Filming the lost generation : F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and the art of cinematic adaptation /

Abstract

Lost Generation authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway incorporate autobiography into their writing. Through cinematic adaptations of the authors' fiction, viewers can see how filmmakers and actors integrate their own experiences into the authors' self-portrayals. This phenomenon creates a cycle of literary celebrity---a ouroboros---in which the authors' lives and cultural reputations become intertwined with that of those who adapt their works.

In order to determine how film encourages the cycle of literary celebrity over time, a comprehensive list of major motion pictures inspired by Fitzgerald and Hemingway is examined. The goal is to determine what circumstances produce the most cohesive film adaptations of fiction by authors with well-known public personas. A six-question approach is used to signify an adaptation in which the artistic visions of the original author and film production team converge in a manner that seems thematically consistent and contextually plausible.

This approach advocates incorporation of authorial autobiography and temporally relevant historical, political, psychological, and socio-cultural details as the primary source for filmable content outside the original text. Consideration is given to the effectiveness of three adaptation styles: faithful conversion, updated interpretation, and thematic revision. Two new film treatments are provided to suggest how cohesive cinematic adaptations might be developed for future markets.