The Last Word on Adaptation

So why all the sprawl? Well, the answer to that is right out in the open. It's in the title itself. The film is called Adaptation. It isn't just the adaptation of nature. It isn't just Charlie Kaufman's adaptation to his role as screenwriter. It isn't just Susan Orlean's adaptation from New York journalist to adulteress, drug user, and attempted murderer. Even though all these things are true, the answer is much simpler. It's about adapting a book into a movie.

If I had to boil what this movie is about down to a single word it would be, "writing." Normally movies have a difficult time being about general subject. Brokeback Mountain is not about homosexuality, it's about star crossed lovers, a story older than Romeo and Juliet. Million Dollar Baby is not about euthanasia, it's about what a champion will do to win. Lord of the Rings is not about monsters and magic, it's about a small man doing everything he can to save himself from corruption. Homosexuality, euthanasia, monsters and magic are all just techniques that are used to tell much more universal stories.

All the sprawl, the change from a rambling, disjointed movie to one that follows a strict plot, the change in characters, everything is to show how one can go about adapting a book to a movie. It's right there in front of us. The scenes that Charlie describes (during scenes of writing!) we all actually get to see. Kaufman jerking off to the book jacket picture of Susan Orlean? It's there. The opening sequence of a lifeless planet? There. The last time we see Charlie, driving away, his voice over is describing the very scene we are seeing, all except the last shot of flowers.

Whereas Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby, and Lord of the Rings tell universal stories using different subject matter, Adaptation tells us about the process of writing. The tacked on, Hollywood plot is a technique to tell us about what it's like to write.

A final note, on Adaptation. It is not the only movie to tackle the subject of writing. I need to add another film to my to-do list, Naked Lunch, possibly my favorite movie about writing.