Story to Film Adaptation: "Story of Your Life" to Arrival [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $220 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3-Weeks | Wednesdays August 13-27 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, Durham, NC [*Please note the second class session will include a screening and end at 9:30 PM!]
From the precise, meditative prose of Ted Chiang’s short novella “Story of Your Life” to the sweeping landscapes and tender contemplations of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, this course explores what happens when a conceptual science fiction narrative—one already concerned with translation—is itself translated from page to screen. At the heart of both versions lies a deceptively simple question: What if learning a new language could reshape our experience of reality? But wrapped around that question are others about memory, grief, choice, and the limits and horizons of human understanding.
The challenge of adaptation mirrors the aliens’ challenge to human communication: how do you translate a way of thinking into an entirely different medium? As we trace this transformation, we’ll consider the unique affordances and constraints of literature and film, the shifting demands of genre, and what’s gained or lost when intimate philosophical inquiry becomes cinematic spectacle. Along the way, we’ll ask what this adaptation reveals about how we tell stories and why some stories demand to be told again, differently.
This three-week course will involve at-home readings, in-person discussions, and one in-person screening. In week one, we’ll discuss the novella in the context of its form (short story) and genre (science fiction). In week two, we’ll screen and analyze the film. In week three, we’ll turn to a few key works of adaptation theory to help frame what we’ve learned through a critical lens.
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This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full- or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All sliding-scale needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $220 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3-Weeks | Wednesdays August 13-27 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, Durham, NC [*Please note the second class session will include a screening and end at 9:30 PM!]
From the precise, meditative prose of Ted Chiang’s short novella “Story of Your Life” to the sweeping landscapes and tender contemplations of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, this course explores what happens when a conceptual science fiction narrative—one already concerned with translation—is itself translated from page to screen. At the heart of both versions lies a deceptively simple question: What if learning a new language could reshape our experience of reality? But wrapped around that question are others about memory, grief, choice, and the limits and horizons of human understanding.
The challenge of adaptation mirrors the aliens’ challenge to human communication: how do you translate a way of thinking into an entirely different medium? As we trace this transformation, we’ll consider the unique affordances and constraints of literature and film, the shifting demands of genre, and what’s gained or lost when intimate philosophical inquiry becomes cinematic spectacle. Along the way, we’ll ask what this adaptation reveals about how we tell stories and why some stories demand to be told again, differently.
This three-week course will involve at-home readings, in-person discussions, and one in-person screening. In week one, we’ll discuss the novella in the context of its form (short story) and genre (science fiction). In week two, we’ll screen and analyze the film. In week three, we’ll turn to a few key works of adaptation theory to help frame what we’ve learned through a critical lens.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full- or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All sliding-scale needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $220 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Nicole Berland | 3-Weeks | Wednesdays August 13-27 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, Durham, NC [*Please note the second class session will include a screening and end at 9:30 PM!]
From the precise, meditative prose of Ted Chiang’s short novella “Story of Your Life” to the sweeping landscapes and tender contemplations of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, this course explores what happens when a conceptual science fiction narrative—one already concerned with translation—is itself translated from page to screen. At the heart of both versions lies a deceptively simple question: What if learning a new language could reshape our experience of reality? But wrapped around that question are others about memory, grief, choice, and the limits and horizons of human understanding.
The challenge of adaptation mirrors the aliens’ challenge to human communication: how do you translate a way of thinking into an entirely different medium? As we trace this transformation, we’ll consider the unique affordances and constraints of literature and film, the shifting demands of genre, and what’s gained or lost when intimate philosophical inquiry becomes cinematic spectacle. Along the way, we’ll ask what this adaptation reveals about how we tell stories and why some stories demand to be told again, differently.
This three-week course will involve at-home readings, in-person discussions, and one in-person screening. In week one, we’ll discuss the novella in the context of its form (short story) and genre (science fiction). In week two, we’ll screen and analyze the film. In week three, we’ll turn to a few key works of adaptation theory to help frame what we’ve learned through a critical lens.
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full- or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All sliding-scale needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month.Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.