Inherent Adaptability--Writing Seeing

Of the many propositions put forth by Robert Stam in his “The Diaologics of Adaptation” the most compelling for me is the sense of inherent adaptability in both the film and novel form. The idea that “[b]oth novel and film consistently canibaliz[e] other genres and media” (Stam 61) already establishes a certain level of adaptation in original works within cinema and literature.
Reading Cortazar’s short –story “Blow-up” through this lens of inherent adaptability created by Stam allows one to see a hidden layer of genius in the work. The hyper-metafictonality of “Blow-Up”—which first manifests itself in the form of confused and shifting perspective—is the first evidence that Cortazar is ready to experiment with his mode of expression. Later the reader experiences a “cannibalization” of genre in the story when our perspective is framed through the lens of the protagonist’s camera:

"I raised the camera, pretended to study a focus which did not includes them, and waited and watched closely, sure that I would finally catch the revealing expression, one that would sum it all up, life that is rhythemed by movement but which a stiff image destroys[…]" (Cortazar 5)

The language here—focus, rhythm of movement—are perspective tools that are fundamental to film and photography but are rarely used in literature. Cortazar’s work is essentially an adaptation. He weaves various structures and discourses within the literature form in order to capture elements of the story which the visual of representative letters on a page seem impossible of doing. These visual cues draw our attention to the failure of his form as well as establishing its infinite ability to adapt different generic tropes.