This course will look at how a number of Dickens' stories have been variously adapted across the decades. We will focus on specific sections from Dickens' work and then compare and contrast with how the film adaptations treat and adapt character and plot. In doing so, we will also have the opportunity to consider some of the creative and social impulses that fuelled Charles Dickens and look at the kind of creative choices filmmakers have emphasised in their adaptations. The course will be supported and enriched by the use of WEA's Canvas virtual learning environment online to provide you with reading and viewing material that can be referred to in our sessions. James Clarke is a tutor with WEA and he specialises in courses on film and literary subjects. As a writer, James's books include The Virgin Film Guide: War Films and Bond: Photographed by Terry O'Neill.
Course aim
This course will explore the diversity of film adaptations of a number of Charles Dickens stories. If you're interested in digging more deeply into Dickens' writing and some of the ways that film works this could be the course for you.
Do I need any particular skills or experience?
- This course is for beginners and improvers
By the end of the course I should be able to:
- Identify and use some of the language of Film Studies.
- Identify and use some of the language of literary study.
- Explain some of the relationships between fiction and the circumstances within which a novel or film have been made.
- Explain how genre functions as a way of expressing ideas about the wider culture and society.
- Identify some of the overarching themes and characters that are central to the work of Charles Dickens.
What else do I need to know?
As time and opportunity allow you as a student, there will always be material to view and read that relates to our classes. The tutor will always be available to communicate to via the WEA email system.
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