Overview

A psychoanalytic approach to screen adaptation that examines the role of deep-rooted desire evident in the persisting media practice of adaptation from literature to film. The prevalence of adaptations in cinema – from literary texts – is striking. What does this lead us to think about adaptation? This open access book answers this question from a psychoanalytic perspective by exploring the psychic dynamics underlying screen adaptation as a practice, offering an intriguing window into the desire for adaptation beyond semiotic parameters and industrial factors. Through a series of examples – from Hamlet and Hitchcock, to Kubrick’s The Shining, and Jonze’s Adaptation – the book theorizes film adaptations in relation to their originals. Drawing on the theories of Freud and Lacan, Hee-seung Irene Lee rigorously explains psychoanalytic concepts such as desire, the drive, the Oedipus complex, the uncanny, and anxiety, which are prevalent and remain useful in the vast field of cultural studies. As a result, readers can easily follow the book’s case studies of canonical film adaptations with interest. At the same time, the author attempts to challenge, expand, and renew the usual definition of film adaptation. This fosters interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophical and psychoanalytic speculations on subjectivity and frames adaptation not merely as a specific mode of filmmaking but a universal, primordial task of every speaking being. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr. Hee-seung Irene Lee (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:  

9798765138380

Pages:   256
Publication Date:   02 October 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: Screen Adaptation, a Symptom of Culture 1. The Real of a Text and the Task of the Adapter · Lost in Adaptation · The Task of the Adapter · From the Debris of the Tower of Babel · The Real of a Text 2. The Oedipus Complex in Film Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet · The Ghost of the Dead Author · Super-ego vs. Super Ego · Reading Hamlet through the Oedipus Complex · The Man Who Has Lost the Way of His Desire · Desire in Film Adaptations of Hamlet · Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet: The Oedipal Drama of Shadows · Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet: A Close-Up on the Oedipus Complex · Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet: The Dream of a Complete Hamlet · The Play’s the Thing 3. The Resistance to the Originals in Hitchcock’s Adaptations · Texts of Doubt: Uncanny, Unpleasure, Anxiety, and the Mother · The Uncanny at Home · Unpleasure and Anxiety · The Mother and the Gaze · The Function of the Negative · Hitchcock’s Rebecca without Rebecca · Adaptation in Reverse: The Birds 4. The Thing (das Ding) that Speaks of Itself in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining · Re-presentation of das Ding · The Play of the Thing · The objet petit a in the Shadow of das Ding · The Maze That Is a Monster 5. Traversing the Phantasy in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation · An Allegory of Adaptation · The Original Phantasy and Its Adaptations · Adaptation in vitro · The Traversal of the Phantasy Conclusion: Adaptation, the Metaphor for Subjectivity Bibliography Index

Reviews

""Incisive, decisive, powerfully written and sustained, this book examines one of the most PH important media issues of our post-Darwinian epoch: adaptation. And it does so from a unique perspective, offering a psychoanalytically-informed inquiry into the adapter's deranging desire to touch on the origins themselves."" --Justin Clemens, Associate Professor in English and Theater Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia ""Film Adaptation and the Real is a book we have all been waiting for: a psychoanalytic investigation of film adaptations of literature. Drawing on key insights from Freudian and Lacanian theory, Lee shows us that adaptation is central to human subjectivity. Through its case studies, from Hamlet to Hitchcock, this book will dispel the worn-out criticism that the filmic adaptations are inferior compared to the original work. A truly wonderful read!"" --Matthew Flisfeder, Professor of Rhetoric and Communications, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Author Information

Hee-seung Irene Lee is Lecturer in School of Cultures, Languages, and Linguistics at University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her teaching and research areas include adaptation studies, art-house cinema, critical theory, psychoanalysis, and contemporary Korean popular culture.

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