Reference no: EM133261754

In the last section, you explored the three thematic focal points that I identified as major subject interests in the novel. In your discussion of the three adaptations, I will ask each group to discuss how these subject interests are treated in predominantly the two major adaptations by Tarkovsky and Soderberg. You may make relevant brief references to the teleplay, but I want you to focus on the major cinematic adaptations. Unlike the Shining adaptations, both Soderbergh's and Tarkovsky's are thoroughly engaged in the original story and with the telling of it. Since we are not discussing the issue of fidelity and I have made the theoretical assertion that simply by dealing with the realities of intermediality between the written and the visual/audial mediums, the stories of any cinematic adaptation will be changed. Beyond that, there are also the choices made by the adapters in plot sequence, omissions, and additions to original events and characters that change the meaning being communicated as a story. I remind you that I will always refer to stories as the meaning communicated and received from a narrative and not simply the elements of discourse, such as plot and character. I would like to see what you have to say about the changes in meaning that occur in each of the Tarkovsky and Soderbergh adaptations.

Discussion Prompt: This group should focus on the novel's interest in humankind's exploration of space and encounter with non-human intelligence. Of all the aliens that have been contemplated in science fiction narratives (from Star Trek to Alien), the nature of the alien in Solaris is significantly different. What does the novel have to say about the human need to explore the unknown and what is in the nature of how humanity deals with the differences that it encounters? In other words, what does the novel have to say about our nature as human beings? Extra credit for those who can make significant references to what is revealed in Kelvin's research on the history of Solaris and the Solarists found in the volumes of Hughes' and Eugel's Historia Solaris. How is this prompt answered regarding the two cinematic adaptations? I will value most your ability to discuss both adaptations simultaneously and in reference to the source novel.