Lost in Adaptation : A Comparative Study of Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" and Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze's "Adaptation"

Abstract

Analyzing and comparing Susan Orlean s non-fiction book "The Orchid Thief" (1999) and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze s film adaptation "Adaptation" (2002), this thesis focuses on narrative aspects and discusses traces of adaptation between the two texts.

As a work of non-fiction literature, "The Orchid Thief"s lack of a sustainable story composes some notable predicaments for a screenwriter, and it is certainly not the type of linear novel narrative that most adaptations spring from. "Adaptation" is a somewhat shameless meta-film, which does not attempt to conceal its self-involvement and the departure from its literary source. In part, as it follows the screenwriter s process of writing its own screenplay, it is an adaptation about adaptation. In this thesis I discuss to what extent "Adaptation" may still be a faithful adaptation of "The Orchid Thief", despite their obvious differences.