The Palimpsest of Adaptation in Gothic Historical Dramas

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Description

This paper continues the development of a current project into Gothic Historical Television Dramas, that is television dramas with a historical setting presented through a Gothic mode to emphasise their focus on traumas that are not only historic but which also relate to current issues. The paper will concentrate on the adaptation as a palimpsest, layering up the adapted text with previous adaptations, as well as the layers of the actual history, and the way that that history has been adapted in previous screen versions. The paper will focus on Black Sails (Starz, 2014-2017), which layers in a prequel to Treasure Island with the actual history of piracy in the early 18th century, with modern representations of piracy (particularly those influenced by the Pirates of the Caribbean film series) in order to present a complex narrative of structural inequality and trauma, and resistance to those structures. In drawing on these multiple cultural references in this way, it not only offers a sense of depth and familiarity in the setting, but also signals to the way that the series itself deals with the importance of both multiple narratives and with who has control of the dominant narrative as aspects of power.
Period28 Feb 2024
Event titleBAFTSS Adaptation Special Interest Group Work in Progress Event
Event typeOther
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Adaptation
  • Gothic
  • Television drama
  • Historical drama

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