Something that is fascinating to me is the life, beyond their original inception, that many books, films, songs or stage plays end up with. Sometimes the original material is completely eclipsed by its offspring, (for better or worse). Sometimes it’s unfairly tainted by association, and other times a new spin on it underlines a virtue previously unappreciated. As an example, the Leonard Cohen song 'Hallelujah' is amazing, but I didn’t really understand it until I heard John Cale’s interpretation. After his sparse and heartbreaking rendition uncovered what was precious and beautiful about it, I was able to enjoy Cohen’s original on a level I hadn’t previously.

Sometimes the original mutates and is translated into another medium. The Producers—a film about a musical based on a musical, based on a film, is a twisty example, but it could be as simple as The Godfather films vs. The Godfather books. Or how about Sean Penn’s Indian Runner ‘inspired by’ the song Highway Patrolman by Bruce Springsteen. Which is generally more highly regarded or fondly remembered? And why is that?

Another intriguing wrinkle in the journey of these pieces of pop-culture, for me, is when equally or at least comparable or interestingly juxtaposed artistic forces adapt, re-imagine, or just generally monkey with each other’s creations. Sometimes the results are amazing and sometimes they are astoundingly bad, but whatever the outcome, the process and my anticipation of the end product provide endless fodder for speculation. 

Coming up soon we’ve got Ben Affleck’s film The Town, (about workaday bank robbers in Boston), based on the novel Prince Of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. Books get turned into films all the time, but what catches my eye here is co-screenwriter Peter Craig who is quite a good novelist himself. Minor stakes, you might say, nothing on the level of William Faulkner adapting Raymond Chandler’s work, (and which do you love more, the book or Bogey?), or Chandler’s adapting James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity for Billy Wilder, (now how ‘bout that one?), but as a screenwriter and prose-writer myself, (and I’ve done some adapting—it’s a strange feeling, I was honored and horrified at the same time), these pairings fascinate me.

What other mutations/adaptations do you like? Which ones do you hate? What artist juxtapositions stand out?

Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.