Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Advanced Studies of Art, School of Visual Arts, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2
, A Master’s student in cinema, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.30480/dam.2025.5988.2022
Abstract
Throughout the history of cinema, adaptation has been one of its main driving forces, and many cinematic works fall under the category of adaptation. Today, a large volume of global cinematic productions are adaptations. Filmmakers, owing to the intrinsic similarities between literature and cinema in representation and narration—and by relying on the dramatic aspects of literary works—create art in a different medium. As a result, researchers have been drawn toward comparative and interdisciplinary studies in this context. In Iranian cinema, only a limited number of adaptations are observed, mostly drawn from Western dramatic literature, with classical Persian literature having a smaller share. Attar’s The Conference of the Birds, due to its dramatic aspects, has always attracted the attention of writers. In creating a free adaptation of it, Saeed Aghighi drew upon its narrative structure and archetypes in the screenplay for the film Haft Parde (directed by Farzad Motamen). By changing the main events of the story and certain dramatic and thematic elements, Aghighi has managed to create an independent and personal work. Linda Hutcheon considers adaptation to include the transfer of a work from one medium to another. She believes that adaptation is an active and meaning-generating process, the result of which is a creative interpretation stemming from the adaptor’s mentality. This research was conducted using a qualitative and intermedial comparative approach based on Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation theory and with an applied aim. Consequently, the points of similarity and difference between the film Haft Parde and Attar’s The Conference of the Birds have been closely examined. The results indicate that Haft Parde, as a free adaptation of Attar’s work, achieves a creative and parodic interpretation. In order to play an active and dynamic role in this process, the adaptor has recreated the source work in a parodic way by utilizing the audiovisual semantic system of the target medium. To achieve this, he employed irony as a device, which is explored and explained throughout the research. Ultimately, it was concluded that Linda Hutcheon’s views on the concept of adaptation and parody aligned with the aims of this research and led to the aforementioned results.
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