Origins and fundamentals of intermediality between cinema and comics: an approach for the digital era

Abstract

The gradual penetration of the digital technology has allowed an increasing manipulation of the image that completely changes the landscape of film and its expressive possibilities, as well as the crossing media boundaries. The goal of the present essay is, firstly, to track the origins of the intermedial discussion and state some of the main approaches in this field, from the birth of the concept intermediality during the 60s to the different trends of the intermedial studies, the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and Julia Kristeva, Wagner’s total work of art or the contributions of André Bazin. Then, the text analyzes how the digital image has given way to different resources where film and comics meet each other. Finally the aim of this article is to prove that this digital image has allowed a major change in comic adaptations: the possible images are multiplied and the awareness of the presence of another media grows within film, while the classical adaptation model renders obsolete.