This course will explore the way different texts have been adapted from page to screen, examining the mechanisms by which one form is adapted into another. We will look at a wide variety of original sources, from classics by Austen, Shakespeare and Stoker to more modern texts by Stephen King and Annie Proulx. We will seek to understand why some adaptations become much-loved classics while others are panned for failing to capture the magic of the original. And finally, students will have a go at adapting a text themselves, working in groups to convert prose into a film script.
Adaptation: From Page to Screen
Overview
Programme details
Course starts Wednesday 30 September 2026
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Wednesdays, 4.30-6.30pm.
Week 1: What is Adaptation? An introduction to methods
Week 2: Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet and its adaptations
Week 3: Stage to Screen - adapting the plays War Horse and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
Week 4: Extending a short story to a full-length film - Brokeback Mountain and Stand By Me.
Week 5: The Classic novel - adaptations of Les Liaisons Dangereuses: Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont and Cruel Intentions.
Week 6: Adaptations of Alice - We will look at Alice as an example of a character who exists beyond her original text.
Week 7: Practical workshop session – class members work in groups to adapt a text
Week 8: Austen on screen
Week 9: Classic Horror - Versions of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula on screen.
Week 10: Adaptations gone wrong, what didn’t work and why
Recommended reading
Recommended reading is optional and you are not required to purchase these books to study this course.
Library facilities
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Library, part of the Bodleian Libraries, for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are also welcome to use the Library for reference.
- More information about the Library can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website.
- This guide for Weekly Class students also provides further information.
Preparatory reading
- Film and literature : an introduction and reader / Corrigan
- Adaptation : studying film and literature / Desmond and Hawkes
- True to the spirit : film adaptation and the question of fidelity / Monaco
Certification
Academic credit
Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS Points)
Please note, students who do not register for assessment and accreditation during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun. If you wish to gain credit from completing this course you must register to do so before the course starts.
Only those who have registered for assessment and accreditation will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard. Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.
Learn more about the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee for assessment and accreditation.
Digital certificate of completion
Students who are registered for assessment and accreditation and pass their final assignment will also be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Information on how to access the digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course attended. You will be able to download the certificate and share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course fee (with no assessment) | £315.00 |
| Assessment and Accreditation fee | £60.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses
Tutor
Mrs Kiri Walden
Kiri is the author of three books about the history of film and entertainment in Britain. British Film Studios (2013, Bloomsbury), Entertaining the Troops (2019, Bloomsbury) and Peeping Tom (2020, Liverpool University Press). She has been teaching film and cultural studies for the department for over a decade. Courses she has taught include Science Fiction on Screen: A History of the Future, Inspired by New York, Great American Film Directors, Hitchcock, An Introduction to Horror Film, European Film since 2020, and Cronenberg & Lynch.
Kiri has experience working both behind and in front of the camera, having spent many years working in the film industry. She is an experienced lecturer, and has given public talks at venues including the National Archivies, British Film Institute and The Hay Festival.
Course aims
This course aims to enable participants to explore adaptation as an interdisciplinary field of study through the perspectives of English Literature and Film Studies, and to develop an understanding of the relationships between written texts and their screen adaptations.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will have been given the opportunity to:
- develop an understanding of the processes through which a written text is adapted for the screen
- engage with key approaches in film and literary criticism, including film theory, genre studies and auteur criticism
- explore the production and interpretation of film adaptations through the analysis of selected texts and films
- develop an understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which films are produced and received
Teaching methods
Each class will include short presentations which may make use of PowerPoint, film clips, sound excerpts and hand outs. These will introduce the students to a topic before moving on to class discussions and smaller group activities that will encourage the students to engage in class discourse and develop and express their own opinions in an academic context.
Preparatory reading is encouraged (see reading list) but course reading will be given out in weekly hand outs throughout the course as optional additional reading.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- Identify how and why a single text can inspire vastly different film adaptations.
- Recognise common problems faces by film makers when adapting a text into a film.
- Discuss an individual adaptation in the wider context of the genre to which it belongs, and the contemporary society which it reflects.
- Understand the methods by which a story told in one format can be adapted into another
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Application
How to enrol
Please use the 'Book now' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.
How to register for accreditation and assessment
To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.
Level and demands
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.