Uncovering cinematic adaptations of James Joyce's The Dead

The relationship between literature and film is the subject of plentiful analyses and reflections within the general framework of Comparative Literature. A comparison between a literary work and its adaptations shows how filmmakers adhere to the principles of intertextuality. Exploring various adaptations of James Joyce's The Dead (1914) and comparing them against each other are the main objectives of this research. This study examines how John Huston (1987), Travis Mills and William Ivey Long (2013) adapted James Joyce's The Dead (1914) culturally, geopolitically, and sociologically. This study demonstrated that Huston's adaptation was faithful to Joyce's text in terms of character, costume, culture, and language, whereas Mills and Long's adaptation was not fully loyal to Joyce especially in terms of character and culture. However, Mills and Long have attempted to create a language similar to Joyce's. Further, consciousness and interior thoughts as subtle issues precisely shown in the novel were not illustrated wholly in both adaptations. Huston's creativity was maintained in the last scene, picturing Gabriel's monologue, whereas Mills and Long's creativity was shown in creating new postmodern characters and culture.