EGMT 1530: Why Do We Keep Telling the Same Stories?

Why do we keep telling the same stories over and over? What is hidden and what is revealed when a story is transported to a different culture, time, setting, narrative perspective, or form? Consider a French moral lesson for young women adapted into a Disney princess, a Romantic opera retold in a film set in modern-day Senegal, or a post-apocalyptic film relocated from 1960s Paris to 1990s New York. In this course we will look at works of fiction, paintings, plays, and music that have been adapted into different cultures and forms. Comparing the two versions, we will consider what these adaptations reveal about cultural differences, societal norms, and power dynamics. We will examine shifts in perspective and voice that reorient these stories and tell the tale through a different lens, interrogating the values of the original work. We will ask how placing a story in a different culture, time, or character changes the understanding of both versions. In a final project, students will produce an adaptation of their own, transforming a story of their choice into a new work of art.