AdAptAtion As ConneCtion
41
co-adaptation and evolution culture constantly redefines itself while allowing for and negotiating multiple viewpoints. Not only do experience and
production have to be considered as actions rather than as reactions, the
Pragmatist ideal of “democratic art” also understands action as interaction
and reception as coproduction.
Assuming a Pragmatist concept of processual truth as continuous social
practice, any adaptation can be seen as producing its specific truth within
a larger network of agencies. HBO’s TV series True Blood may serve as an
example to illustrate this idea, since, as the title suggests, it self-reflexively
addresses the contingent processes involved in defining what constitutes
reality. So, what is “true” in True Blood? The vampire story focused around
Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery novels of
which this show is a serial adaptation, the additional HBO material, or the
fanfiction and computer games that extrapolate the transmedial narrative
around the core text of the TV series? A Pragmatist reading of these interacting narratives would argue that they are all “true,” creating a more or less
coherent fictional storyworld aimed at enhancing the illusion of reality.
Interestingly, True Blood, on a different, more metaphorical level, openly
commits to aligning with what Flannery O’Connor has called “grotesque
realism.” 36 It explores the “real” or transgressive side of human behavior
to address a truth that is beyond what has been shown on TV before (after
all, it’s HBO, not television) and stretches the limits of reality in order to
show the extreme probabilities of our ordinary lives. This truth claim may
seem to be a paradox in view of the highly fictional makeup of the entire
narrative. The coexistence of different levels of realism, however, is one of
the self-reflexive programs of convergence culture, allowing for multiple
possibilities of reception, enjoyment, and participatory engagement.
Two implications of a Pragmatist notion of adaptation are especially
interesting. First, a processual notion of truth means that, as William James
holds, “there can be no difference which doesn’t make a difference.” 37 Apart
from undermining an essentialist assumption of a “core narrative,” James
makes an explicit statement on the recursive nature of adaptation processes.
Not only do environmental differences trigger adaptational differences, but
this mechanism also works the other way round. Differences that occur in
36 Flannery O’Connor, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction.” In Collected Works,
ed. by Sally Fitzgerald (New York: Library of America, 1988), 813–821.
37 William James, “Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results” [1898], in The Pragmatism
Reader: From Peirce Through the Present, ed. by Robert B. Talisse and Scott F. Aikin (Princeton
University Press, 2011), 67.
41
co-adaptation and evolution culture constantly redefines itself while allowing for and negotiating multiple viewpoints. Not only do experience and
production have to be considered as actions rather than as reactions, the
Pragmatist ideal of “democratic art” also understands action as interaction
and reception as coproduction.
Assuming a Pragmatist concept of processual truth as continuous social
practice, any adaptation can be seen as producing its specific truth within
a larger network of agencies. HBO’s TV series True Blood may serve as an
example to illustrate this idea, since, as the title suggests, it self-reflexively
addresses the contingent processes involved in defining what constitutes
reality. So, what is “true” in True Blood? The vampire story focused around
Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery novels of
which this show is a serial adaptation, the additional HBO material, or the
fanfiction and computer games that extrapolate the transmedial narrative
around the core text of the TV series? A Pragmatist reading of these interacting narratives would argue that they are all “true,” creating a more or less
coherent fictional storyworld aimed at enhancing the illusion of reality.
Interestingly, True Blood, on a different, more metaphorical level, openly
commits to aligning with what Flannery O’Connor has called “grotesque
realism.” 36 It explores the “real” or transgressive side of human behavior
to address a truth that is beyond what has been shown on TV before (after
all, it’s HBO, not television) and stretches the limits of reality in order to
show the extreme probabilities of our ordinary lives. This truth claim may
seem to be a paradox in view of the highly fictional makeup of the entire
narrative. The coexistence of different levels of realism, however, is one of
the self-reflexive programs of convergence culture, allowing for multiple
possibilities of reception, enjoyment, and participatory engagement.
Two implications of a Pragmatist notion of adaptation are especially
interesting. First, a processual notion of truth means that, as William James
holds, “there can be no difference which doesn’t make a difference.” 37 Apart
from undermining an essentialist assumption of a “core narrative,” James
makes an explicit statement on the recursive nature of adaptation processes.
Not only do environmental differences trigger adaptational differences, but
this mechanism also works the other way round. Differences that occur in
36 Flannery O’Connor, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction.” In Collected Works,
ed. by Sally Fitzgerald (New York: Library of America, 1988), 813–821.
37 William James, “Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results” [1898], in The Pragmatism
Reader: From Peirce Through the Present, ed. by Robert B. Talisse and Scott F. Aikin (Princeton
University Press, 2011), 67.