Moonraker From Novel to Film; an Analysis of the Two Main Characters

Abstract

Using imagology and adaptation theory, this study shows how the film characters of James Bond and Hugo Drax differ from the novel with respect to personality and nationality, and what the consequences of these differences for the representation of nationality are. The changes resulted in a film that was financially succesful and can thus be positioned within the evolutionary view of adaptation (Bortolotti and Hutcheon, 2007). Adjustments in characterisation had to be made to increase the chance of succes in the new medium, in the social and geopolitical context of the 1970s and on the global market of Bond films to which the filmmakers appeal.