She's The Man

So I wanted to discuss, however briefly, the debate that at times threatened to tear our class apart: adaptation vs. appropriation. I don't think there are many films better for solidifying one's position on the matter than the iconic Amanda Bynes vehicle She's The Man:

I think we can probably all agree that She's The Man is the latest in a long line of classic American sports films, but is it an adaptation or an appropriation? This is a question that saw tables being turned over and bins being thrown, but in my personal opinion, the two words don't mean entirely different things. There's some overlap between them, but a popular opinion seemed to be that a film claiming to be derived from a Shakespearean work can't be considered an adaptation if it doesn't include the original language. Under this definition, any film that strays from the text even slightly would have to be considered an appropriation. I have to say I disagree, and I think it's odd that this debate only seems to be had when Shakespeare is involved. How often is David Fincher's Fight Club referred to as an appropriation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel? Does anyone consider The Lord of the Rings trilogy to be anything other than an adaptation of Tolkien's work? What would it take for to be an appropriation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger's comic creation as opposed to an adaptation? All of these films make significant departures from their source material, and yet the word 'appropriation' is rarely invoked in conversations concerning them.

She's The Man retains superficial similarities to Twelfth Night, with characters such as Viola and Duke Orsino interacting in a setting named Illyria. The film also shares its major plot points with the original play. There are vast differences in execution, of course, but the narrative structure is actually very similar. To this end, it would be fair to call She's The Man a story inspired by Twelfth Night, but I'm of the opinion that it is an adaptation nonetheless. I'll put it this way: if instead of making a film, director Andy Fickman had instead organised a stage production of Twelfth Night that took place in an American high school, would the matter of adaptations vs. appropriations even be raised? It seems to be an issue unique to Shakespearean films, which I think is very odd indeed. Only the Bard could inspire such passion.