Page 67 - Student: dazed And Confused

From 'Supertoys Last all Summer Long' to A.I.: 'padding' exercise that adds little to the
source story, or creative adaptation to suit the target medium.

This essay will attempt to address the debate raised in this question, and to
prove or disprove these statements. For the many who see a film without reading the story
it grew from, any deviations will be creativity. However, for the equal numbers that read
the story before watching the screen adaptation, digressions from the original piece are
often seen as nothing less than sacrilegious. Here, we will discuss the short story, and the

film that grew from it, and whether the process has given the story cinematic value or
detracted from its' meaning. The short story in question is 'Supertoys Last all Summer
Long', and the film is 'A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.'
The story may lose some of its elements as it is adapted for film, but significantly
more is added to the story to fit the movie criteria. But this then leads to the question of
how we differentiate between padding and adaptation. Of course, in the title of this essay,
it has been established that padding adds little to the original story, whereas adaptation
expands upon the issues raised. However, it is fair to say that in this case, they are the same
thing - to a degree. Everything that has been added for the film can be termed padding

because it is extra, and extends the story but does not add to it; though all padding is also
adaptation because it is all about adding more ideas to the story to make a film which
people will want to watch.
The most obvious difference between the two pieces is the addition of around two
hours worth of material in the film. The dialogue and story told in the short story are quite
covered in the opening half hour of the film, and the rest is merely an extended exploration
of the theme of the story - which is about reality, artificiality, and where we draw the line.
This can be described as padding, because the ideas discussed are hinted at and raised in
the beginning. However, there are many ideas in the film which were not touched upon in
the story - and this would be described as adaptation to fit the medium. Film-goers now

tend to call for stories that are visually pleasing - bright and vivid - and also to have
something in the story that they can relate to - an emotional attachment.
In the story, the parents of David are simply using him as a substitute for the child
they were not allowed to have until the end of the book. It is mentioned in the film that
pregnancies are strictly controlled and permission must be granted beforehand, but we see
no physical evidence of this. Indeed, the family already have a son, Martin, who is
terminally ill and has been frozen until a cure is found. Here, David is still used as a
substitute for the son they, in this case, no longer have. When Martin is awakened and
brought home, the mother, Monica, has a choice to make. Should she send David away

because he is not really theirs, or should she keep him and let the two boys mature as
brothers. Although we have lost the idea of controlled pregnancy, we have gained an awful
lot from that - a new character, a parents' pain at having to choose between her children,