Pulping Fictions

the long version

Taking Quentin Tarantino's dictionary definition of 'pulp fiction' as its starting point, Pulping Fictions explores the unease with which film and television adaptations are often greeted, investigating the changing status of 'canonical' and 'non-canonical' texts in the increasingly blurred interface between literature and media studies. Branagh's film of Henry V, the filming of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Angela Carter's adaptability from book to screen are examined. The transference of the grand narratives of history into theme park youth culture is explored via Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and the folk-myth rendition of Mel Brooks's 'irreverent' Robin Hood: Men in Tights. The notion of 'planning' is examined in the evolution of Neil Jordan's film of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and the exploitation of textual/cinematic strategies is revealed in Sally Potter's adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. The BBC's decision to film Middlemarch in Stamford is considered and, concluding the volume, charges against Tarantino for exploiting the banal and vulgar tastes of mass culture are refuted in a reading of his Pulp Fiction.