“I just thought you’d like to hear it from me; this is the Face, it's no great Mystery:” understanding authority in Paul Thomas Anderson’s "There Will Be Blood"
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Date
2011-01-05T21:21:14Z
Authors
Hughes, Joel
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Abstract
This thesis explores the question of adaptation in relation to Paul Thomas Anderson's film There Will Be Blood and Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!. I argue, the reason adaptation studies has not necessarily moved beyond its obsession with fidelity is because theorists have neglected to understand a larger, more general, film going audience does not participate in perpetuating the academic theories that would do so. I then examine There Will Be Blood and its self-awareness of its relation to literature and its use of Upton Sinclair's Oil!. Finally, this line of inquiry leads me to conclude that There Will Be Blood disavows a notion of authority that would always make the adapted book better than the film.
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Keywords
film, adaptation, Paul Thomas Anderson, Upton Sinclair, literature