"Erich von Stroheim attempted a literal adaptation of Frank Norris’ novel “McTeague” in 1924 with his film, “Greed.” The resulting film was over sixteen hours long. A cut of the film only eight hours long, then one running to four hours, appeared. Finally the studio itself cut the film to around two hours, resulting in a finished product that was entirely incoherent. Since that time, few directors have been foolish enough to put everything in a novel into a film."

ReAdaptation: the book series is an ongoing work, evolving chapter by chapter. Intrigued by Erich von Stroheim’s quandary, I investigate the process of adapting one form to another by reinterpreting popular narratives through a process of elision and (re)animation. In an attempt to understand how a novel is transformed from written word to an audio/visual cinematic event, I readapted movies that had already been adapted from books. I omit and compress the narrative by using the book itself as the guide to the length of the new hybrid movie. The two forms are in constant dialogue: the number of pages in the book determines the video duration while the cinematic image conceals the text. With these specific constraints I create a mutated hybrid form of popular culture, giving birth to a creation that dwells amongst the robot, android, and misunderstood creature.