The value of fidelity in adaptation

Abstract

In response to (1), I set out two distinct senses of fdelity: story fdelity and thematic fdelity. (There are, of course, other senses of fdelity as well.) I then argue, in response to (2), that thematic fdelity, but not story fdelity, is an aesthetic merit in a flm adaptation. The key steps in this argument involve showing that merely preserving the story from one medium to another does not typically involve an aesthetically signifcant accomplishment, whereas preserving a theme across different media does.