Transformations Of Roald Dahl’s Novel Matilda Into Movie By Matthew Warchus: An Adaptation Study

Abstract

The research analyzes the adaptation of the novel Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988) into the movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical by Matthew Warchus (2022). The transformation of text (telling) into an audio-visual (showing) highlights differences in the intrinsic elements. The research employs Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation to identify the mode of engagement and motives by adapter. Additionally, Roland Barthes’s mythology was applied to analyze the myths within the intrinsic elements of both works, revealing underlying ideologies. This type of research is a qualitative study and uses a comparative method to analyze the novel and the movie. The collected data come from two sources. The first is from the intrinsic elements in the novel, which are highlighted in the quotations, dialogues, and narrations, which show the differences in the movie. The second is from the movie, which was captured by several scenes in the intrinsic elements that showed the different events from the novel. This research was supported by sources related to the topic, including journal articles, books, news, websites, video interviews, and several theses. This research has two goals. First, to identify the changes of the intrinsic elements of the novel and the movie. Next, I collected the differences between the two, focusing on characterization and plot. After identifying the differences, I applied Roland Barthes's mythology to reveal the ideologies contained in the data. The ideologies revealed by the author and the adapter help address the second goal, which is to find the motives beyond the adaptation. The motives are uncovered using Linda Hutcheon's theory of adaptation. The result of this research showed that the novel and the movie adaptation had differences in intrinsic elements, focusing on characterization and plot. These differing elements brought about different ideologies of the author and the adapter. In the novel, the ideologies included liberal feminism, patriarchy, and liberalism. The movie adaptation, on the other hand, presented ideologies such as feminism, children's education rights, feminism, and contemporary liberalism. In the movie, the adapter emphasized the children’s education rights and highlighted the important role of society, especially educational institutions, in ensuring proper education. The movie depicted the struggle against bullying and discrimination by teachers, with a stronger emphasis on feminism compared to the novel. The addition of new ideologies of the adapter revealed personal and political motives. Additionally, the success of the novel had many editions in various languages and adapted in various mediums, indicated that economic lure is dominant in the adaptation process.