This course will introduce students to the field of adaptation studies. The theory and practice of film adaptation will be explored in relation to a wide variety of source materials from theater and literature to comic books and video games. We will consider both aesthetic strategies and industrial issues surrounding film adaptations, and explore the complex interplay among art, economics, and technology as it pertains to the process of adaptation. The films that we will view and discuss will span across both the classical and contemporary eras of cinema and so-called “high” and “popular” sources ranging from Shakespeare to Batman. Films (and their sources) will likely include Fall of the House of Usher, Hamlet, No Country for Old Men, Batman Begins, and The Matrix franchise.