Translation of Setting from Books to Videogames:
The Case of Coraline
Abstract
With the emergence of new technologies in the twentieth century, adaptation stepped into new dimensions. One such dimension is the adaptation of books into videogames. Although the practice of adapting books into videogames dates back at least four decades, most research in this area has adopted a merely theoretical approach, with few data-driven and systematic studies conducted on the subject. This research gap becomes all the more conspicuous when the economic and cultural significance of videogames is taken into consideration. In response, the present study examines the translation of setting from the book Coraline into its videogame adaptation through the lens of multimodal translation. Data collection and analysis were carried out based on the model proposed by Nikolajeva and Scott (2006). First, the features of setting were divided into two categories: spaces and things. Subsequently, the text and images of the book, as well as the full gameplay video, were analyzed to identify instances of these features. The setting features of the book and the game were then compared to determine the degree of correspondence between the two. The results showed that 42% of the setting features of the book were translated into the game, indicating a limited correspondence between the setting of the book and that of the game. Analyzing these findings from the perspective of videogame adaptation, it appears that the game developers, unlike the author and illustrator of the book, incorporated numerous repetitive features, possibly due to time and budgetary constraints. Furthermore, from a multimodal translation standpoint, the setting of the book is not fully recreated in the game; rather, it served primarily as a source of inspiration for the setting of the game.
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