Prof. Jessica Matthews: Outlander as Cable TV Series
Lights! Camera! Adaptation! Outlander as Cable TV Series
(Jessica Matthews, George Mason University)
“Watched” any good romances lately? Probably not. The most recent adaptations of book to screen involve mysteries (Gone Girl), science fiction (The Hunger Games and Divergent), and fantasy (Game of Thrones and The Hobbit). In the summer of 2014, however, producer Ron D. Moore, of Battlestar Galactica fame, debuted the first half of his 16-episode adaptation of one of the most popular romance novels ever published: Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. The first eight episodes aired on the Starz network in August and September. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with much praise heaped upon the lavish production, which Moore shot entirely on location in Scotland, and the stellar performances of the lead characters and supporting cast. What more could a fan of the book want from a cable series adaptation?
Apparently, fans did want more: they wanted the romance. In adapting Outlander to suit the genre demands of a cable series, Moore and his writers shifted the narrative from a hero-centric romance to a feminist historical adventure. Doing so meant suppressing the virility of the marquee player of the Outlander series, the heroic 18th-century Highlander, Jamie Fraser, and emphasizing the quest of the time traveling heroine, Claire, to return to her 20th century life and the husband who waits for her there. When the series went on hiatus in September 2014, the Outlander fan groups found themselves with a sense of unease: thrilled to see the novel they love come to life, but missing what made them love the novel in the first place: the charming, cocky, confident hero and his courtship of an unconventional woman. “Where is Jamie?” was the most common refrain, followed closely by “Where is the romance?”
This paper explores whether the elements readers expect in romance fiction can survive in a cable television series. Does the requirement for an HEA or HFN deny a cable series the suspense it needs to maintain viewer interest? Must the focus on courtship be subdued in order to attract the male audience needed to keep a cable series alive? In other words, can a romance remain a romance and be a successful cable television series? If Starz’ Outlander series is any indication, the answer is no, and yet it depends on fans of the novel to promote it as it competes for a viewership in an increasingly crowded field of cable series.
Relying on over a year’s worth of conversations in the Outlander social media universe that exploded in size when the cable series was first announced in the early summer of 2013, this paper analyzes how the marketing blitz of the series’ key players, to include executive producers, writers, actors, and Gabaldon herself, sought to influence the highly literate Outlander fan base to accept the narrative shift from romance to historical adventure.
Such conversations reveal the myriad negotiations readers make as they come to terms with the transformation of “their” book by a creative artist other than the author. For readers of the popular romance, readers who often have a strong attachment to the novel’s hero and heroine and more direct contact with the novel’s author, this transformation generates joy and apprehension, as well as support and outrage. This fan reaction in social media reveals insights about romance readers’ interpretive processes, as well as their desire to protect that process when confronted with a significant challenge to it from a film or television adaptation.
http://teachmetonight.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/romance-iv-outlander-adaptation-and-art.html