Adaptation: A Postmodernist Approach.

I once was a fan of Postmodernism. Its ideas of nonconformity intrigued me. Seeing reality as a massive product of metaphors forced a poetic obsession out of me. However, I soon found myself maniacly skeptical about EVERYTHING. If everything we've ever come to know as the Truth was created and governed by men of power (the rich white men), then have we been making gods out of THEM? Does this mean that God never existed from the beginning since "God" is a "theory" created by man? After helping Jacques Derrida and his friends destroy language, what do we do after? Do we piece it back together or do we have a wine and cheese party amidst the big mess? What is "it" anyways? Should I believe YOUR definition of "it"? Ahh! Now we're back at the beginning again!

(This was my mind only a couple of months ago ...)

I decided to pack my suitcase and leave Postmodernism behind but no matter how hard I try to walk away, he keeps calling me back.

Professor Petit once asked the class to discuss why novels are deemed better than films (a popular consensus from readers and watchers). Many said that the act of reading is subjective hence our own minds are better tools in projecting colorful, honest, and free flowing images in comparison to the controlled images projected on the big screen. However, many said that films bring out visual symbolisms that invoke further reflection of the film maker's intentions. Some said that novels are better than films and a few others said that they prefer films over novels.

Now going back to Postmodernism:

After much thought, I decided to take a Postmodernist approach to analyzing novels and films. This theory states that language, or any form of discourse, does not have an intrinsic value and reality itself is a giant metaphor. If we decide to look at novels and films from this perspective, it becomes more difficult to suppose that one is better than the other. Both are metaphorical representatives of the author and film maker's reality. To state that the novel is better than the film is to state that the author's reality is better than the film maker's. Then it leaves you questioning which of the two creators are better story-tellers of the Truth. But what is the Truth?

Think about it ...