The Hunchback on Screen

A few weeks ago, I came across this musical adaption of Notre Dame de Paris.  (One song is "Les Cloches," translated as "The Bells," sung by Quasimodo:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbKYksxeXh8 .) These songs, along with the screenplay and the visual imagery is what got me to pick up the book again.  It was this musical that sparked my interest in learning French as well (any tips would be greatly appreciated:).

I have been thinking of the different mediums through which literary works are being portrayed.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame has had several media adaptions not the least of which being Disney's movie interpretation, the Notre Dame de Paris musical, audiobook, and several other movies have been made based off of this book.  It has been interesting to see how different mediums have chosen to represent the textual basis of this novel, how the intended audience changes the interpretation of the novel and the way it is presented, and how each medium (visual, music, voice recordings, etc.) adds a different element to the story.

For example, the tragic ending of the story and the extent of Quasimodo's hideousness has to be changed for he Disney movie in order to lighten the mood and appeal to a younger audience, while the musical, for obvious readons, refrains from making Quasimodo deaf.  I think it is really interesting how visual and audio adaptations to literature change the way we see and interpret the original text.