SOURCE: Axelrod, Mark. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; or, The Commodification of Form in the Adaptation of Fictional Texts to the Hollywood Cinema.” Literature/Film Quarterly 24, no. 2 (1996): 201-08.

In the following essay, Axelrod states that Hollywood adaptations of works of literature tend to ignore the stylistic nuances of the written word in favor of linear development of the characters and storyline.

When I once asked a film composer friend if he had seen the remake of Les Liaisons Dangereuses he responded with the comment, “No, but I heard the soundtrack.” It was, of course, an ironic response, but as an ironic response it makes an implicit statement on the relationship between cinematic and literary forms as well as cinematic and musical ones. The usual response to the query “have you read such-and-such a novel?” is often “No, but I've seen the movie,” or vice versa, both of...