Raffaele Chiarulli

In the wake of a recent essay on the theory of screenwriting (S. Maras, Screenwriting. History, Theory and Practice. London-New York: Wallflower Press, 2009), questions concerning the debate on the nature, the regulations and the goals of “Screenwriting” and the dialogue between narratology and other fields of Film Studies are encouraged...

When cinema deals with bioethical issues, science fiction is inevitably involved, being a genre that intrinsically can be considered a thinking laboratory, as evidenced by an extensive number of titles – including novels and movies – which are now widely used by bioethicists, sociologists and philosophers even more than film scholars themselves...

RIASSUNTO Sulla scia di alcuni tra i più quotati studi americani di drammaturgia e narratologia applicati alla sceneggiatura (Lajos Egri, Dara Marks, Chris Vogler, Linda Seger), e con il filtro di un importante studio sul film biografico (Vite da film di Francesco Arlanch), il saggio si occupa di un caso emblematico di ‘adattamento da due fonti’: un film biografico che usa come filtro intermedio ma non unico un’opera teatrale sullo stesso argomento. L’analisi verte sulle modalità con cui è costruito drammaturgicamente il film Finding Neverland (2004) a partire dalla biografia di James M. Barrie e dal testo teatrale di Allan Knee The Man Who Was Peter Pan (1998) e, mettendo in evidenza le strategie narrative e le tecniche di adattamento usate dagli autori della pièce e del film, giunge a una valutazione critica rispetto alle modifiche del contenuto verificatesi con l’ultima trasposizione. SUMMARY In the wake of some of the most renowned American dramaturgy and narration studies applied to screenplay (Lajos Egri, Dara Marks, Chris Vogler, Linda Seger), and with the filter of an important study on the biographical film (Vite da film by Francesco Arlanch), the essay deals with an emblematic case of ‘adaptation from two sources’: the biography of an artist and a play inspired to it, the latter being a frame (not the only one) through which the movie has interpreted historical facts. The analysis focuses on the dramaturgical making of the film Finding Neverland (2004), from the biography of James M. Barrie and the play by Allan Knee, The Man Who Was Peter Pan (1998). The analysis also highlights the narrative strategies and adaptation techniques used by the authors of the play and film and comes to a critical evaluation with respect to content changes occurred with the last transposition.