Intersemiotic Translation: From Medieval Poetry to Modern Movie

Jacobson )1959) divides translation into three categories: intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic, and considers adaptation as a form of intersemiotic translation. This descriptive-analytical study aims to investigate the relationships between a classical narrative—the story of Sheikh San'an from Attar’s Conference of the Birds—and a modern movie—The Forbidden Fruit written/directed by Hassan Fathi in the 2000s. The study seeks to demonstrate, through various examples, that this movie is influenced by the story of Sheikh San'an and it is a kind of adaptation. Thus, in the process of converting the semiotic system of an ancient text into an audiovisual system, which is considered a form of intersemiotic translation, the existing intertextual relationships are decoded. The results show that, according to the classification provided by Andrew (1984) for adaptation, this intersemiotic translation is of the first type, with borrowing evident in many structural and thematic elements. In this adaptation, the filmmaker did not aim for complete fidelity to the original text, nor was its originality fully preserved. Instead, many elements of this ancient literary work were borrowed and modified to suit the constraints of the medium, cater to the preferences of the audience, and align with the objectives of the film.