Reading as a transmediating activity : the screenplay of Checchina’s virtue

• The screenplay written by Italian screenwriter and film director Massimo Franciosa in 1995 andfreely based on the short story Checchina’s virtue (1884) by Italian novelist and journalist MatildeSerao (1856-1927) is an example of those submedia ”designed especially to be transmediated”,according to Elleström (2014, 26). The transmediation never occurred however, since the filmnever came into being, due to financial problems. The typewritten screenplay lies at the library ofthe national film institute in Rome, with its transmedial potential practically unexploited.Elleström’s remark that “both material and mental aspect must be included when theorizingabout media” (2014, 49) invites me to focus on the mental representation triggered by the“sensory configuration” of this screenplay. In my contribution I argue that the transmedialpotential of the screenplay is ideally realized through reading and that the cognitive import forthe reader will supposedly not be the same in the case of the screenplay and of the short story, noteven for the parts of these two media products that are very similar or literally identical.Elleström, Lars, 2014, Media Transformation: the Transfer of Media Characteristics Among Media,Palgrave Macmillan.

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HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature (hsv//eng)

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