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The processes that underlie the creation of operatic adaptations are similar to those of film adaptations, yet the language and discourse that is used in the two fields is considerably different. In opera, the adaptation is viewed as being the notated music score which contains the libretto. In film, however, discourse related to film adaptation tends to focus on the qualities of the production of the screenplay, not on the screenplay itself, viewing the film as being based on the source text instead of it being based on the screenplay. While these differences may be due to contractual issues – screenplays involving only one film production, operas involving as many stage productions as requested – and similar cultural values as those ascribed to composers also being ascribed to directors instead of the screenplay writers, it nevertheless provides a reason to consider the implications that the operatic adaptations have for the understanding of other media, including but not limited to screen-based media. This dissertation therefore argues for a reassessment of product creation processes as viewed by Adaptation Studies and Intermedial Studies through the differentiation of medial patterns of operas in intermedial and intramedial contexts. A four-phase model divided into conception, adaptation/composition, production, and reception is proposed that could realign adaptation research away from a predominantly qualitative approach that combines reception based on the aesthetics of a production, to combine quantitative and qualitative methods that also examine the text-types created by adapters. In doing so, research and education in English Studies would benefit from clearer theoretical foundations that do not mostly link a source text with the aesthetic qualities of the production, but with the textual links to the structural conventions of the medial form involved. It is proposed here that the concept of fidelity to a source text, if it must be used in research or in education, should be discussed in various forms: ...
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