A Kick-Ass Story

A good number of films are adapted from literary pieces. Film and literature are able to convey views and themes in different manners. Literature can create it's own reality in our heads, while films are more literal and require much less of our input. A filmmaker or screenwriter cannot simply replicate the actual content of the source, but can attempt to come as close to it as possible.

There are three types of adaptations: loose, faithful and literal. A loose adaptation is, at times, barely an adaptation. The screenwriter will take one element of the original story and develop in in their own way. Sometimes they will take a character or a situation and create their own story off of it. Faithful adaptations attempt to more closely re-create the literary source material. The screenwriter will do their best to capture the spirit of the source material. Literal adaptations are the most strict form of adapting there is. As the title of the term suggests, the screenplay would be a very literal and close adaptation of every aspect of the story presented in the literature form. Literal adaptations are usually only found in stage plays. With the way filmmaking works, it is impossible to properly utilize space and time to create a literal adaptation.

Kick-Ass is a film adapted from a 2008 graphic novel of the same name. The story is about a boy named Dave Lizewski. Dave is the typical high school loser; he isn't popular, isn't particularly good at anything and obsesses over comic book characters. In an attempt to mak his like a little more exciting, he decides to start fighting local crime under the name "Kick-Ass". After reading the source material belonging to the film Kick-Ass, I would definitely classify the film as a faithful adaptation. The film was a re-creation of the graphic novel in filmic terms. After reading the graphic novel, it could be confidently concluded that the film did a great job of capturing the spirit of the book. The screenwriters and director clearly made some changes in the small amount of time between the production of the novel and the film, but each change still carries the same weight or importance that was established by the novel. For example, the violence and gore in the novel is very over-the-top. The novel was a lot more violent in comparison to the film. While the violence was toned down compared to the novel, the film still captures the overall spirit of the violence found in it's source material. In comparison to many other films, Kick-Ass would still be considered a violent film. The introduction of light and fun music helped keep the violence from turning the tone of the film extremely dark. So, as said before, the film translated the spirit of the novel onto the screen. Kick-Ass is a great example of a faithful adaptation.

In writing a screenplay for an adaptation, the most important consideration is whether or not they are able to do justice to the source material. Some screenplays adapted from widely praised pieces of literature are usually highly scrutinized. The screenwriter must be sure that the source material can be translated well on screen. The writers of Kick-Ass went into the project knowing it would be made into a film, and that method worked. The screenwriter was able to create a film that will be entertaining to the masses without dissapointing the fans of the novel.