
like the films are adaptations of the comic books. The element that separates the two are the
films had to create their own visuals and music to use. Whereas, with fanfiction, and by
extension that includes fanvids, use pre-existing material to create their work. This does not
change the fact that they are adaptations, because they are, they create their own sequence of
events, leave out characters, and change perceptions, just like any adaptation does.
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Works Cited
Jenkins. ""Get a life!": Fans, Poachers, Nomads." n.d. 12.
Jenkins. "Scribbling in the Margins: Fan Reader/Fan Writers." n.d. 156.
Spider-Man 2. Dir. Sam Raimi. Perf. Tobey Maguire and Cliff Robertson. 2004.
Spider-Man 3 Final Trailer (Fan Video) A must watch! Dir. Regdod89. 2007.
Spider-Man 3. Dir. Sam Raimi. Perf. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. 2007.
Spider-Man Fanvid. Dir. EccentricFeline. 2007.
Spider-Man. Dir. Sam Raimi. Perf. Tobey Maguire, Robertson and Cliff. 2002.
Stam, Robert. "Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Adaptation." Stam, Robert and
Alessandra Raengo. Literature and film: A guide to the theory and practice of film adaptation.
Malden: Blackwell, 2005. 3-9.