Inter-text Translations and Inter-media Transformations in A Modern Japanese Adaptation of Agatha Christie

This project examines the English text of Agatha Christie’s best-selling mystery novel "And Then There Were None," a prolific Japanese translation (そして誰もいなかった) by Aoki Hisae, and a Japanese live-action adaptation. In doing so, the project endeavors to uncover major differences that arise in the translated and adapted pieces and formulate potential functions for such differences. In his dramatic adaptation of "And Then There Were None," director Seiji Izumi presents to his audience a thorough rendition that has undergone multiple transformations, including inter-text translation and inter-media novel-to-film adaptation. Through technical alterations such as elision, interpolation, and characterization in addition to aesthetic and transcultural interpretations, Christie's novel is inevitably taken apart and reconstructed, ultimately arriving in the televised form for a specific audience. By analyzing the layers of alteration that the source material undergoes, this inquiry highlights the swiftness of modern-day adaptation and “easily translatable” narratives.