Intermedial variations: adaptation as comic transposition and as animation of the cultural context

Abstract

This paper aims to observe variations in similar intermediatic productions; therefore, we analyze two episodes from The Simpsons, E1 T6 (1994), Bart of Darkness, and E20 T14 (2009), In the Name of the Grandfather. The first one is based the film Rear Window, by Alfred Hitchcock, and the homonymous short story, by Cornell Woolrich, besides including references to the novel and film Heart of Darkness. The second one is based on information about Irish culture found in many writings, among them the short stories by James Joyce and the works by Jonathan Goldman, and, as references, the autobiography Proved Innocent and the film In the Name of the Father (adaptation of the autobiography) and the novel and film Angela´s Ashes. To discuss this network of relationships, we make use of the terminology proposed by Gérard Genette (2003), and the studies about adaptation by Brian McFarlane (1996) and Irina Rajewsky (2012), respectively.